Chain Store Age

Looking into the Lion’s Mouth

2011-08-17T14:59:00.001-05:00

If you’re peeking at the news between slats in your fingers, scared to see where the S&P 500 sits or what’s happening with the NASDAQ, the Dow and the price of oil, you’re quite obviously not alone. Each day is a frightening new one, and no one – not even economists – are quite sure what’s going to happen next.

As the retailers began reporting quarterly results over the last day or two, it was clear that current events hadn’t yet made their presence known. Most of the expected categories – discount, warehouse – performed better than expected, with both sales and profits up year-over-year. But a thread of caution ran through every report. “We’re concerned about the months ahead” was the underlying theme.

I talked to Andy Graiser, co-president and CEO of DJM Realty, about what to expect over the next few months as back-to-school plays out and holiday shopping begins. (If his name sounds familiar, Andy has been in the news a great deal of late, as Gordon Brothers’ DJM and Hilco Real Estate dispose of all the Borders locations.)

I asked Andy what we can expect, from a real estate perspective, through the rest of this year and early into 2012.

“I still expect healthy retailers to continue to cleanse the bottom 5% to 10% of their portfolios,” he told me, “as well as to continue to move into box sizes which are more efficient.” He said that he is seeing good demand in the outlets as well as solid demand for 12,000-sq.-ft. -to 15,000-sq.-ft. locations in strip centers. Expect the restaurants to continue to struggle, he cautioned, while discount food operations and the dollar sectors enjoy continued strength. “That said, I am still concerned with consumer confidence going into back-to-school and Christmas,” he added. Amen.

-- Katherine Field Boccaccio

A new day at the mall

2011-07-07T11:49:00.002-05:00

Decades ago, I supervised a local mall’s marketing activities -- and that meant attending merchants’ association meetings, organizing and promoting sidewalk sales, distributing holiday event flyers, and designing the occasional ad for the city newspaper or producing a 30-second spot for radio.

My, how things have changed.

Technology advances coupled with a general slowdown in mall traffic have led shopping center owners to think way out of the box, innovating new ways to lure customers and stimulate sales. One of the more interesting programs I read about recently is Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Western’s partnership with Smart Choice to launch a mobile personal shopping assistant app for its Shops at Legacy retail center in Plano, Texas.

Launching a smartphone app, as new as it is to most of us, isn’t what grabbed my attention. It’s the fact that the app features a “Men’s Corner,” customizing the male shopping experience to include drink specials, sports game listings and gift ideas.

“While shopping is typically all about the women, the ‘Men’s Corner’ was created to target our male customer,” Andrea Taylor, marketing director for The Shops, said in a statement.

My PR contact at Inland suggests that the Men’s Corner will continue to grow and add content as it grabs hold. Male-oriented events will be promoted on the Corner, along with sales and offers designed with men in mind.

That’s smart thinking. Back in the mid- to latter 1980’s, we couldn’t have conceived of smartphones, much less apps that segment mall shoppers by gender or by purchase history. And in a post-recessionary environment where malls are losing ground to online shopping and off-mall locations, any trick that pulls shoppers away from their computers and into the mall or store is one worth playing.

-- Katherine Field Boccaccio

Social media gets its kicks

2011-06-22T10:12:00.002-05:00

I read an article in yesterday’s USA Today that announced a new deal by mobile app Shopkick that expands its national retail programs to the little guys as well.

Now besides delivering discounts and rewards to shoppers at Best Buy, Target and Sports Authority, Shopkick has partnered with Citigroup to solicit small business participation. The pair is seeking 1,000 mom-and-pop stores and small chains to sign up for free, after which Shopkick will install an in-store receiver that pushes pop-up discounts and offers to customers’ mobile phones.

"We will do for small and medium-sized local stores what we have done for large, national chains: drive foot traffic," Shopkick CEO and co-founder Cyriac Roeding told USA Today.

No question that social media is ramping up in retail. In fact, we at Chain Store Age want to find out more. Watch for a survey from us -- in conjunction with mall owner Forest City Enterprises and research firm Alexander Babbage -- in the coming weeks that asks you how important social media is to your business. We want to know whether you factor in a mall’s programs when you make your real estate decisions, and we want to know what social media programs are on your must-have list.

Stay tuned…..

-- By Katherine Field Boccaccio

There’s no stealing Oklahoma City’s Thunder

2011-06-03T08:08:00.003-05:00

I readily admit that I’m a sports-aholic. While football and basketball -- college and pro -- are my favorite sports, I’m also a die-hard LSU baseball fan and am even learning to appreciate a little NASCAR and professional golf now and then.

Lately, my focus has been, understandably, on the NBA basketball playoffs. Because I live just 60 miles from New Orleans, I’m a Hornets fan and thoroughly enjoyed the team’s short-lived run toward the championship. But I’ve also made no secret about my affinity for the Oklahoma City Thunder, which ignited Oklahoma City as it marched ever so close to a showdown for the big prize. In fact, at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual RECon real estate convention in Las Vegas May 22-25, Oklahoma City was thunderous in its support of the team. The City’s booth sported player posters and mascot cutouts, and the mayor made the team a focus in his on-site interviews.

“We are all so proud of our team and are praying for a win tonight against Dallas,” Mayor Mick Cornett told me on May 23 from his Las Vegas convention center booth. “The fact that we have filled the arena game after game has proven how vibrant a market Oklahoma City is.”

Cornett doesn’t have to sell me. I traveled to Oklahoma City last year to meet with the business development group and Chamber of Commerce about the city’s plans to attract more major retail. What I saw and heard that day convinced me that OK City has plenty to offer -- and retailers are listening. The Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City, slated to open this summer, has brought in Saks Off 5th, Brooks Bros., Coach, Tommy Hilfiger and more. Word on the street is that Crate & Barrel has been sniffing around the market. And so has The Container Store. When I was in the booth, it was packed with retailers who appeared to be in some pretty serious discussions about what the city has to offer.

According to the mayor, destination retail is still absent, however. “I’m talking about retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom,” said Cornett. “That high-end retailer is missing from Oklahoma City, and we have a lot of respect for the draw of a destination retailer of that caliber.”

I had queried both Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus last year about any potential interest in OK City. Neiman’s was a flat ‘no,’ as the retailer believes its Dallas offerings will pull shoppers from Oklahoma, which is likely true. Nordstrom, however, appeared to have a little more wiggle room. “We wouldn’t absolutely rule it out,” a spokesperson for the Seattle department store told me. I can’t help but wonder about Saks, as well. With Off 5th opening at the Outlet Shoppes in August, perhaps a strong showing from its off-price arm might get the full-price sister’s attention.

“Who knows? Maybe the outlet concepts could be followed by the full-price models,” mused the mayor. And the basketball team, which by the way lost its bid for a world title at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks, has helped to draw more attention to Oklahoma City. “The Thunder has generated plenty of noise,” said Cornett.

I, for one, am listening. Are you?

-- Katherine Field Boccaccio

Bye-Bye Barbie

2011-03-09T16:02:00.003-05:00

I was shocked when I got last week’s memo that Mattel’s $30 million homage to Barbie was closing its doors.

The flagship store, located in Shanghai, was all the rage – and the darling of the trades – when it opened to much fanfare two years ago. In fact, the multi-level Barbie emporium was Chain Store Age’s “Store of the Year” in 2010, and was featured on the cover of our March 2010 issue.

I mean, what’s not to love about a pink-and-white, whimsical store that spans 36,000 sq. ft. and features a winding staircase with 800 Barbie dolls on display?

Apparently, the Asian customer found plenty not to love, as analysts have poo-poo’d claims that the store’s problems stemmed from a poor location and high prices, pointing instead to a basic reluctance on the part of the local shopper to embrace Barbie.

But you can’t blame a gal for trying. In fact, Barbie’s maker deserves a round of applause for such a splashy move as opening perhaps the most fitting tribute to an icon that retail has ever seen. I talked with Alvin Williams, principal of Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Excess Space Retail Services, initially – so I thought – about the trials and tribulations of transitioning such an elaborate space to a new user. Williams quickly steered me in another direction.

“When I first read the news that the store was closing this week, my first thought wasn’t about the real estate challenge,” Williams told me. “I saluted Mattel for such a creative, out-of-the-box concept. I don’t see the store closing as a failure – the attempt was made and they learned something from it. That’s the spirit of retail.”

I love an optimist. And Williams makes such a great point. Hasn’t every retailer – every entrepreneur, for that matter – wondered at the onset of a new concept or a new store, “Am I crazy? Is this going to work?” Some do, some don’t. But that’s how wonderful stores get built – someone had the courage to move forward.

“Ingenuity drives this business,” said Williams. “And usually you’ll find that something comes from the attempt.”

Mattel continues to embrace ingenuity. Its next step, said the company, is to take Barbie on the road – in a big, pink tour bus. Good for them, said Williams. They took something from the store and are building on it.

I agree. Good for Mattel. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the pink bus.

--Katherine Field

Risky Business

2011-03-01T10:08:00.001-05:00

My friend Lisa and I were driving through Baton Rouge on a recent Saturday evening when, at the corner of Perkins and Bluebonnet Roads, we were blinded by flashing police lights.

I’m not talking about a traffic cop who had pulled over a speeder. I’m talking about a dozen patrol cars -- from Baton Rouge city police officers to state troopers to sheriff deputies -- and a lot of hubbub.

Neither of us had any idea what was going on, and moved on through the intersection, passing by one of our favorite upscale shopping destinations, Perkins Rowe.

I didn’t learn until the following morning that a shooting had occurred in the street flanking Perkins Rowe -- two groups of men fired off as many as seven gunshots, with one bullet hitting a vehicle with two adults and three children. No one was injured.

While I must emphasize that the shootings did not occur inside the mixed-use shopping and entertainment destination (as was originally, and erroneously, reported), it was a little close for comfort. And it begs the question -- how safe are open-air shopping centers at night?

I don’t have the answer to that, but I feel pretty confident that the best response is “it depends.” It depends on the location of the center, on the layout of the center, on the dynamics and demographics of the area. Perkins Rowe is in a great part of Baton Rouge -- with plenty of money and relatively little crime. But it is also a magnet for those who want to see and be seen. Charming streets encourage drive-by traffic and storefront parking. Eateries and wine bars are night-life magnets. And the landscaped courtyards and fountains are particularly pleasant on balmy Baton Rouge evenings.

It isn’t just the responsible adult patrons who are drawn to the center at night, but a less savory populace could be as well. Kids drive their cars through the streets, meet up with friends, drive around some more. Most are probably behaving, some aren’t. The young men who fired shots next-door most certainly weren’t.

Some have suggested that open-air center streets be cordoned off at night, forcing patrons to park and walk to bars and restaurants and movie theatres. I can see their point, as limiting car traffic would also impede cruising. But I also know that the harder it is to access a venue, the less likely you are to visit.

Thoughts?

Closing the lid on a local Jack in the Box

2010-10-28T12:05:00.001-05:00

Near my Baton Rouge, La., neighborhood is a Jack in the Box fast-food restaurant that, from all cursory indications, had appeared to be surviving the recession. That is, until overnight the freestanding building was vacated and a closed sign appeared in the window.

Within a couple of days, all signage -- including the pole sign out front -- were removed and the building completely emptied. What is left is an attractive structure with no visible indication that Jack in the Box ever lived there.

That’s a happier ending than you might think.

Some retailers, and restaurateurs, don’t seem to understand the beating a brand takes when a unit is left to rot -- signage in place -- in full view of former patrons. As weeds grow tall and windows turn dingy, the brand’s image sours as surely as the smell of the garbage in the unemptied dumpster out back.

Jack in the Box gets it. The San Diego-based company announced plans on Sept. 29 to close 40 company-owned restaurants prior to its Oct. 3 fiscal year-end, shedding the most glaring underperformers in its 2,200-unit chain. And, if the Baton Rouge Coursey Blvd. location is any indication, Jack in the Box took just as strategic an approach to the closing process as it did to the performance analyses. Not only is the vacant building devoid of brand identifiers, but the lawn is mowed, the windows are clean, and all references to the former unit have been removed from the company website.

According to excess property experts, Jack in the Box’s contraction procedure was textbook. Matt Bisignano, Taco Bell’s director of development for the eastern U.S. Bisignano, along with Sonya Webster of Walmart Realty, addressed the topic of “Redevelopment of Excess Property” to an audience at the National Retail Tenants Association annual conference, held in September in Anaheim, Calif.

“Company image is important,” said Bisignano. “A vacant Taco Bell needs to be mitigated to enhance your company image.” Webster agreed. “We try to make our vacant properties look less like a Wal-Mart to try and keep it from detracting from our image.”

Both experts recommend that retailers have a process in place to strip old properties of signage and other identifiers to protect the brand. “You need to make an investment into this kind of program,” said Webster, “so that you will be a better company and community ambassador. And, if you’re like us, you have more excess property now than you have had in the past.”

-- Katherine Field

Pop-Tarts Pop Up in Manhattan

2010-08-09T14:58:00.003-05:00

When I was expecting my daughter Holley about 20 years ago, I woke up one morning with the most intense craving I had ever experienced. I had to have a Pop-Tart, and I had to have it NOW.

Never mind that I hadn’t eaten one in years. Within minutes, I was standing inside the nearest grocery store examining the different flavors and varieties of the breakfast pastry to see which one attracted my eye, and my palate.

I tussled with the decision. Did I want frosted blueberry, plain apple or my childhood favorite brown sugar cinnamon? Or did I want one that sounded more like dessert, such as a chocolate and marshmallow combo?

I finally gave up trying to choose and threw literally every variety into the shopping cart. To this day I can recall the look on the cashier’s face as she rang up box after box after box of Pop-Tarts.

So you can imagine why the opening of the first-ever store devoted to Pop-Tarts resonated with me. According to the New York Times, Kellogg is opening a 3,200-sq.-ft. pop-up store on Tuesday, called Pop-Tarts World. The store is in Times Square, on 42nd St. between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, and is slated to stay open until January.

The café will serve about 30 snacks and desserts, including such menu items as Fluffer Butter (sort of a Pop-Tart and marshmallow sandwich) and, um, sushi, which is three kinds of Pop-Tarts chopped up and wrapped in a fruit roll.

