May 16 2009
The photo montage attached shows ~200 abandoned Walmarts. It’s an impressive number, larger than many retail chains, but is an indicator of success not failure. In most cases Walmart has relocated to better and larger premises nearby. It’s success for Walmart, which is still expanding, but like industrial waste the empty buildings are not much [...]
Apr 07 2009
I am in the market for a new minivan and have been looking at Chrysler’s offerings. The Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country are identical vans with different badges. The Town & Country is marketed as being more upscale (the T&C kid, see bottom photos, is reading a book, the Caravan kid is reading [...]
Feb 01 2009
The internet is buzzing with stories about the bad deals at Circuit City’s liquidation sales. Here are some local (El Paso) stories with the requisite EastSide/Westside split:
An East Side resident said he bought a DVD movie for his 4-year-old son at a Circuit City store last week, only to find the DVD package empty when [...]
Feb 01 2009
All the employees at a Wadswoth Illinois gas station were fired after a customer purchased a $25 million lottery ticket.
The employees, a former manager and three cashiers, allege that they were fired because the Wadsworth Mobil owner did not want to share the one percent commission [$250,000] he received for the winning ticket.
Wadsworth Mobil owner [...]
Jan 21 2009
Macy’s and Dillard’s are the only two local retailer’s “participating” in the Free Cosmetics Give-a-way after being ordered to do so by a court which found them guilty of price collusion between 1994 and 2003. Both stores are located in two regional malls at opposite ends of town.
Freebie-lovers at both chains joined a line, viewed [...]
Jan 16 2009
The town dump is 35 miles away so when it came time to dispose of an old king mattress I put up a sign at the end of the street. Within 10 minutes there were competing knocks on the door & the Freaking Mattress was picked up & gone within the hour. Last year I [...]
Jan 10 2009
Photographed at the Customer Service desk of my local Best Buy:
Jan 10 2009
I found haphazard reporting on retailer’s Christmas sales on the Net but no comprehensive list comparing results - so I scrounged the Internets, compiled a list, and made the chart at left. Not surprisingly high-end double-name retailers reported the largest same-store sales declines. Lower end stores held their own.