Retail Blues

The retail stores are all singing the blues this year. I would like to feel sorry for them, but I really can't. They have created the atmosphere. A few "lessons learned" this year at the Holidays.

Lesson One. A Sale Isn't A Sale Unless the Prices are Lower, its a Scam.

I decided to get the larger sprout of the POD a digital camera for Christmas. Not a fancy one, a real simple one. I stopped at my local branch of "large office supply chain" and was surprised to see an "inventory reduction sale" sign on the door. I knew that they were closing some locations, but this one seemed to make sense to remain open. I smelled trouble when I walked in. I saw a number of cameras but the prices seemed "high". I walked around and saw other prices that also seemed "high" to me. I walked out. Later that day I went by another branch of the same chain and went in. This one was not having an inventory reduction sale. They had the same camera for less than the "inventory reduction sale" price. Other prices were similarly lower. I confronted the store manager. She said to me "Those aren't our stores anymore. We sold the inventory out to a liquidator". I said really? They still have your signs on the doors? She said "everyone knows that a liquidation sale isn't buying from the store". I said that I viewed this as a bit deceptive and that, frankly, it was going to make me think long and hard about purchasing all of my office supplies from one of their competitors in the new year (POD buys several hundred dollars in paper alone each month...) She reiterated that they had no control. Well I have made my decision. Not everyone knows. The practice is deceptive and I will not support it. All of my office supplies have shifted as of January 1 to Staples.

Lesson Two: Monopolies Don't Give a Damn

Here in Chicago we were "Department Stored" when our long time local Department Store disappeared and was re branded. And more than the brand changed -- so to did the attitude. I went in to buy a traditional Christmas Ornament for the Sprouts. I have purchased this ornament every year the week before Christmas and have never had a problem. I walked in to the main downtown branch. I was met by a rather sad state of affairs. The stock was depleted and that liquidation sales were already on going. The "special" Christmas locations (trim a tree shop and so forth) were not marked on any store map. And they didn't have the ornament. And four of us asked for it while I was waiting at the counter. We all asked whether they knew if it was at any other store and could they check. The response was "no, they didn't know and had no way to check. They suggested that I find a phone and call all of the stores.

Well I didn't. I went to another of their stores he next day (out in a mall) and had a long talk with a long time sales associate leaving at the end of 2008. She said that, in fact, they can easily check on the stock and she checked for me. She found that they were out at all stores (bad inventory decisions...) She also mentioned that they were not supposed to check any more on the theory that customers would get frustrated trying to call and would go to other stores. Once at these other stores they would buy something.

In other words, we don't give a damn and will get a sale anyway we can. And I have written another store off my list.

Lesson Three. A Good Sales Team Will Sell More

Feeling not full of good cheer, and badly behind of presents, I ended up going to the local neighborhood toys store (Building Blocks Toys on Lincoln just past Belmont.... I will use their name because I am not going to say anything bad about them). Not a large store but a very well thought out and, frankly, pretty comprehensive stock of high quality toys. The prices were not "cheap" but they were fair. And the staff cared and knows their business. One item I was buying had a nick that I had not detected. They insisted that they get me a new one from the back and left the other out as a display model. And I ended up buying more from them. First rate service and well worth the premium over Toy Barn's or town killing retail chains.

Lots of other lessons this Christmas...

But in the retail sector it looks like a case of mass self-inflicted wounds.