Typical to Times Square, where everything is bigger than life, the store will put on a light show each hour that “frosts” shoppers in red and white light, then “sprinkles” them with light pulses. A custom-made vending machine will dispense 23 flavors of the treat. And customers have the option of building their own Pop-Tarts. The 50-foot storefront will be wrapped in Pop Tarts branding and Kellogg will take over the six-story billboard above the store.

Click here to check out the full article.

P.S. I didn’t eat all of those Pop Tarts 20 years ago. I opened the first box (brown sugar cinnamon), had one, and discovered that my craving had evaporated. I donated the balance to a food bank.

-- Katherine Field

Calling all venters

2010-07-22T13:30:00.001-05:00

Butch Rascoe was a favorite at Mansfield (La.) High School. The history teacher and coach had a way of simultaneously instructing and entertaining that was unmatched by any educator I ever had before, or since. I remember being in the classroom one particular Friday when the American History discussion waned and Coach Rascoe began to tell one of his “stories.”

He confessed that he had long fantasized about adding on to his house, but not with any ordinary room. This addition would be special -- a long and narrow room built entirely of concrete. And it would be stocked with bottles and bottles of beer, but not for drinking.

Coach Rascoe’s plan was to use the space for venting -- finding relief from the frustrations of a tough day by hurling, one by one, bottles of beer against the concrete wall. As each bottle smashed, he imagined that he would begin to feel better and better.

A mall in Shenyang, China, has had the same idea. A recent article told of a store opening that allows customers to pay to vent frustrations by breaking, smashing, and vandalizing all kinds of domestic objects. Designed for women, interestingly, the store contains several rooms with plans for more in the making.

Check out the story here.

-- Katherine Field

The Dirt on Denim

2010-07-13T13:08:00.003-05:00

I love blue jeans. And the older and more faded they are, the more I adore them.

No big surprise that I’m in the majority when it comes to jean passion. A recent poll conducted by ShopSmart found that most women would “live in them if they could.”

In fact, 85% of women typically wear jeans at least once a week. And they own, on average seven pairs, although they tend to only wear four of them regularly.

After reading the survey, I trotted to my own closet to count jeans. I have nine pairs -- and wear just, gulp, two pairs of them regularly.

Click here to check out the whole survey, including how much women spend on their jeans.

-- Katherine Field

UPS: Customer service brown-out?

2010-06-23T08:25:00.001-05:00

Having operated a franchised chain in the past, I am fully aware of how difficult it is to control franchisees.

But a recent experience with The UPS Store would indicate that the retail shipping specialist has more than its share of franchise issues.

My friend Bob made a trip yesterday to his local (Baton Rouge, La.) UPS Store to ship a business package. He had pre-arranged to bill the shipping to the recipient using that recipient’s UPS account number.

The only problem was that the local UPS Store didn’t allow for billing the recipient. The only option was for Bob to pay the freight and expense it to his receiving business associate -- or go elsewhere.

Bob went elsewhere.

He drove to a third-party mailing house, which boxed and shipped items using all the major carriers including UPS and Federal Express, and shipped his package exactly as he originally intended -- via UPS, and billing the recipient.

He walked out, mission accomplished, but scratching his head. “UPS’s own store couldn’t do what another, third-party retailer could?” he asked. “That makes no sense.”

He decided to ask UPS to explain. He emailed the corporate office, explaining that he had tried to ship a package using the recipient’s UPS account number, but was denied. “I’m confused,” he wrote. “Why even bother having a store if I can't ship a package using a UPS account from a UPS store? This makes no sense.”

What makes less sense is UPS’s response. “Dear Bob,” the headquarters customer service representative wrote via email, “The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations are independently owned and operated. Both The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. are franchises of Mail Boxes Etc., a subsidiary of UPS. The UPS Store offers convenient shipping locations, certified packaging experts, and published UPS shipping rates. Published UPS rates are offered for transportation charges and most miscellaneous charges, except for declared value. You can obtain a rate quote for transportation charges at The UPS Store by using the UPS Calculate Time and Cost feature at the following link. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to bring your concerns to the attention of your local store management personnel.”

So, in other words, UPS is saying that “I am not only going to pass the buck and blame it on the franchisee, while accepting no corporate accountability, but I’m going to confuse you with a bunch of transportation gibberish to boot.”

Sounds to me like some of the customer-service experts out there should ship one of their how-to manuals to UPS. But don’t try to bill the recipient.

Build a Cause

2010-06-14T15:48:00.000-05:00

I can’t watch the TV footage of brown pelicans coated with black oil without crying. And, yet, the struggles and casualties of the fish and fowl and other marine life on the Gulf Coast are but a bit, albeit painful, part in a much bigger tragedy.

I live in Baton Rouge, La., miles from the BP oil spill that occurred just about two months ago -- but close enough to sometimes smell the oil and to hear stories firsthand about job losses, business closures and the long-term impact on Louisiana’s marshes.

There are plenty who compare the spill event to Katrina. I wasn’t here when the hurricane devastated New Orleans and its surrounds. But I was here when the oil rig exploded, and it is an utter mess -- with no end in sight.

Kudos to the retailers that have stepped up to the plate to help with the fight for the survival of our coast. St. Louis-based Build-A-Bear announced just last week that it is raising funds, in conjunction with the Audubon Nature Institute to rescue marine mammals and sea turtles, which are dying by the hundreds. There are stories of hair salons collecting hair and fur and Hooters girls donating their panty hose for the cause (the hair and fur are stuffed into panty hose and used to absorb oil).

There have been other big donations. For example, Target Corp. donated $50,000 toward oil cleanup efforts, and Borders Group on June 10 pledged to donate 10% of this past weekend’s transactions, up to $50,000, to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

And there have been local efforts, such as the CVS drug stores in Fairhope and Daphne, Ala., which set themselves up as oil spill relief donation drop sites and provided some matching funds.

I’m certain there are many more retail organizations that have donated their time and money toward oil-spill cleanup and relief in Louisiana and the other coastal states. Share your donation stories here.

-- Katherine Field

Are your customers napping?

2010-06-01T14:31:00.000-05:00

Here are some tips for waking them! I stumbled upon an item about dormant customers in an e-newsletter called “Small Business Trends” -- and the tips for waking slumbering customers are worth sharing with retailers both large and small.

To rouse a customer who has stopped interacting with your brand, first find out why she has fallen asleep. Then provide incentives to awaken her, and show her the benefits of doing so. Connect with her via social networking and, above all, be persistent and proactive.

Check out the whole article at
http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/05/how-to-wake-dormant-customers.html

-- Katherine Field

Good tidings make me giddy

2010-05-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

All the good news is dizzying. I wrote up stories for Chain Store Age's Web site yesterday and today that included doubled profits, same-store sales gains, total sales leaps. About the only bad news over the last day or two has been Wal-Mart’s declining customer counts -- and with the kind of service offered at the world’s largest retailer, is that any wonder?

But this isn’t a Walmart bashing session. I’m in much too good a mood to be negative. I just finished reading a news report that has retailers prepping for a consumer comeback -- a comeback that includes cashmere and other luxury purchases such as $1,500 python skin shoes. Who’d have thunk it?

Check it out: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Retailers-prepare-for-apf-2068477294.html/print?x=0

--Katherine Field

Facebook’s No. 1 fans

2010-04-29T09:12:00.003-05:00

Most of my Facebook “friends” are in south Louisiana. That’s because I’m from, and have returned to, south Louisiana.

So it makes sense that, when I queried my online rolodex of Facebook friends about their Facebook loyalties (in other words, what companies are they “fans” of?), retail food service was the overwhelmingly favorite category.

Southerners do love their food.

My friend Sherrie is a fan of Bud’s Broiler, Waffle House, Café Du Monde, House of Blues, and Outback Steak House.

Why?

“I get updates on new menu items, special hours and special menu items,” she posted. “For example, House of Blues had all-you-can-eat crawfish for $15, only available to Facebook Fans!”

James is a fan of Blue Bell Ice Cream.

Donna likes Anthony's Italian Deli. “A mom-and-pop place where they not only remember your name, but remember what you like to order,” she posted.

And Don is a fan of Broadway Oyster Bar in St. Louis, Mo. “An eclectic shanty that serves as close to really good Creole and Cajun food as you can get in this area … after my kitchen, of course! Oh, and they serve Dixie beer!”

Not everyone restricted their accolades to restaurants, however. Deena is a fan of Ann Taylor, Coach, Gap and Banana Republic because “they are my faves,” she posted. “I can’t say they offer me anything different promo- or advantage-wise than I receive via e-mail.”

And my friend Tinker is a fan of Anthropologie, saying “it’s a great store with great clothes and great stuff for the home.”

Want to check out some of the Facebook pages preferred by my friends? Here are a few of the more unique ones:

Bud’s Broiler

Anthony’s Italian Deli

Broadway Oyster Bar

-- Katherine Field

Calling all women in real estate

2010-04-27T15:25:00.003-05:00

In an industry known to be man-heavy, women may just be finding a forum for advancement.

At RECon, the world’s largest real estate conference -- conducted by the International Council of Shopping Centers and held May 23-25, 2010, in Las Vegas -- a new Special Interest Group series of sessions will include Women in Retail Real Estate roundtable panels.

The panels are organized by Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of New York City-based Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Retail Group, and Jane Snoddy Smith, a partner at Fulbright and Jaworski law firm.

From what I understand, the panels are drawing a lot of interest. “I’m not surprised that these groups are so popular,” Consolo said. "They provide a unique opportunity to learn about a specific topic of interest prior to the main start of the conference that afternoon. And our group offers a unique opportunity to meet with and learn from some of the top women in the real estate business in an informal setting."

Here’s the scoop: "Women in Retail Real Estate" will take place from 10:45 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sunday, May 23, the first day of RECon 2010. Consolo will lead a roundtable discussion of New Retailers and Globalization, and Smith will host a roundtable on New Techniques in Negotiation.

Other roundtables will revolve around Mentors -- How to Find One and How to Be One (led by Barbara Champoux, Crowell & Moring law firm); The Importance of Networking (by Debra Cole, incoming president of the Association of Real Estate Women), and Developing Your Personal Brand: New Skills for the 21st Century (led by Beth Silverman, co-founder of ShopTheJobs.com). Participants may sit in on two of the five roundtables, and there will be a wrap-up at the end.

Attendees for any Special Interest Group must be a paid registrant of RECon 2010, and must preregister for these sessions with ICSC. Click here for more information about RECon and other special interest groups.

As a quick aside, this particular Special Interest Group is the launch of a larger initiative that ICSC is undertaking with the goal of working more closely with, and promoting, women in the industry. In conjunction with CREW, ICSC is sponsoring the Women in Retail Real Estate breakfast the next morning (Monday, May 24) featuring Consolo and guest speaker Virginia Postrel. The ICSC/CREW breakfast will be Monday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and is open to all attendees (male and female), with no preregistration required.

-- Katherine Field

Plugging Oklahoma City’s leaks

2010-04-16T15:09:00.001-05:00

I made a quick in-and-out trip to Oklahoma City last week to talk to city officials and business leaders about the state of retail in that SOUTHERN market. (The caps are on purpose; made the mistake of referring to OK City as Midwestern, and I was quickly shown reams of documentation that clearly place the entire state in the southern region.)

A local reporter from the Oklahoman newspaper picked up on the discussion, held at the historic Skirvin Hotel downtown. Here’s his read on the event:

http://newsok.com/retail-experts-warn-of-citys-sales-drain/article/3453761?custom_click=columnist

--Katherine Field

The mall still lives

2010-03-30T12:29:00.001-05:00

There comes a time when I finally have to turn a deaf ear to all the nay-saying.

How many of us in the industry hear over and over that the mall is dead? I beg to differ. Despite the drag it experienced compliments of the recession, the mall is managing to survive -- and trend arrows point to continued recovery.

Today’s news out of the Wall Street gate?: “Mall traffic improves.” Analyst Adrienne Tennant wrote in a note to investors that a calendar shift for spring break this year has strengthened March traffic at malls.

“With many non-college spring breaks having shifted from April week 1 last year to March week 5 this year, we would expect to see a continuation of strength into the end of the month,” penned Tennant. “With several retailers offering trend- and target-right spring flows, when the product is right, shoppers are picking up multiple items and are opening their wallets.”

Urban Outfitters, Gap's Banana Republic, Talbots and White House|Black Market are all experiencing strong customer traffic, Tennant said.

I noticed last week at Southpointe Pavilions, an outdoor lifestyle mall in Lincoln, Neb., that traffic was brisk. Granted, the city had a little reprieve from winter snows, with highs reaching into the 50’s, but still shoppers were out in force and that’s all that matters. Banana Republic was booming and so was Talbots.

I’ll be meeting with scores of shopping center developers this May at the annual RECon convention in Las Vegas. Let’s hope the mall traffic numbers continue to climb, and we’ll all dispense with the nay-saying and generate some positive press for a change.

Listen up: New accounting rule could slam your bottom line

2010-02-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of friends inside the National Retail Tenants Association. It’s a group I’ve long been affiliated with and, quite frankly, I’ve seen first-hand what learning to read a lease can deliver to the retail bottom line.

But did you know that something pretty major is amok? That the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is right now in the process of developing a new lease accounting standard that is expected to impact retail lease accounting in a huge way?

In fact, those in the know say that the new standard, whose objective is to capitalize all material leases on lessees’ books and is targeted for completion by 2011, is estimated to negatively impact retailers’ earnings by an average of 5% in the first year alone.

I won’t go into all the fine details – not exactly blog material – but suffice it to say that this is something to learn more about. The NRTA is hosting a webinar on the subject on Wednesday, March 3, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EST. For details and registration procedures, visit retailtenants.org.

Barnes & Noble grows via the ground

2010-01-08T14:26:00.002-05:00

I’m one of those journalists who is cross-trained in advertising -- there are a lot of us -- and it is that past experience and training that keeps me on alert for noteworthy retail marketing efforts. Sometimes that information is found in unexpected places.

I was introduced, via friend of a friend, to Carron Fillingim, community relations manager for Barnes & Noble’s Springdale Plaza store in Mobile, Ala.

Given that we are both Southern women with a penchant for marketing, we had plenty to talk about. Carron told me that Barnes & Noble has found the most successful route to customer loyalty is often via the ground.

Carron said her marketing focus has shifted to a grassroots approach that involves cementing relationships with the local media to ensure publicity of the bookseller’s in-store events, which include author signings and special storytimes.

“In terms of grassroots marketing, we are going to use our local media contacts much more often this year in order to publicize our events,” she told me. “I am trying to think out of the box more, and truly make our bookstore the community bookstore.”

In Mobile, Barnes & Noble doesn’t opt for traditional media to advertise sales or seasonal specials. Rather, it employs community-oriented tactics to keep the store top of mind for local citizens.

“The public school system allows me to send them a quarterly newsletter of our store events, and then they send a mass e-mail out to every employee in the public schools. With over 90 public schools, you can imagine how many educators get those newsletters,” she said.

With the myriad of cost-cutting measures being employed by retailers across the country, I think we’ll see grassroots marketing supplanting traditional media across the retail industry.

-- Katherine Field

The good and bad of The W

2009-12-14T13:41:00.001-05:00

I figure if the University of Miami can be “The U,” I have free license to label Walmart “The W” --– at least for the sake of this blog.

And I visited The W last Saturday for a prearranged appointment with the southeast Lincoln, Neb. store’s tire center.

That was an experience, a mix of highs and lows that later had me shaking my head.

My car and I arrived at the tire center at 10:00, on a snowy morning for my appointment to have the front driver’s side tire replaced. After locating the hard-to-find customer entrance (which, I might add, led me into the garage area where I had to walk past a group of staring mechanics, which made me immensely uncomfortable), I made my way to the service counter manned by a very harried female employee.

I waited my turn, then announced my arrival -- only to be told my appointment had been cancelled. Cancelled? I glanced at my watch. It was now 10:10 a.m. Was I cancelled because it was slightly after my scheduled time?

The employee assured me that the cancellation wasn’t due to tardiness; in fact, she said, she had no idea why my appointment was cancelled. She read aloud a note written beside my name on a manual ledger that said, simply, “Cancelled. Moved to Thursday.”

To make matters worse, when she flipped the page to Thursday, my appointment was nowhere to be found.

At this point, the employee began to rage. She called a supervisor and together they proceeded to berate some hapless, and absent, associate named Brandon. They commiserated -- in front of me and about five other customers waiting to be served -- about the troubles that Brandon was causing in The W’s local organization.

If Brandon were indeed responsible for my cancellation, then I wasn’t too happy with him either. But I still didn’t think he deserved to be publicly criticized with no opportunity to defend himself.

His trial continued for a solid five minutes, until I interrupted with one question, “Can you still work me in today?”

The female employee immediately ceased her tirade, and leaned across the counter to pat my hand. “Don’t worry, honey,” she said. “We’ll get you in right away.”

This is where bad turns to good -- in a hurry. She worked some kind of magic on a very full-looking ledger and moved my car to the top of the list (I don’t know who got bumped, but decided not to ask.). She gave me a numbered ticket and invited me to shop the store for about an hour, then return for my car.

I wandered The W’s aisles for 70 minutes, purchased a few odds and ends, then headed back to the tire center, where I found my car ready and waiting as promised.

After I paid and departed, I shook my head. Only The W could send me on a customer-service journey of such highs and lows.

That it started low, and ended high, was fortunate. Most customers, myself included, will likely only remember the ending note.

-- Katherine Field

Just can’t contain myself

2009-11-20T16:04:00.004-05:00

I am a big fan of The Container Store. I admit that I didn’t know much about the Coppell, Texas-based, 50-store specialty chain until I moved to Denver for a couple of years, and was faced with organizing a new home in short order.

I had spied a Container Store atop a hilly padsite overlooking Park Meadows Mall in south Denver, and decided to give its advertised storage solutions a whirl.

Two hours and hundreds of dollars later, I wheeled my brimming shopping cart to my parked SUV, and transferred the piles of pantry shelves, cleaning tools and bathroom storage racks from cart to car.

That was the first of many visits to The Container Store, as it became my go-to place to tame home and office chaos.

Now that I’m back in Lincoln, Neb., I miss the store -- but am always interested to read about the latest corporate happenings. This week I received a press release promoting some new services and promotions, including “click and pickup” (order online and pick up in-store, a la Best Buy and Wal-Mart), call-ahead curbside pickup (again, think Best Buy), and free shipping for online customers.

For my friends in Chain Store Age’s Manhattan office, they are enjoying a “scan and deliver” service whereby customers of the chain’s two Manhattan stores use a hand-held scanning device to scan bar codes on items selected for purchase, pay, then head home and wait for the items to be delivered home.

The Container Store calls the package of perks its “GoShop Suite of Services.” Because I have some pretty in-depth background on the chain, having interviewed its founders Garrett Boone and Kip Tindell extensively, I know the perks are more than customer-service benefits -- they are smart thinking by a smart retailer that is poised to grow sales even in an economic downturn.

-- Katherine Field

Geaux local

2009-10-30T08:07:00.002-05:00

If I had a nickel for every time a shopping-center developer told me that homegrown concepts are now on the hot tenant radar list, I’d be a very wealthy woman.

With the stalled expansion plans of the nationals, and the increasing vacancies in malls around the country, I can see why local retail tenants have emerged as the new black in leasing prospects.

Recently, I visited one homegrown Baton Rouge, La., restaurant concept that is bound to grab some attention from the likes of Stirling Properties, General Growth Properties, JWA and the other property owners that are busy Louisiana players.

Walk-On’s Bistreaux and Bar has two locations in the Baton Rouge area. (Note the spelling of bistreaux? If you’re from Louisiana -- and I am originally -- you know the ‘eaux’ drill. If you’re not? Just remember that anything that ends with a long ‘oh’ sound is spelled ‘eaux.’ Think geaux instead of go, bistreaux instead of bistro.)

The bar and grill concept was started by two Louisiana State University walk-on basketball players who met on the hardwood in 1997. Jack Warner and Brandon Landry’s boyhood dreams of playing for the LSU Tigers were realized not with coveted basketball scholarships, but as ‘walk-ons’ to the program.

The Walk-On’s story goes something like this: Warner and Landry conceptualized the restaurant while on a road trip to play the University of Tennessee basketball game. Increasingly intrigued by the variety of restaurants and bars the team routinely encountered on its away games, the two decided to flesh out their own concept -- and did so on an airplane napkin during the flight home from the Tennessee matchup.

A decade or so later, Walk-On’s Bistreaux and Bar was born, and I had the occasion to eat there a few nights ago. My friend Bob and I watched the New Orleans Saints football game on one of many flat-panel television screens, while eating wings and drinking beer.

The food was great. The Abita beer was too. But what was even better was the feeling of being inside a successful concept that needs to spread its wings into other college-town marketplaces. I can see the Baton Rouge menu of high-end pub grub augmented by south Louisiana specialties being customized to regional fare in other towns. And the LSU decor could easily give way to another team’s colors.

Walk-On’s was packed the afternoon we were there. And Bob tells me the weekend evenings can be standing-room-only. Perhaps Stirling and GGP might want to take a gander at this homegrown concept. Looks to me like it has plenty of room to greaux.

-- Katherine Field

Is the mall rat an endangered species?

2009-10-20T16:12:00.002-05:00

I hate bad news. But this is a little tough to ignore. Mall vacancies have hit a decades-high rate, and some feel the relief may be slow in coming.

Reis released its latest findings earlier this month and the picture isn’t any prettier than it’s been over the last few quarters. The vacancy rate at U.S. strip malls reached a 17-year high in the third quarter of 2009, and mall vacancy was the highest in at least 10 years.

"Our outlook for retail properties as a whole is bleak," said Victor Calanog, Reis director of research. "Until we see stabilization and recovery take root in both consumer spending and business spending and hiring, we do not foresee a recovery in the retail sector until late 2012 at the earliest."

Ouch.

I for one still frequent my mall and favorite strip centers. In fact, one sunny Saturday about two weeks ago, my friend Kay and I spent nine hours at Southpointe shopping center in Lincoln, Neb. I’m not telling how much we spent, but I will say that between us we hit four figures. “Just doing our part,” we said, “to keep our favorite stores in business.”

Banana Republic benefited from our day at the mall, as did Von Maur, Buckle and Victoria’s Secret.

Both of us 40-something, Kay and I don’t fit the demographic of the typical mall rat. But with mall rats in frighteningly short supply, we’re perfectly willing to fill the role as long as we’re able. In fact, we’re planning our next outing, again at Southpointe. Neither of us will be able to approach what we spent on our last trip, but suffice it to say that Banana and Von Maur will know we’ve been there.

-- Katherine Field

Baton Rouge malls: what’s up, what’s not

2009-09-28T11:48:00.010-05:00

On a recent trip to my home state of Louisiana, I enjoyed an extended visit in Baton Rouge -- a city that has seen beaucoup changes since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

Baton Rouge didn’t get the brunt of the storm, but it got the brunt of the aftermath, as thousands of evacuees descended upon the mid-sized city. Many stayed after the storm subsided, and the resultant expanded population has challenged the capital city’s infrastructure and services.

Baton Rouge’s retail scene was a hub of activity after the storm, but like most municipalities, the recession has stepped in and slowed the tumult. What I saw a couple of weeks ago was a retail climate that is experiencing its ups and downs during the downturn. Here are some of my impressions:

Perkins Rowe, a massive Main Street mixed-use destination located just off Perkins Road didn’t exactly appear to be flourishing (see picture above). Don’t get me wrong -- it’s a beautiful project and stores are certainly open and operating. What I didn’t see, though, was traffic. We drove through the development on a Saturday, when you’d expect shoppers to be walking the pedestrian-friendly streetscape and entering the attractive storefronts. But it was a ghost town. My “guide,” a friend and Baton Rouge resident, suggested the metered parking was having an effect.

Turns out the convenient parking in front of the stores comes with a price … you get to pay to park. My friend said he knows plenty of people who rebuff the center just because of the parking situation.

On the other hand, the Towne Center at Cedar Lodge (see picture below) was bustling on a sunny Saturday. The mixed-use project located on Corporate Boulevard. in central Baton Rouge was teeming with cars and pedestrians. Developed by locally based Creekstone Cos., Towne Center features great restaurants (think Fleming’s Steakhouse, P.F. Chang’s and Bonefish Grill) and popular tenants such as Whole Foods Market, Banana Republic, Chico’s, Coldwater Creek and Gap.
Do we really know what makes one project work and another, at least from appearances, not work? Location is always a major factor, but I didn’t see much difference in the sites. Tenants matter, but both projects had attractive retailers and popular eateries. (In fact, Perkins Rowe might have the edge, with the state’s first Orvis and Z Gallerie, as well as Barnes & Noble and Anthropologie.)

Then there’s the X factor. In this case, could it actually be that charging for upfront parking is sending a message to Perkins Rowe patrons that convenience comes with a cost?

In this day and age, convenience should be a standard, not a premium.

-- Katherine Field

Retail Idol

2009-09-22T08:53:00.003-05:00

I wouldn’t say I’m a closet “American Idol” fan, but the truth is only my closest circle of family and friends know I rarely miss the reality show once the season launches.

So it stands to reason that I was intrigued when I heard about developer Madison Marquette’s “Retail Star” contest -- a new business award modeled after “American Idol.”

The Washington, D.C.-based company used its Bayfair Center, San Leandro, Calif., as the venue for a unique competition that had entrepreneurs pitching for $250,000 in free rent, start-up capital and build-out allowances toward launching their own business in the Bayfair space.

Starting in May 2009, contestants presented their ideas and business plans to a panel of judges, who over the course of several months narrowed the field from 60 to four. In August, an Oakland, Calif., man, Ben Wanzo, was crowned Retail Star, and his TeachBar concept is preparing to open in Bayfair Center.

TeachBar will host affordable educational seminars in what Wanzo describes as a “learning cafe” environment. The learning cafe will occupy a 1,300-sq.-ft. space at Bayfair Center and provide classes, lecture series and cultural events with topics targeting high school students and adults, taught by coaches and teachers from the community. According to founder Wanzo, TeachBar will offer a relaxed atmosphere where locals can enjoy a selection of quick-serve dishes and drinks while connecting with friends or exchanging ideas with other community members.

Wanzo was awarded $25,000 in start-up funds from Madison Marquette, a complete retail space build-out (valued at more than $200,000) and a year of free retail space inside Bayfair Center.

The retail concept will undergo construction this fall and is scheduled to open in November.

In today’s economy, it takes creative thinking to lease retail space. This is perhaps the most unique approach I’ve seen -- kudos to Madison Marquette for thinking outside the box.

You can view a recap of the contest by clicking on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwpWStiBvhU.

-- Katherine Field

Social media breaks backs

2009-08-21T08:39:00.005-05:00

YouTube scares me. And it should scare you, too. Because once negative information about your company makes the Internet, trying to contain the damage is akin to attempting to stamp out a California wildfire with a wool blanket.

It can’t be done.

One in a long line of YouTube corporate victims is United Airlines, which became the unwilling lyrical topic of a disgruntled singer/band member after his valuable guitar was smashed by careless airline luggage handlers in the spring of 2008.

After months of unrequited phone calls and letters to United, asking for reimbursement for his $3,500 Taylor guitar damaged on the tarmac during a Chicago connection enroute to my home state of Nebraska, Dave Carroll of the band Sons of Maxwell took to the i-waves and aired his frustration in verse.

“United Breaks Guitars” is a catchy song with an even catchier music video that debuted in early July. The ditty is a scathing, yet amusing, recap of Carroll’s attempts to receive compensation for the pricey instrument. Within a day of its release, “Breaks Guitars” had been viewed by thousands. To date, more than 5 million people have heard the song and seen the video.

On Monday, Carroll came out with part two -- “United Breaks Guitars Song 2” -- fulfilling an earlier promise that he would record three songs railing against the airline’s antipathy.

“Song 2” has received nearly 80,000 views so far. But what is more significant is that Carroll didn’t need to record it.

Shortly after the release of the first song, United contacted Carroll, making nice and offering to pay for the guitar. Carroll’s response, though amicable, was a publicly aired “No Way, Jose.” In a viral version of a press conference, Carroll made it clear that, while he would happily have that $3,500 reimbursal sent to a charity, nothing would stop him from recording three songs.

So, for United, it’s two down and one to go. How much havoc will ultimately be wreaked for the airline, which already has endured much-publicized financial woes? Only time will tell, but in the meantime Carroll’s tell-all has no immediate end in sight.

What’s the lesson? Watch your back, and you might want to have a film production crew in your pocket. You never know when a retaliatory music video might be in order.

Somehow missed “United Breaks Guitars”? Follow these links to the background story and the two performances. Leave yourself plenty of viewing time; they’re not short.

http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg&feature=channel_page

-- Katherine Field

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo, to Sears or Wal-Mart shall my freshman go?

2009-08-03T11:05:00.005-05:00

Comforter set, check. Towels and sheets, check. Laptop, check. Microwave, check.

But to get my daughter ready to enter the University of Nebraska in three weeks to begin her first year of college, I still need to buy a futon, an alarm clock (with a LOUD alarm), a desk lamp, a television stand and some throw pillows.

Our plan is to do some shopping this weekend. Lo and behold, in my e-mail inbox early this morning was a promotion from Wal-Mart Wire -- the subject line read, “Get Your Rooms Ready for Fall: Desks, Futons, TV Stands and More.”

Bingo. I perused the items, with discounted prices no less, and rapidly marked the items I needed, then confirmed they are in stock at the closest Wal-Mart store (3.52 miles from my east Lincoln home). I printed the pages, showed them to Holley, and we made a date to do our off-to-college shopping on Saturday.

Sears, on the other hand, had a different strategy for boosting back-to-school sales. The retailer recently introduced a Facebook page with three applications designed to help college students plan for their move into dorms. It comes with such applications as a dorm room designer tool.

There’s just one problem. Sears is reaching out to the students; Wal-Mart contacted me, the parent. The one with the wallet that actually has money in it.

My daughter loves Facebook, but Sears’ new page isn’t going to interest her. Why? She doesn’t need it. The dorm designer application is provided online at the University of Nebraska Web site. So is the roommate matchup, a tool that allows you to get to know your college roommate.

But Sears’ bigger mistake, in my opinion, was focusing its efforts on the students. Wal-Mart moved up the money chain and marketed to the parents. If a bet were placed on which retailer garners the biggest share of the back-to-school pie, in the Field house, the money is on Wal-Mart.

-- Katherine Field

L.L. Bean-less

2009-07-27T15:04:00.004-05:00

There are times when I feel a little isolated living in Nebraska. Friday was one of those times. While thousands of people lined up to await the grand opening of the new L.L. Bean store that also signaled the first retail opening at Legacy Place in Dedham, Mass., I was only able to follow the fun online.

Never mind that it was pouring down rain in Dedham, which is just outside of Boston. Bean fans braved the elements for hours to jockey for upfront positions in the half-mile-long grand-opening line -- as the first 500 inside the store would receive gift cards ranging in value from $25 to $500.

L.L. Bean’s newest store is a two-level, 30,000-sq.-ft. space that is built to silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. Its new home, Legacy Place, is a 675,000-sq.-ft. open-air center developed by WS Development and National Amusements. “The first store opening at Legacy Place is a major milestone for us,” said David Fleming, the corporate marketing director for WS and, I have to say, a good friend of mine. “As evidenced by the turnout, we couldn’t have asked for a better retailer than L.L. Bean to help us open the center.”

I’ll say. I just wish that Nebraska had an L.L. Bean store. The closest one to me is near Chicago, about 500 miles away. And since this Dedham store is the only one the retailer will open in 2009, I’m out of luck for any hopes of a heartland store any time soon.

The next best thing to being there? Check out a video of the opening.

-- Katherine Field

Viva La Sunday

2009-07-17T12:25:00.006-05:00

Never mind that racy ads and daily wine-drinking are the norm in France. The majority of the notoriously uninhibited French population says that Sunday shopping would erode the ‘French way of life.’

The Sunday shopping ban, in place in France since 1906, has been the topic of much debate of late. The National Assembly voted on July 14 to relax the ban and allow French cities to create special retail zones for Sunday shopping.

It would mean some big changes for the small country. Employees would have to be paid double-time to work on Sundays -- and they are free to refuse to work if they choose.

If the statistics are right, a bunch of retail employees may continue to keep their Sundays free. One opinion poll found that 55% oppose lifting the ban; 57% said they would refuse to work on Sunday.

A whopping 85% said Sunday should remain a day off.

Remember when our own country operated under a similar code? In my hometown, during the 1960’s and ‘70s, no store was open on Sunday, except perhaps the local grocer or convenience store. And Blue Laws prohibited alcohol sales on Sunday.

Despite heavy opposition, the French shopping ban is expected to win Senate approval next week and be adopted later in July.

Perhaps as we continue to send our associates to the unemployment line, we could direct them overseas. I hear there may be plenty of Sunday jobs available, and the pay is great.

-- Katherine Field

Kohl’s can thank me later

2009-07-10T13:10:00.002-05:00

Kohl’s owes me, and the retailer doesn’t even know it yet.

My 84-year-old mother traveled from her home in Louisiana to visit me a couple of weeks ago, and while we were lunching together at one of my favorite cafes, she commented on a particular outfit I was wearing.

I shared with her that it was a Dana Buchman ensemble, which I had recently purchased at Kohl’s.

Dana Buchman? At Kohl’s? Mom’s eyebrows raised, as I knew they would. My mother is one of those well-to-do, fashionable, elderly types who dresses to the nines even for her weekly grocery-shopping excursion. She favors high-end brands and timeless pieces -- in great quantity. (My older sister went through Mom’s closet recently, and counted 14 pairs of almost-identical black slacks. And not a single pair cost less than $150.)

Mom loves Dana Buchman, but she purchases the designer’s items from high-end department stores – not Kohl’s. When I told her that Dana Buchman now had an exclusively-for-Kohl’s line of apparel and fashion accessories -- at supremely discounted prices -- she was visibly interested. And I knew it was only a matter of time before she scouted out her local Shreveport, La. Kohl’s store.

She found it -- and only one day after her return home from her visit with me in Lincoln.

Mom now owns 11 Dana Buchman pieces from Kohl’s. And I can assure you that this is just the beginning. She will now add Kohl’s to her shopping trail, and that means regular visits and sizeable purchases.

I’ve shopped Kohl’s for years -- but until Dana Buchman entered the picture I will admit that I had never bought clothes for myself. The retailer was my go-to for my son’s shorts and my daughter’s tops and underwear, but little else. Since Kohl’s added a label I love, I have now begun exploring other departments -- and recently made a bedding purchase that topped $500.

Kohl’s seems to be figuring out what other retailers are still struggling to understand -- what shoppers want and what motivates us to part with our money even during a recessionary period.

Kohl’s doesn’t really owe me anything, but I’d like to think that I will have played a part -- albeit a small one -- when the next quarter’s sales results reflect an unexpected increase in the southern region.

-- Katherine Field

Shopping Scheels

2009-07-06T09:48:00.002-05:00

The fall 2009 football season started early in Lincoln, Neb., this year -- in July, with a preseason game in the aisles of Scheels All Sports.

I went shopping last week for wide-receiver gloves for my son Jake, an incoming high school sophomore and soon-to-be member of the Lincoln East football team. Our first, and only, stop was the local Scheels at SouthPointe Pavilion, an open-air lifestyle center owned by RED Development.

The glove aisle was overwhelming -- a full wall, top to bottom, of hand-gear for every offensive and defensive position. Within seconds of our arrival, however, a Scheels associate headed over to offer his assistance.

I’d say he was in his late teens, maybe early 20’s. He clearly had played football, and knew more than enough about the glove selection and the types/brands Jake needed to try out.

My son is not a fast shopper. He ponders and waffles until I want to scream. (My husband and I used to draw straws for who would take Jake to the toy store to spend his allowance -- the loser accompanied him to Toys “R” Us.) But the associate never batted an eye, staying by Jake’s side through the entire pondering and waffling process. When my son finally narrowed his choices down to two pairs of gloves, the associate trotted to the football aisle, grabbed a high-school game ball and tossed it to my son.

Trading back and forth between the two pairs of receiver gloves, my son caught passes from the associate. The two began expanding the distance between them until the football sailed from one end of the aisle to the other, with me caught in the middle and running for cover.

I have no idea if this is standard operating procedure at Scheels, but no one looked askance at a couple of guys playing football in the store. And the impromptu game allowed my son to test out the gloves and make an informed decision, which made the $45 purchase that much easier for me to swallow.

Yesterday, my husband took Jake back to Scheels for football cleats. The two came home raving about the young woman in the shoe department -- a former college basketball player who knew as much about football shoes as she did about shooting hoops. While Jake didn’t run sprints through the store, he was able to jog around the department in a dozen pairs of shoes until he found exactly the right pair.

Scheels is based in Fargo, N.D., with 23 stores in eight mostly Midwestern and upper-Midwestern states. The retailer’s largest store to-date opened late last year at the Legends at Sparks Marina, another RED Development project that debuted near Reno, Nev. The 295,000-sq.-ft. store features some pretty wild attractions -- an electric trolley traverses the parking lot, and a Ferris Wheel and a 35-ft. Wildlife Mountain offer in-store entertainment. But most significant? The store advertises that “each shop is staffed with experts who are focused on their passions.” I believe it, and I’ll return to our local store to leverage that expertise toward making the right gear and apparel purchases for my family.

I know a few companies, such as Home Depot, that could take a page out of Scheels’ book. The privately held sporting goods retailer has set an example of how to maintain its core service values even during an economic downturn.

-- Katherine Field

Darden Restaurants looks to cut costs -- and wait times

2009-06-30T08:19:00.004-05:00

Wal-Mart Stores is an acknowledged master in the retail industry when it comes to dealing with vendors and controlling costs. And now the nation’s largest full-service restaurant chain is hoping to learn from its example.

The July/August issue of Fast Company magazine reports that Darden Restaurants -- operator of Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse -- has launched an ambitious plan to transform its supply chain, with the hopes of saving some $20 million annually. In the article, “Why America is Addicted to Olive Garden,” senior VP Barry Moullet says Darden is studying Wal-Mart to "understand the components of cost" with its vendors and become a better and more informed negotiator.

The article provides a fascinating glimpse into some of the inner workings at Darden, including the critical role leading-edge technology plays in its success (in that, it is similar to Wal-Mart). The restaurant chain’s IT department is headed by Patti Reilly White, chief information officer, who leads a 170-person team. Among White’s projects: a pilot program to reduce wait times by having waiters use handheld devices to submit orders and payments at the table, thereby eliminating lag time.

She also has launched another project to share wait times across restaurants so that a hostess or host can guide customers to nearby Darden units that are not as busy. In the future, White envisions giving customers online access to the information.

Additionally, Darden is working on an automated ordering system that will eventually replenish its restaurants based on electronic-tagged inventory and guest-traffic forecasts.

There’s a lot more in the article, including a profile of the top man at Darden: CEO Clarence Otis. The son of a janitor from Los Angeles’ troubled Watts neighborhood, Otis is one of a handful of African-American CEOs in the Fortune 500.

-- Marianne Wilson

A famous Father's Day card

2009-06-19T11:32:00.007-05:00

In my e-mail inbox this morning was a Father’s Day video card from Famous Footwear. No, I’m not a dad, but I’m married to one – and, equally on point, I can appreciate what the St. Louis-based discount shoe retailer is doing to unconventionally woo shoppers.

The subject line, “A little something special to lift your spirits,” wasn’t particularly revealing, but intriguing enough to prompt me to open the message. Inside, I clicked on a video box and watched a charming video of a young father romping with his tiny daughter in a sunny outdoor setting. A Father’s Day wish preceded the final thought: Make Today Famous.

A ‘forward to a friend’ prompt will allow me to send this message to any of my friends and family. Clever, and an example of a retailer that is thinking outside the box in tough times and coming up with a cost-effective and attention-grabbing way to reach out and touch current and potential customers.

I was planning on visiting my husband’s favorite little tobacco shop this weekend for a couple of nice Father’s Day cigars, but now I’m thinking shoes….

-- Katherine Field

FAO remembered, and refreshed

2009-05-28T14:03:00.005-05:00

The recent news that FAO Schwarz had been acquired by Toys ‘R’ Us sent me on a little impromptu journey down memory lane.

I’m not from New York, nor was I raised in any city with an FAO Schwarz toy store, but still the venerable retailer has played a big part in my life. I first met Dik Glass, then senior VP store development for FAO Schwarz, in 1989. He and I worked together on a cover story for another retail magazine, and forged a long and enduring friendship.

When my son Jake was born in 1993, Dik gave him a life-sized stuffed replica of Coco the gorilla. He proffered the gorilla in the middle of a presentation I was making in Houston, only because he knew it would make me laugh. (What Dik didn’t realize, though, was that to get Coco back to Nebraska from Texas, I had to buy an additional airline seat, something I never told him!). Coco has been a fixture in the Field House ever since and is still today a top-ranking treasure on Jake’s must-always-keep list.

Dik’s gift, and his friendship, sparked a keen interest in FAO Schwarz for both Jake and his older sister Holley. We visited the store in Kansas City, in Country Club Plaza, when it opened in 1994, and made the 215-mile trip east a quarterly trek for almost a decade. Every time we visited, each of my children would pick out one toy to take home -- and I would report back to Dik what the kids picked and how much we enjoyed our visit and the interaction with the store associates.

I haven’t spoken with Dik in years, and a quick Google this morning revealed that he is now CEO of MorseHarris Holdings, an Old Greenwich, Ct.-based project management firm that worked on the Hershey’s Times Square flagship in New York City. As well, the company -- whose founders are former FAO owners -- is responsible for FAO Schwarz’s real estate, design and construction.

That Dik is still involved with the creation of great stores designed to delight both children and their parents comes as no surprise to me. It’s what he was meant to do. I only hope that Toys “R” Us does what the company’s chairman and CEO promised it would do in today’s acquisition announcement: to “work tirelessly to preserve the distinctiveness and integrity of the FAO Schwarz stores and brand as we grow the business and, indeed, take the brand to even greater heights.”

-- Katherine Field

Making the ‘connection’ with Ann Taylor’s call center

2009-05-14T08:20:00.005-05:00

I’m just as “connected” as the next gal -- e-mail, iPhone, texting, instant messages, Facebook, e-commerce, you name it. But a recent experience reminded me that even the coolest “apps” don’t hold a candle to the guidance a knowledgeable customer service agent can provide.

One of my friends is getting married and while I have a closet-full of potential ensembles for the occasion, I decided to treat myself to a new dress. I found the ideal little number on Ann Taylor’s Web site: a sleeveless black Ponte knit and satin cocktail dress adorned with a black satin belt and ruffle-trimmed crew neckline.

Rather than waste time calling or visiting local stores to find the dress in my size, I decided to order two sizes online, and try them on when they arrived, and then return the one that doesn’t fit.

After adding the two sizes to my virtual shopping cart, I wanted to give the dress’ image a final once-over before hitting the “checkout” icon -- this proved to be a mistake. When I returned to my shopping cart, one of the dresses mysteriously disappeared!

Worse, when I went back to the page where I originally ordered the dress, my size was no longer available. Someone obviously had the same buying intentions, but beat me to the punch!

I immediately called customer service and was connected with a lovely agent named Liz. After filling her in on my dilemma, she confirmed my fears -- the dress was no longer in stock online. “It’s a hot item,” she said. “I’m watching the inventory sell as we speak. But there is still hope. Have you tried our Style Finder service?”

I had not, so I asked Liz to explain what I was missing. Using a specific style number and size, the software hunts for the item across each store’s available inventory. When the desired merchandise is located, the application electronically places an order and the store is prompted to ship the merchandise to the shopper.

The shopper then provides the credit-card information to the customer service agent and is billed when the store ships the merchandise. There is a service fee of $7.50, as opposed to almost $10 for standard ground shipping online.

When I asked Liz what are the chances that she could find the dress, she said, “The service has a very high success rate, but there is a small chance that we may not find it. Overall, we have more happy customers than unhappy ones.”

Willing to take the risk, I abandoned my online order, gave Liz my Ann Taylor card information, wished her luck and hung up.

Within 15 minutes, I learned the sale was indeed meant to be. I received a confirmation e-mail explaining the dresses are available, and they would be shipped from a single location. The e-mail also said they were being shipped the next day and should arrive within three-to-five business days.

Clearly, this service has been a staple at physical stores for years, and thanks to Liz, now I know it’s an option through the call center. By integrating the solution across the two channels, Ann Taylor is upping the ante on customer service -- and it is working. The experience reminded me why I am a loyal Ann Taylor and LOFT shopper, and now I have a new strategy when shopping online.

Now comes the hard part -- I pray that I am equally satisfied with my purchase when it arrives.

Epilogue:
Literally minutes after filing this blog, there was a knock at our front door. It was UPS delivering my dresses -- only one day after placing the order. By the way, the size 10 won!

-- Deena M. Amato-McCoy

Greetings, Norman, and welcome to Wal-Mart

2009-05-08T14:10:00.001-05:00

I grew up in north Louisiana, where the humidity is high, the cypress moss is heavy and the rivers and bayous are murky and thick. (You have to be from there to love it.)

One of my favorite activities as a child and young teen was traversing the waterways in a kayak with my dad and twin sister. We would start out early in the morning, with a lunch packed by mom and our oars in hand, and work our way through the green slime to get into the open water where we would alternate between floating and paddling. And beating nutria over the head.

That’s right, nutria. (For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a nutria is a swimming rat.) Hardly an excursion went by without one of those gross swimming rats trying to claw its way out of the water and into our craft. My sister and I would scream, “Nutria, yuck!” and begin to beat it over the head with our oars until it would let go of the kayak and plop back into the water.

Those wonderful memories were rekindled when I read the recent account of Norman the nutria, a “pet” bayou rat that allegedly freely roamed the aisles of an Abbeville, La., Wal-Mart. (Abbeville is way south in the state, where everyone should accept nutria, and armadillos, as a routine part of life, in my opinion.)

Apparently, Norman frightened a Wal-Mart shopper, who is now suing the retailer for “pain, suffering, mental anguish, fear, disabling injuries, and medical expenses.” Rebecca White said in her lawsuit that the Abbeville Wal-Mart associates allowed the nutria to run loose in the store and that, when she was pushing her shopping cart down an aisle, Norman ran out from behind a rack and frightened her. She said she injured her back and foot trying to protect herself from the nutria.

Reports described nutria as having bright orange buck teeth and weighing up to 18 lbs. That sounds about right.

Wal-Mart has declined comment about the pending lawsuit, but I would offer the following suggestion. Let Norman continue to be the mascot, but provide any leery shopper with a borrowed oar from the outdoor department.

-- Katherine Field

General Growth Properties: Still alive and kicking

2009-04-28T13:40:00.005-05:00

In last week’s Omaha World Herald, as in many newspapers nationwide, I suspect, a page two story speculated about what the General Growth Properties bankruptcy filing would mean for the shoppers and retailers who visit and inhabit, respectively, the two Omaha-area malls owned by the shopping center giant.

I knew the story’s ending before I reached it. Nothing. Because Westroads and Oak View malls weren’t among the 160 malls listed as part of the bankruptcy filing -- and even those that are likely won’t notice a blip; GGP’s legal insolvency will be virtually imperceptible at the mall level.

But that hasn’t stopped the rumblings. Ever since the Chicago-based developer filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York on April 16, the media and the bloggers have been busy. Would GGP crumble? What of the mall in my hometown? Would mall and corporate employees be sent packing?

General Growth owns some of the premier malls in the country, and its occupancy rate is 92.5%. The Chapter 11 filing is a tactical move to allow the company to regroup and restructure which, when the company exits bankruptcy in about a year, can lead to a stronger entity.

The New York Times called the bankruptcy the “biggest real estate collapse in American history,” and analysts said it’s a harbinger of troubles to come. That may be true. But General Growth can’t worry about that. It’s got malls to lease and manage and tenants to deal with. And so far it’s done a pretty good job of both. Despite the downturn, General Growth’s properties appear to have held up better than many.

And to those who would say the bankruptcy is an indicator that more troubles are on the way and that the mall industry as a whole is on the brink of disaster, Stephen Sterrett, CFO of the nation’s largest mall owner Simon Property Group, was quoted as saying, “It’s important for people to understand that [General Growth’s bankruptcy] is totally distinct from the business of the mall business. This is all related to their balance sheet and their capital. The fundamentals of the mall business are pretty good.”

I don’t mean to minimize the filing, the reasons behind it, or the foretelling of struggles ahead. General Growth’s bankruptcy, say analysts, is likely to negatively impact mall values -- this at a time when real estate operators are already grappling to stay ahead of their debts and keep their centers leased. But, at the same time, the event certainly won’t go unnoticed -- and could even motivate measures that would help the industry as a whole.

Did it take a giant to fall to advance an industry’s cause? Let me know what you think.

And, yet, when General Growth emerges from bankruptcy -- albeit a little leaner but likely a lot healthier -- and if real estate will have benefited from additional government intervention, this story may have a happy ending after all.

-- Katherine Field

Lost business

2009-04-27T12:01:00.005-05:00

Sears lost my business yesterday. So did T.J. Maxx. Here’s what happened:

As soon as I walked into Sears (in Plainfield, N.J.), I noticed that the store was warm. It was hot outside -- an early blast of summer -- but that was no excuse. I stopped at several stores prior to Sears, including Walgreens, Target and A&P, and all of them were fine. I’m a hardy sort and the heat typically doesn’t bother me, but after about 10 minutes in Sears, I decided to pack it in. I wasn’t warm anymore: I was downright hot. And I noticed I wasn’t the only one. “I thought I was having a hot flash,” I heard one woman say to another, “until my son asked me, ‘Mom, why is it so hot in here?’”

As I was leaving, I stopped at a check out to ask if there was a problem with the air-conditioning: Was it broken? One of the sales people told me, “We don’t know. They don’t tell us anything.” Another associate added that the air-conditioning hadn’t worked properly for most of last July, “and I hated coming to work every day because once I got here, I had no energy.”

I’ve written for years about how important a store’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning level is to the overall shopping experience, and about how a malfunctioning HVAC system translates into lost sales. But not until yesterday did I really experience it first hand. I would hope that Sears has enough respect for its customers and employees -- because they are the ones who suffer most in these type of situations -- to get its air-conditioning fixed and back on track before summer really kicks in.

After leaving Sears, I stopped at T.J. Maxx (in Union, N.J.), where the indoor comfort level was remarkably better. After trying on a couple of items, I made my way to the check out. The line was long, and not moving very fast (actually, it wasn’t moving at all). Then I saw the cause of the problem: only one -- ONE -- register was open (this in the middle of a Sunday afternoon). And it was staffed by a harried-looking young man, who looked only 17. I heard someone say he was waiting for a price check. I looked at the merchandise in my hand, all discretionary items, and decided it wasn’t worth the wait. A young woman who was about to get in line came to the same conclusion. “Forget it,” she said to her friend. “There’s only one guy working and the line isn’t moving.”

I’m hoping my experiences yesterday at the Sears and T.J. Maxx stores were out of the ordinary, and that they respect their customers enough, in Sears’ case, to provide an optimum temperature environment, and, in T.J. Maxx’s case, to provide a better level of store support. Because if they don’t, ultimately, it’s not the customers who suffer, it’s the companies themselves.

-- Marianne Wilson

Glass to retire as Wal-Mart director

2009-04-22T13:16:00.004-05:00

“Mephistopheles” is retiring from the Wal-Mart board of directors, effective June 5.

Actually, it’s just David Glass, and he’s not really the Devil. If you’re a Wal-Mart fan, you probably think he’s more like an archangel, considering all the positive things that occurred during his watch as a board member since 1977 and as president and CEO of the Bentonville, Ark.-based giant from 1988 to 2000.

In many ways, Glass was instrumental in making Wal-Mart into a retail giant. He was one of Sam Walton’s early disciples, joining the chain when it had just 123 stores. It was to Glass, not Jack Shewmaker, that Walton entrusted the legacy of his chain. Glass helped engineer Wal-Mart’s vaunted distribution system, its reliance on information technology, and the launch of Sam’s Club and the company’s supercenter format. He also began Wal-Mart’s international expansion, with an acquisition in Mexico. “Retail is detail,” it is often said, and for Glass the “devil was in the details.”

During Glass’s 33-year tenure, Wal-Mart grew from $340 million in sales to $401 billion. Global store count grew to 7,873 stores.

Known for his dry wit, Glass was not flashy. He appeared uncomfortable doing many of the public appearances a corporate leader must endure. In that way, he was no Sam Walton. But in his deep baritone voice he rarely faltered in defense of Wal-Mart.

Which brings me to why I called him Mephistopheles: In 1992, Glass was interviewed by NBC’s “Dateline” news show about the company’s “Buy America” sourcing program and its purchases of goods made in overseas factories that allegedly employed underage workers.

Clearly not prepared for the questioning and the video evidence presented to him, Glass cut off the interview. But what struck many observers at the time was the tone NBC set for the interview. Its own correspondent was filmed straight on. But Glass was filmed from a camera angle just above the floor that dramatically accentuated his thick and bushy eyebrows and his quavering jowls. He came off like the devil incarnate.

Wal-Mart, and David Glass, learned from that experience that they needed to be more media savvy. Not angelic. Just savvy.

Check out Chain Store Age's story on Glass here.

-- Murray Forseter

The Bridal Registry ‘A-Ha Moment’

2009-04-21T14:52:00.002-05:00

These days, it’s more common than not for a chain to offer a gift-registry service. But a recent shopping trip sparked an “A-Ha Moment” for me: Those retailers that want their registry service to stand out from competitors -- and even be viewed as “special” -- need to pay attention to the smallest of details when closing a “gifting” sale.

It all started with an invite I received to a bridal shower. It contained an insert listing the stores where she and her fiancé were registered: Fortunoff’s and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Since the invites were mailed after Fortunoff’s demise, my choice was easy.

I hit www.bedbathandbeyond.com to get some ideas and there it was -- an 8x10 Lenox frame that had the right combination of elegance and price.

Upon arriving at my local Bed, Bath & Beyond store, I made a beeline straight to the bridal and gift-registry section, an impressive department filled with a complete assortment of fine china, everyday-ware and other fine gifts. The department supervisor welcomed me, and printed out my friend’s bridal registry.

We chatted briefly about the details of Susan’s upcoming shower, including venue, date and whether it was a surprise. Then I pointed out my gift, and within minutes she returned with the frame. We were off to a good start.

As she handed me the frame, I asked, “You don’t gift wrap here?”

“Of course we do,” she said. “Did you need that wrapped?”

I was suddenly confused. She knew it was for a shower. That should have been her first question before even handing over the frame.

This all got me thinking: Now, more than ever, chains need to focus on customer service. Paying attention to even the smallest of details makes all the difference. In-stock merchandise and attentive associates are great, but ensuring that I am set with wrapping, greeting cards and gift receipts are just as important.

Not to mention, I was a prime candidate for a little upselling. Did I need a wishing well suggestion? Did I want to consider any wedding gifts? Unfortunately, the associate missed her opportunity to find out.

Clearly, the chain has the fundamentals of a successful gifting program in place. By following my aforementioned suggestions, however, I think Bed Bath & Beyond could move beyond a retailer that merely offers a gift registry, and establish itself as the gifting destination.

-- Deena M. Amato-McCoy

Sears revives buyer protection plan

2009-04-07T09:12:00.003-05:00

Sears has a new KidVantage Club program that offers “user” protection to parents. The program will replace an apparel item that wears out before a child outgrows it.

It’s an interesting idea, especially at a time when parents are looking to extend the value of their investment in their children. But it’s not the first time Sears has tried this tactic. Some 20 years ago Sears made the same offer for its Toughskins denim children’s line. That guarantee failed to excite sufficient allegiance during a period when the appeal of brand name jeans -- even for toddlers -- far outweighed Sears’ private-label offering.

This time Sears has extended buyer protection to almost all labels carried. In addition, buyers will receive 15% discounts on future purchases once they buy $100 worth of clothing or shoes.

Sears is pushing in-store activity. KidVantage can be accessed only through a store visit. It’s not available online. Considering that comp-store sales tumbled 9.5% in 2008, and an even greater 11% in the fourth quarter, Sears might have felt compelled to do something to generate more in-store traffic.

— Murray Forseter

Celebrating Walgreens

2009-04-06T09:04:00.004-05:00

In past issues of Chain Store Age, we have written about Walgreens’ inclusive hiring policies, which focus heavily on employing the disabled. But witnessing the chain’s commitment in person really drives its consequences home.

On Saturday, I visited my neighborhood Walgreens for a couple of sundry items and, during checkout, chatted with the elderly cashier who is usually there when I shop. With measurable snow predicted for the rest of the weekend, our amiable conversation inevitably wandered to the incoming weather, and soon “Norman” was offering me advice on how to protect my fledgling tulips and daffodils from six inches of wet snow.

Although I’ve been talking with him on and off for several years, I had no idea Norman was an accomplished gardener. And, in our five-minute conversation (there was no one else in line), I learned something else about him: He has Alzheimer's Disease.

With no prompting from me, Norman went on to say what Walgreens has done for him. When he was diagnosed about a year ago, he went straight to his manager and explained the situation. He said there was no hesitation on the part of Walgreens about his job security. He was to keep working and he would have their full support.

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” he told me. “Sometimes I have trouble remembering which keys to press on the cash register.” But, in times of difficulty, another associate will step in and assist, without making him feel badly about his confusion.

“I’ve actually gotten better because of Walgreens,” he said. “My doctor said it’s because I’m keeping busy and continuing to exercise my mind.”

We’re all better because of Walgreens. Despite an economic downturn that saw Walgreens announcing in January it would cut 1,000 jobs and slow store openings, the company has stayed the course in continuing an innovative hiring program that aims to have 3,000 disabled people on the payroll by 2015.

I’m not sure that Norman falls under the customary “disabled” classification, but he faces many of the same challenges that would make him unemployable by most organizations’ standards. That Walgreens has not tolerated, but rather embraced, his disability speaks volumes about the retailer.

-- Katherine Field

Toys ‘R’ Us sells peace and quiet

2009-04-03T09:47:00.002-05:00

My children are 30 and 27 years old, and I am not yet blessed with grandchildren. Thus, my visits inside a Toys “R” Us store are not as frequent as they were decades ago. So it was with a little bit of bemusement and nostalgia that I read that Toys “R” Us is adding a low-cost department in the front of its stores featuring approximately 100 items for $1, $2 or $3 with themes such as dinosaurs, games and fun toys, princess dress up, musical instruments, art supplies and party favors.

The company is calling the new departments “$1-$2-$3 Fun!” shops, but old timers might recall that Toys “R” Us used to have a power alley that customers had to traverse before getting into the belly of each store. Stocked with low-priced items similar to what will go into the $1-$2-$3 Fun! shops, the merchandise had a slightly less politically correct name. The goods were known as “shut up toys,” meaning parents would bribe their kids to behave properly inside the toy emporium by buying them a low-priced plaything.

Toys “R” Us says it believes parents “will appreciate the exceptional values found in our $1-$2-$3 Fun! Shops.” I believe they’ll equally appreciate the peace and quiet a few bucks will buy.

— Murray Forseter

The parrot is back

2009-03-20T16:01:00.007-05:00

One of the more annoying but identifiable radio advertising mascots, the Marty’s Shoes parrot, is back. Consigned to advertising purgatory when Secaucus, N.J.-based Marty’s closed its 47 stores last year, the parrot returned to the airwaves this week hawking a resurrected chain of, for now, three units.

Operated by the founding Samowitz family, Marty’s three stores are in Garwood, Greenbrook and Westwood. The new chain is headquartered in Westwood.

Marty’s return from the dead is but another example that retail franchises may have multiple lives.

Despite going out of business at the end of 2008, West Coast-based Mervyns is seeking an afterlife. Last month the Morriss family bought back the intellectual property as well as naming rights to the company founded by Mervin Morriss. Media reports suggest Morriss’ sons want to relaunch as an internet-based retailer.

That’s the route Montgomery Ward has taken back to life. Though its stores, catalog and Internet operations closed in 2001, Ward was revived on the Web and in print in 2004.

Bringing companies back to life, or at the very least buying up the trademark rights and then reselling them to parties who see equity in the brands, appears to be a thriving cottage industry, made more so by the continuing economic hardships that are forcing many retailers to discontinue operations. Among the retail brand names purchased and awaiting a second life are Linens ‘n Things, The Sharper Image and Bombay Co.

Among the group, only Marty’s had a distinctive radio personality. Truth be told, to this discerning listener’s ear, this time out of the cage the parrot has a slightly less strident squawk.

— Murray Forseter

Gap looks for comeback

2009-03-13T11:47:00.003-05:00

It’s been a long time coming, but Gap may finally be waking up to the fact that a brand can’t live on cost-cutting alone. Speaking at the Bank of America 2009 Consumer Conference, chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy, a man who to this reporter has often seemed missing-in-action, said Gap hasn’t been played the hand it was given as well as it should have, and that it was “unacceptable” that the company was losing market share. Amen, on both counts, I say.

Murphy was frank in cataloging the company’s failures, starting with its namesake division’s unexciting, uninspiring and outdated store fleet. He acknowledged his disappointment that Old Navy was not gaining market share at a time when other low-cost value formats were gaining. He also said “shame on us” with regards to the fact that the brand’s store design has remained virtually unchanged since it launched 15 years ago.

Looking to the future, Murphy implied that changes are in the works. Old Navy is testing two prototypes, and Gap will debut a new store design in the third quarter. Banana Republic also has a pilot store in the works, along with a new store design.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Gap has promised a lot over the past several years, but hasn’t done a very good job when it comes to the follow-up. I don’t know if the brand can ever regain its cache, but now -- a time when many of the companies, including Abercrombie & Fitch, that took away its market share are struggling -- would be a good time to try. One big thing in the company’s favor is its balance sheet: Gap has no debt and is sitting on $1.8 billion in cash. That’s not a bad position to be in these days. Gap should use it to its advantage.

— Marianne Wilson

What Downturn?

2009-02-19T15:04:00.001-05:00

I was convinced that Staples wouldn’t actually put a store at the corner of 48th and “O” Streets in Lincoln, Neb. The “Coming Soon” sign staked in the cleared ground had begun to fade, and the once pristine site was showing signs of accumulating debris.

I was wrong. A flurry of activity launched last week, and it is now clear that a new Staples is under way at one of my hometown’s busiest intersections.

Staples isn’t the only active builder. I received word a few days ago that development partners Steiner + Associates and Mall Properties were forging ahead with the new mixed-use project in Hampton Roads, Va. -- Peninsula Town Center. The 1.2-million-sq.-ft. development is slated for a summer opening and will feature upscale retail, dining and entertainment options, as well as significant office and residential components.

Another project marching forward is Northstar Communities, in Columbus, Ohio. Locally based Nationwide Realty Investors and The Robert Weiler Cos. cemented an equal partnership in the project in January, combining their residential and commercial development experience to add up to 832 single-family homes, two condominium projects, 1.5 million sq. ft. of retail and office space, and 810 acres of green space.

NRI is also beginning construction on the first phase of Grandview Yard next month, which is located less than two miles from Ohio State University and will encompass 1.5 to 2 million sq. ft. of retail, restaurants, office and residential units. When completed, Grandview Yard will bring 5,000 additional jobs to the City of Grandview Heights, Ohio, and will more than double the city’s income tax base by adding an additional $5 million annually.

My inbox has been flooded with more stories of projects that are marching forward, despite the downturn. And I’ll keep sharing those stories with you, lest you think the world of retail has gone silent. Do you have a project status report to share? E-mail me!

— Katherine Field

Castles in the Sand

2009-02-13T17:13:00.004-05:00

I’ve often been asked about prospects for U.S. retailers opening stores overseas. My standard answer has been that with very few exceptions — Wal-Mart, Costco, Staples and fast food chains being the major ones — American retailers have their hands full on the domestic front. Most U.S. retailers still have not attained national status, so they don’t see the need, immediate or even long-term, to plant their logos on foreign soil.

My concluding (laugh) line sarcastically would note that most U.S. retailers have enough trouble operating here, so why should they export their troubles.

Those comments notwithstanding, the last few years witnessed an increasing interest by retailers, especially department stores and high-end specialty stores, to exploit the oasis in the desert known as Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

With office and residential towers scraping the sky and malls offering cool comfort from the desert heat, the Persian Gulf seemed to be the perfect international expansion outpost. Its economy based on finance, real estate and tourism, Dubai attracted the global wealthy elite and those who built and serviced their surroundings.

But the worldwide financial crisis has humbled Dubai. Construction projects have stopped in mid-air; workers are fleeing the country, as The New York Times reported earlier this week.

At least for now, what was once a retail oasis is now no more than a mirage.

— Murray Forseter

Clipping the Coupons

2009-02-12T14:06:00.004-05:00

My husband often teases me about how much I love a bargain. I do, and I have the coupons and loyalty cards to prove it.

Stop & Shop, Pathmark and Waldbaums all consider me a loyal shopper. I have CVS’ little red key fob on my key ring in case I forget the regular-sized loyalty card. And I never leave home without my Banana Republic, Gap or Ann Taylor credit cards.

While I look forward to the many rewards and promotions I receive via e-mail and snail mail, Banana Republic’s most recent promotion could be setting the tone for things to come regarding loyalty rewards.

Most of my favorite stores do a pretty good job of rewarding me for my patronage. Stride Rite sends me a $3 discount card every few months reminding me that one of my girls needs new shoes or sneakers. Ann Taylor and LOFT send 20% discount promotions, and The Gap and Banana Republic tempt me with $10 rewards certificates for every 1,000 points I earn (not a tough task when every $1 I spend equates to five points). And just this morning I printed out an online coupon for $5 off my next $30 CVS purchase.

While I love receiving discounts, I can also recall countless times when I was at checkout fumbling in my wallet or bag trying to remember where I tucked away the coveted coupon. Rather than hold up the line, more often than not, I say, “forget it,” only to pay full price.

Just as often, I return home ranting: “Why can’t retailers just electronically load these promotions onto my loyalty or store-branded credit-card account and apply it when the card is swiped during checkout? Enough with these paper coupons!”

The Gap Inc. must have finally caught on to my pain because this week they sent a promotion that does just that. I just received an invitation from Banana Republic to “Save an Extra 10%” on every purchase between now and April 30. But instead of the usual credit card-shaped promotional card, the invitation featured a letter from Banana Republic president Jack Calhoun that expressed Banana’s gratitude for my loyalty during “these changing times,” and invited me to take 10% off of every card purchase I make over the next 90 days. More impressive, the letter went on to add “No offer cards to clip. No e-mails to print. Simply use your Banana card to automatically receive your discount.”

Banana Republic’s promotion is putting those pretty hints of spring -- in the form of earth- and spice-toned dresses, skirts and tops -- within reach. And as I struggle to get out of the door with my two pre-schoolers, finally, I don’t have to try to remember where I put my coupons.

Now if I can just make -- and stick to -- a reasonable spring wardrobe budget, I am in business.

By Deena M. Amato-McCoy

CSI Has Nothing on Target Corp.

2009-02-09T10:47:00.004-05:00

I was amazed last fall when I came across an article in The New Yorker that presented an inside view into something that most chains are not very open about: loss prevention. The author succeeded in getting one of the nation’s most press-shy public retailers, Target Corp., to discuss its anti-theft efforts — he even got a tour of the company’s crime lab. (In fact, I wrote about the article here, in a Sept. 18 posting called “Must Reading: ‘Stop Thief!’” Scroll down to find it.)

Now Target has gone one step further, opening up its lab and crime-busting efforts to ABC News in a segment that aired Feb. 2 on “Nightline.” The spot is mainly focused on Target’s effort to combat the growing problem of organized retail theft, and includes footage of criminals at work in Target stores (in one sequence, a couple clears out an entire shelf of iPods) and interviews with the chain’s crime fighters. It also includes some sobering statistics.

All in all, Target comes across as one savvy and sophisticated retailer when it comes to protecting its goods. Click here for the segment in case you missed it.

Marianne Wilson

The Wrong Way to Build Market Share

2009-01-29T17:37:00.002-05:00

Conventional wisdom suggests this is the perfect time to build market share by either buying troubled companies or picking up locations distressed retailers have made available. A report Thursday out of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, carried that theme forward with comments from outgoing Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson that the consumer electronics retailer might take advantage of bankruptcies in the retail sector by snapping up vacant store locations.

My advice — Don’t Do It!

Perhaps Anderson was just being courteous and casually responding to the possibilities put forward by a reporter asking about Circuit City and the real estate now available because it is closing. After all, Anderson also was quoted as saying, “We are looking at some of those (stores), but our first priority is to stay cash strong. We would be more cautious than we would (be) in most environments and take advantage of less of that than we would have a year or two ago.”

The weight of history, at least in retailing, is that companies that grow on the carcasses of failed or failing retailers oftentimes wind up sharing the graveyard, or at least have one foot in it.

Some examples:

• Ames thought it would expand beyond New England regional status by purchasing Zayre and Hills. All it did was buy their respective problems. Ames shortly thereafter went out of business.

• Gottschalks expanded in the Pacific Northwest by purchasing Lamonts. Gottschalks is now in bankruptcy protection.

• May Department Stores became fodder for Federated to grow. Even after changing the names of the stores and the company to Macy’s, the business is dreary, mostly dragged down by the former May stores.

• Bon-Ton Stores grew from a regional player by buying Carson Pirie Scott from Saks. Nothing tangibly good has come from that acquisition.

• Going back 30-plus years, Kmart rapidly expanded by picking up many W.T. Grant stores. Yes, the buy helped Kmart become national faster than organic growth would have. But Kmart was saddled with many poor locations that contributed to its less than stellar reputation.

Some companies have successfully grown by acquisition. Target comes to mind. It bought Gold Circle, Richway, Gemco, Memco and other stores. And in its early years Wal-Mart bought smaller chains, such as Kuhn’s/Big K.

But mostly, successful retailers grew organically, by picking sites that matched their real estate strategies. They didn’t compromise their beliefs merely to save a few dollars on a location that was slightly off.

Location. Location. Location. If the location does not exactly match, pass it up. After all, one reason Best Buy is still standing, as is Bed Bath & Beyond vis-à-vis Linens ’n Things, is that it had better real estate than Circuit City.

Especially now, build market share from within. Don’t buy other people’s problems.

—Murray Forseter

(Don’t) Spread the Word

2009-01-19T10:20:00.004-05:00

Much like the rumor that grows and changes as it gets whispered ear-to-ear, the Internet has the same power to tarnish the truth and make believers out of make-believe.

I received one of those “pass the word” kinds of chain e-mails. While it didn’t promise a pot of gold at the end of three days if I forwarded it to just 20 of my friends and colleagues, it did request that I do the right thing and send it to everyone I know.

The subject of the e-mail was Target. And why I, and everyone I know, shouldn’t shop at Target. The reasons were because Target had recently denied a Vietnam veteran’s fund-raising request to have Target sponsor the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during a spring recognition event.

The message’s sender claims to be a Vietnam veteran and he is hopping mad at Target. So he decided to dig up some dirt. And what did he find? That Target is a French-owned corporation.

Am I missing something? Last time I checked, Target was American born and raised, with not even a store on French soil.

But this vet feels strongly, and I quote, that “if Target cannot support American Veterans, then why should my family and I support their stores by spending our hard earned American dollars! And have their profits sent to France!”

What is most scary is that the person who sent it to me, with a personal note that read “Wow, I didn’t know this!”, is uber-educated, well-to-do and shopping-savvy. If she believed the message, that tells me many others may as well.

Of course, I doubt it will do much harm. Target is big enough to brush off such nonsense. But, then again, those spending dollars are getting harder and harder to come by, and no one, not even Target, can afford to have an embittered chain e-mailer urge even one consumer to shop elsewhere.

(One final note: I did hit “reply all” and let everyone on that one e-mail list know that much of the sender’s rantings were, in fact, baseless. It was the least I could do.)

—Katherine Field

A Retail Icon Disappears. Will More Follow?

2009-01-05T09:33:00.001-05:00

Perhaps you were pre-occupied with your own holiday activities and didn’t hear or read about it, but news broke just before Christmas that another link with retail history was about to be severed—the 807 Woolworths stores in the United Kingdom were to be shuttered by Jan. 5, ending 100 years of service to the British public.

There’s very little reason to be anything but nostalgic about this turn of events. Actually, that phrase, “turn of event,” implies a sudden reversal of fortune. That was hardly the case in the United Kingdom. The variety store chain’s departure from the retail scene just took longer than it did in the United States (1997).

“Let’s be clear about the demise of Woolworths. It was not caused by (prime minister) Gordon Brown, or the credit crunch,” Julian Finch of The Guardian wrote in mid-December. “It was caused by failing to attract enough shoppers to spend money. It was the result of being a horrible place to shop, which offered nothing that wasn’t cheaper or better elsewhere.”

In the coming weeks and months we no doubt will learn of many American retailers that no longer could keep their doors open during the current economic crisis. Some will succumb because they too were “horrible places to shop.” Others will fail because they too willingly believed that good times last forever and it was financially acceptable to leverage their future beyond reason in their pursuit of growth. Still others will find out that over-storing does in fact exist when the consumer reins in spending and that only those stores that differentiate themselves can survive such times.

We’ll all shed a tear, or at least get misty eyed, for the departed. Most, however, will not have had the flavorful history of Woolies.

—Murray Forseter

Not-So-Sweet Shopping

2008-12-18T15:46:00.002-05:00

Sugar is my new love. At just five months old, the miniature Goldendoodle with shaggy blonde hair and big brown eyes has stolen my heart. (Not a “designer dog” aficionado? A Goldendoodle is a combination of a poodle and golden retriever.)

Sugar has also chewed a hole in my wallet.

New-puppy expense goes far beyond the inevitable veterinarian bills. There’s the succession of collars, each bigger than the one bought two weeks before. And the expensive dog food, the training treats, the training class, and of course the accessories. I have bought Sugar a bandana for fall, one for Christmas, her very own blanket, and a toy box full of dog playthings.

While most of my shopping has been at my favorite PETCO store, a few items have come from online sources. The most recent Internet shopping experience, though, left me wanting. I got an e-mail from “In the Company of Dogs,” which advertised special holiday savings. When I checked out the merchandise, I saw a collar I simply had to have. (It was a pink-and-orange tropical design, perfect for my buff little blond with the surfer curls.) Reduced from $18.99 to $12.99, with free shipping to boot, the collar sailed into my cart and off to checkout I went. Everything went without a hitch, until I clicked “confirm purchase.”

At that moment, a receipt appeared on my screen—for $18.99, plus shipping, rather than the reduced price of $12.99, sans shipping. I sat there, not knowing what to do. The purchase was made, the company had my credit-card information, and the price was wrong.

I had no choice but to call the company, wait through interminable recorded messages and offers, hold while the customer-service staff served what the taped voice described as an “overload of calls,” and gradually become more frustrated as the minutes ticked by. Finally, I got my live person, explained the situation, and he looked up the purchase. He said, “But that collar is $18.99.” And I had to point him to the Web site where the collar was clearly under the sale items and reduced to $12.99. His response was, “Hmm.”

We finally got the mess straightened out, I was charged the correct price, and I have since confirmed that the reduced amount was what ultimately appeared on my credit-card statement. But I was left feeling very dissatisfied that the retailer couldn’t do a better job of integrating information. In this day and age, when sales are few and far between, retailers can’t afford to make these kinds of pedestrian mistakes.

Don’t get me wrong; Sugar loves her new collar. But her next one will come from someone else.

—Katherine Field

Holiday Zen = lululemon

2008-12-17T11:49:00.003-05:00

While Christmas shopping at Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y., bright and early Saturday morning, I passed lululemon Athletica and received my first holiday gift—an invitation to a free open yoga class.

A yoga enthusiast for 10 years, I look forward to taking “formal” classes led by knowledgeable teachers. With two kids and a full-time job, however, I don’t get to take advantage as often as I would like. lululemon may be just what I need to change that.

The first time I heard about lululemon was at the Technology and Operations Store Summit (TOPSS), sponsored by Chain Store Age and Retail Technology Quarterly in June. This Canadian company opened one store in 1998, with the intention of becoming a “community” where yoga enthusiasts could meet and discuss the benefits of yoga, as well as other aspects of living a healthy lifestyle.

Then a funny thing happened—consumers began flooding the store looking for apparel and accessories to help them pursue their passion for yoga. The chain began expanding, and today it is a 100-plus-store chain with locations in Canada, Australia and the United States.

The chain keeps its passion for yoga at the core of its business model. It offers free yoga classes to employees during their breaks and off-hours. They also give them the opportunity to try out lululemon merchandise, from apparel to accessories, such as mats and blocks.

Keeping true to this spirit, the open yoga classes are helping this lululemon location recreate that feeling of “community” among its shoppers. The Roosevelt Field store features a “Community Board,” which displays local yoga schools, class schedules and discounts. It also features a “Studio of the Month,” and invites teachers from the “honored” studio to lead these weekly classes.

The class I attended attracted 20 students. By moving merchandise displays to the back of the store, the selling floor was transformed into a yoga studio. The store provided the yoga mats, props and even filtered water, available from a water fountain displayed against a floor-to-ceiling sea-foam green tile back splash. Dimly lit track lighting, inspirational music, and statues of Buddhist frogs (which symbolize prosperity) and elephants (strength of the mind) added to the pleasant Zen-like atmosphere—something much-needed this time of year.

While the classes are a nice feature, I’m willing to bet they are helping to increase the store’s holiday traffic. Once the class was over, for example, I saw at least three people stay behind and browse the store.

I had to leave before enjoying everything the store had to offer—I only get so much free time without children these days! But I will definitely go back—for another class as well as to shop. And who knows. If my loved ones read my holiday wish list, I might even find a holiday treat from lululemon in my Christmas stocking.

—Deena M. Amato-McCoy

Black, and Blue, Friday

2008-12-02T16:53:00.002-05:00

I avoid Black Friday like the plague. As far as I am concerned, you have to be two things I’m not in order to survive the biggest shopping day of the year: You need to be comfortable in crowds, and you must be naturally confrontational. I am neither.

A small-town, spring-season version of Black Friday taught me early on that I have no stomach for the big-sale mentality. An exclusive boutique named Ida’s, in my childhood home of Mansfield, La., hosted an annual President’s Day sales event—called Ida’s 2.22 Sale. Everything—and I mean everything—in the store was marked down to $2.22 for one day only.

This was the one sale that could get my mother, my two sisters and me into a chilly February lineup at 7:00 a.m. (In the ‘60s and ‘70s, 4 a.m. would have been unheard of.) We would wait with the other townspeople in front of Ida’s door, which, by the way, opened into a remodeled garage at the back of Ida Wiggin’s home. When she threw the door open, we rushed in with everyone else to fight for the bargains.

When I say fight, I mean it. I can remember spying a pair of expensive pants in just my size and reaching for them at precisely the same time as another lady. With her holding onto the pant legs, and the waist band firmly gripped by me, we began to pull. Because I was a teenager and was growing increasingly upset, my mother intervened. (I ended up with the pants; you don’t cross my mother, especially when shopping.)

Feb. 22, 1974 was my last big sales shopping event. I realized that day I simply am not willing to wait in line while it’s still dark outside. And I don’t have the stomach to fight over merchandise.

This past Saturday, I read both national and local accounts of Black Friday tragedies and mishaps. The tragedy, of course, occurred at Wal-Mart—and if a death doesn’t tell us that we’ve gone out of control as a shopping nation, nothing will. Locally, we had incidents of a knife being brandished and several unarmed assault charges filed, but fortunately no injuries or deaths resulted.

My family was safe at home on Friday, snug in our beds while others tussled over televisions and waved weapons over laptops. Later that morning, I checked in with my mother, who still lives in Louisiana, and she reported that she stayed home as well. Seems that, at age 83, she no longer has the stamina, or the stomach, for the fight.

—Katherine Field

Reinventing Kohl’s

2008-11-20T15:03:00.005-05:00

Kohl’s local makeover somehow slipped up on me.

Because one of the company’s stores in Lincoln, Neb., is located very near my house, it is a fairly routine stop for me for purchases such as young men’s jeans and shorts for my son, junior tops for my daughter, and candles and sterling silver earrings for me.

I never ventured much beyond those base purchases because, frankly, I haven’t been a fan of the other categories sold at Kohl’s.

However, the company is making headway toward changing my mind.

I stopped in over the weekend and, though I had been vaguely aware of some facade updates (I remember skirting some outdoor tarps on a visit a few months ago, but I was in a hurry and didn’t pay much attention.), I hadn’t noticed much going on inside.

Until this weekend. I charged through the front door with one thing on my mind: buy a couple of Yankee Candles with a sale coupon I had in my purse.

When I arrived my destination—or, rather, what used to be the location of the candle supplies—I stopped short. The candles were gone. For the first time, I opened my eyes and looked around. The store was different—very different.

Before I realized what was happening, I was browsing. Please understand that I never browse at Kohl’s. It’s just not my browsing spot. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what I did. I ambled through housewares, making mental notes of some potentially great Christmas gifts for family members. I found a few placemats on a clearance table—and I snagged two of them. I finally made it to the relocated candle display area, but not before browsing the Christmas decor.

I checked out with just a few purchases—two candles and my prized clearance placemats—but with a mental list to return when I had lots more time to look around.

I read an article recently that Kohl’s had just celebrated its 1,000th store milestone, opening on Oct. 1 its 1,000th store and reiterating its plans to introduce innovation through store design, store remodels and evolution of the in-store experience.

I would say that, at least in one market and with this one customer, Kohl’s plans are working.

—Katherine Field

Obama, Cosby and Kmart

2008-11-12T09:49:00.001-05:00

On the Saturday after Barack Obama’s election as the 44th president of the United States, The New York Times ran an article in its Arts & Leisure section entitled, “Before Obama, There Was Bill Cosby.”

The premise of the article was that the depiction of the Huxtable family on Cosby's show, which began in 1984 and runs even today in syndication—paved the way for public acceptance of an Afro-American as a leadership figure. The article pointed out that even Karl Rove, the magna-GOP strategist, said on election night on Fox News, “We’ve had an African-American first family for many years in different forms. When “The Cosby Show” was on, that was America’s family. It wasn’t a black family. It was America’s family.”

Cosby, no doubt, influenced public perception. So did other TV shows and movies that put minorities and women in the Oval Office. Pop culture, in other words, makes it easier for breakthroughs to occur.

Sometimes, however, pop culture stands in the way of transformation.

Take Kmart. No matter what Kmart has done over the last quarter-century, it has been unable to shed its image as the “polyester palace,” the home of the “Blue Light Special.” Kmart recently has even tried to capitalize on the blue light heritage, but to little success.

I believe Kmart’s image problem can be traced to its rapid ascendancy by the early 1970s as the first, and at the time only, national discount store chain. Back then, when TV and movie writers and comedians needed a national frame of reference for their scripts and jokes, Kmart was there for the punch line and context in the ’70s and well into the ’80s. Since many of today’s writers and comedians were growing up in those decades, there has been a carryover effect, even as Wal-Mart vastly outpaced Kmart as the largest retailer in the country. Remember, back then Wal-Mart was not yet a national chain and was an unknown entity to most people growing up along the Eastern and Western seaboards. Only Kmart had imprinted itself on the national landscape and psyche.

Think about the 1988 movie “Rain Man.” Where did the character played by Dustin Hoffman want to go to buy his underwear? Kmart was the running joke throughout the movie.

Wal-Mart’s reputation is by no means pure, given the many lawsuits filed against it for alleged labor violations, its impact on communities where it opens and closes stores, its import policy—its sheer SIZE.

But for now, Kmart has retained its identity as the national butt of humor and low-end retailing.

For Barack Obama, the media helped create a climate of change. For Kmart, the stigma of the past remains just one of the obstacles in its path to transformation.

By Murray Forseter

An Unpatriotic Coffee Break?

2008-11-04T13:34:00.003-05:00

Is it me, or does it seem like Starbucks can’t catch a break these days?

As the economy tightens, consumers are keeping disposable income closer to the vest—a practice that is taking a toll on the higher-priced Starbucks coffee chain. Hoping to nab some of these cost-conscious coffee drinkers, Starbucks rival Dunkin' Donuts began offering 99-cent lattes weekdays between 2 and 5 p.m. (The promotion started Oct. 1, and runs through Nov. 11.)

And two weeks ago, Dunkin' Donuts launched its “Dunkin’ Beats Starbucks” media blast. The campaign, which is based on results of a blind taste test among approximately 475 consumers, promotes that more consumers prefer Dunkin’s brewed coffee over Starbucks’ House Blend. (Besides television ads, consumers can visit www.dunkinbeatstarbucks.com to read about the experiment, learn about Dunkin' Donuts’ coffee, corporate promotions and services.)

But on Monday, Starbucks upped the promotional stakes. An e-mail blast and YouTube spot reminded coffee drinkers, “If you vote, Starbucks buys your coffee.” All voters have to do is tell a barista they voted today, and a “tall” cup of coffee is on the house.

The promotion certainly caused attention in my neck of the woods. It was a story on last night’s local news, and I—along with many of my friends—plan to take advantage of the offer.

However, not everyone was impressed by the ad. Election officials for the state of Washington got wind of the promotion, and told a local news station that rewarding voters with free coffee is illegal. More specifically, a federal statute prohibits any organization from “providing rewards for voting,” Nick Handy, director of elections, said in an article on kirotv.com, a news Web site that supports Seattle’s KIRO 7 television station.

To avoid any flack, Starbucks quickly changed the rules of its promotion. Rather than reserve free Joe for voters, Starbucks plans to hand out coffee to anyone who asks for a free cup.

I see the point that election officials made, but I also think they took the situation a bit too far. Not once did Starbucks plan to reward anyone for voting for a specific party. In my opinion, the only “swing vote” Starbucks might have hoped to reward today was a former Dunkin' Donuts supporter.

By Deena M. Amato-McCoy

A Breath of Fresh Air at The Arches

2008-10-28T13:54:00.008-05:00

I got an early holiday present last week. Not one to miss a grand opening (or dismiss a fistful of 20%-off coupons), I traveled a short distance from my home on Long Island to Tanger Outlet Center at The Arches, Deer Park, N.Y.

Long Island, with its multi-ethnic population of about 3 million, has no shortage of enclosed malls, strip centers or freestanding stores, but this latest entry injected a literal breath of fresh air into our ho-hum retail choices.

A hybrid of sorts, Tanger’s new 800,000-sq.-ft. outdoor center combines premium outlets, retail, discount stores, restaurants and entertainment. Many of the spaces and most of the restaurants are still dark—but about 70 well-stocked, well-staffed shops and one sit-down eatery, Chipotle, are open.

The fall weather was perfect, and serious shoppers and locals were eager to see what the fuss was about. Because no cars or traffic are visible from within the space, visitors feel as if they are strolling in a small village. A feast of European streetscapes, landscaped promenades, piazzas, fountains, Venetian-style street lamps and covered arches delight the eye. Appealing, sherbet-colored, plaster-fronted buildings of varying heights, with red-tile roofs, shutters and balconies, add to the ambience.

Background sound in the form of live or recorded music was another important ingredient. Colorfully outfitted musicians and street performers interacted with passersby. Amenities included well-marked, clean restrooms, comfortable benches for resting with packages or relaxing with friends and family, attractive landscaping, and translucent panels (or “angel wings” as I like to think of them) over some streets to keep sunlight in and bad weather out.

The entire space is barrier-free and wheelchair friendly. The very visible security force keeps thing smooth, and regular police and at least one EMS worker patrol the center and parking lots on bicycles. A few lucky officers were motoring around on Segway Personal Transporters.

Opening bashes need opening acts, and on Friday night I was swept away by a zillion screaming tweens and teens as American Idol Jordin Sparks connected with her fan base. She, like the entire center, turned in a terrific performance, hitting just the right notes. I gave them both a "10."

By Barbara Hagan
senior desk editor

The Art of Scheduling and Market Research

2008-10-17T15:38:00.001-05:00

Conference scheduling is an art, choosing time slots that conform to speakers’ availability and that mesh nicely into a cohesive program. Sometimes it can lead to amusing juxtapositions. Take this week’s Argyle Executive Forum 2008 Leadership in Retail and Consumer Products Forum in New York City.

The kickoff retail speaker was Stephen Sadove, chairman and CEO of Saks Inc. Sadove said sales at the luxury department store and off-price retailer reflect how the wealthy view the value of their stock portfolios, so it was no surprise that sales were down.

Sadove was immediately followed by a retailer who appealed to the polar opposite in net worth. David Brandon, chairman and CEO of Domino’s Pizza, said his customers freak out when it cost $80 to fill their gas tanks, that with an average Domino’s ticket of $20, that’s probably the cost of a cup of coffee at Saks.

Throughout the day’s worth of presentations at the New York Athletic Club, at least one theme emerged—the need to understand and meet customer expectations.

Brandon provided perhaps the most universally relatable example. When Domino’s opened in Taiwan, market research indicated it would do well. Children craved pizza, and their parents were eager to please them. But sales did not take off because Domino’s had failed to fully account for all of the decision makers when it came to family dining. In Taiwan, many households contain three generations—children, parents and grandparents. Pizza was approved by the first two groups, but the grandparents cast a “pizza veto.”

Further research discovered that grandparents really liked fried chicken. Once Domino’s added fried chicken to the menu, sales doubled, said Brandon, proving again that local adaptation of a corporate program is often the gateway to success.

By Murray Forseter

Linens ’n Things’ Fate Revisited

2008-10-15T11:33:00.001-05:00

… And so another small city says goodbye to a national retailer.

On May 14, I blogged about Lincoln, Nebraska’s narrow escape from losing its sole Linens ’n Things – only to follow up five months later with the news that not only is Lincoln losing the retailer, but so are 370-odd other trade areas around the country.

Today’s Lincoln Journal-Star bemoaned that Nebraska’s capital city was losing “its second national retailer due to bankruptcy in just over a month.” Steve & Barry’s was the first national casualty, having announced in September that it would close its store at Westfield Gateway Mall, one of more than 100 the bankrupt chain’s new owner will shutter. (At this writing, S&B is still open, but the liquidation sale signs around town are abundant.)

Local bloggers aren’t happy about the loss of Linens ’n Things. Bob is wondering where he will “get my ‘And Things’ from now on!” An unnamed shopper was more wordy in her protestations. “I love going to linens and things [sic] because it is much closer to where I live, they would accept the Bed Bath and Beyond coupons, and they were always available to help (as opposed to Bed Bath and Beyond who weren't).”

People here are concerned about the store’s employees, as several bloggers discussed back and forth the fates of favorite associates who would be losing their jobs so close to the holidays.

That’s the part that mustn’t be overlooked by any of us. There are people in those stores and in those headquarters offices—people with families and bills and responsibilities who now have to find a way to survive without a Linens ’n Things paycheck. As a journalist, I write about the company’s bankruptcy. But as a human being, I regret the loss of a neighborhood store, and I feel for the people most directly impacted—the employees.

In May, I wrote that “the topic of store closures will likely be keeping bloggers busy for the rest of the year.” Who knew just how busy?

By Katherine Field

My TV Debut on Fox

2008-10-09T13:06:00.007-05:00

My first impulse was to say no when Fox Business News called yesterday and asked if I wanted to come on this morning and discuss retailers’ September sales results and prospects for the upcoming holiday season. The show (“Money for Breakfast”) is done live. What if I clammed up and flubbed things? What if I suddenly went blank? What if my bus was late? After all, I commute into the city from New Jersey and with the traffic being what it is there was no guarantee I would make it to the Fox studio the time they wanted me there (7:15 a.m.), even if I left my house at 6. No problem there, the perky young Fox rep said, we’ll send a car to your house to pick you up. She assured me I would have plenty of time go into hair and makeup before my appearance. Hair and makeup? My own private car? It was beginning to sound better all the time, and it didn’t take long before my desire to become one of those talking heads that dominate the airwaves these days got the better of me.

Looking back, I’m glad it did. It was a fun experience. I was a bit nervous when I walked onto the set (this was live TV after all). There were monitors all around turned on to stock tickers and I worried the moderator would throw something out of left field based on the latest results—results I hadn’t seen yet. But the sliding fortunes of retailers worked to my advantage in that there were no surprises in the results this morning—only more bad news. The segment went by in a blur. I surprised myself by remembering two different predictions for holiday sales, and getting them both right.

After it was over, I worried that I talked too much—and that my hair looked flat. Why did I gesture with my hands so much? And was I seeing things, or did I catch a glimpse of lipstick on my teeth?

To see the clip, please visit the Chain Store Age home page at www.chainstoreage.com.

- Marianne Wilson

Fill ’er Up—With Food and Fuel

2008-10-08T11:23:00.000-05:00

Buying gas at a grocery store has never been my modus operandi. But fuel prices are forcing a lot of us to rethink our usual patterns.

In the upcoming November issue of Chain Store Age, we’re running a brief on Price Chopper’s loyalty plan that provides its shoppers with significant gas discounts at partnering fuel stations. Called AdvantEdge, the program gives shoppers a 10-cents per gallon gas discount in exchange for purchasing $50 worth of groceries. The fuel limit is 20 gallons.

Des Moines, Iowa-based HyVee is going Price Chopper one better. The regional grocer has rolled out a loyalty program at all stores with on-site HyVee gas stations. I’ve been told that the program varies from store to store, or market to market, but I know at least one store in one market that has brought gas prices to new lows.

I shopped a new HyVee near my home in Lincoln, Neb., last night, foregoing my customary trip to discount grocer Super Saver in favor of convenience. After purchasing about $200 worth of groceries, the cashier handed over my receipt with a tip: Take the receipt across the parking lot to the new HyVee convenience store/gas station, fill up, and get 15 cents per gallon off the listed gas price.

Had the food and fuel both been higher than I normally paid, HyVee’s deal wouldn’t have been so newsworthy. But I shopped carefully inside the food store, buying store brands and specials, and am convinced my HyVee grocery total didn’t exceed my usual Super Saver tally. And the regular price of the HyVee gas was $3.12/gallon—a penny lower than any other station on my side of town. So I filled up my car—and paid $2.97/gallon.

Though I ruefully shared a chuckle with the convenience store cashier about being excited over a gas price that approached $3, I still couldn’t help but feel elated, and a little smug, about the whole experience as I drove away.

I called HyVee this morning to confirm that the program is ongoing—and was told it is.

I do believe that I will establish a new pattern, one that involves pairing grocery shopping with a fill-up at my local HyVee.

By Katherine Field

Future Speak

2008-10-01T12:22:00.005-05:00

Most people have never heard of Li Edelkoort or her firm Trend Union. But among those in the know the Dutch-born Edlelkoort is widely regarded as one of the leading forecasters of the coming trends in a host of industries, including fashion, retail, beauty and interior design. A well-placed friend told me about her several years back, saying her presentations were fascinating for her ability to seemingly pull all kinds of disparate and percolating ideas, concepts, etc., together.

Edelkoort’s forecasting abilities are on display in the October 2008 edition of Fast Company, where, in a Q&A, she comes off as a slightly quirky, slightly abstract (and a little bit eccentric) one-woman think tank. The article (“Fashion Sorceress”) also contains some of her insights as to what’s coming down the pike. Here are a few gems:

On the “Hot” list, Edelkoort believes that rural will rule, androgyny will be hot and that covering up (with layers and veils and such) wil be cool. She also believes that eccentricity will be cultivated.

On the “What’s Not” list, she contends that the pumped-up look for guys is passé, and that gaudy logos and labels are out (“Incognito is the new luxury.”). And while excessive bling is over, sparkle will remain part of the picture.

For more on Edelkoort, including what she thinks Americans could learn from the Dutch, pick up Fast Company.

By Marianne Wilson

Green Challenge: Make It Easy to Recycle

2008-09-30T10:19:00.005-05:00

For all the talk about sustainability, and there’s plenty of talk, there are some huge holes in the implementation of green strategies.

Case in point: My husband’s company hosted a picnic at the Duke-University of Virginia football game on Saturday. Great fun, but the only thing that choked worse than the Cavaliers’ defense was an attempt to promote green among company attendees. Drinks were served in souvenir cups, colored Blue Devils’ royal, with the company logo in bright green and a tagline promoting green practices.   However, the problem was we couldn’t take our souvenir cups from the picnic tent into the stadium—neither could any of the other fans carrying bottled waters, sodas or beer cans. All those recyclable materials had to be discarded before we passed through the security gate.

But guess what? There were no recycling bins, just large trash cans.

So much for going green.

My challenge to the retail industry is this: Put recycling bins beside every trash can so that shoppers can just as easily toss a bottle or can into the recycling receptacle as the trash can. Food courts and shopping-center common areas are obvious points where there should be recycling bins, but it also would be useful to have them beside trash cans at the entrances of big-box stores, grocery stores, drug stores, etc.

Yes, it’s going to cost more to implement and add recycling—but there would be some positive PR results and, of course, it is the right thing to do.

This is a perfect opportunity for the retail industry to breathe actionable life into green-speak, and lead the way for entertainment, hospitality and other public-service industries.

By Connie Robbins Gentry

Must Reading: “Stop, Thief!”

2008-09-18T15:34:00.002-05:00

I’ve just finished reading an article in The New Yorker (“Stop, Thief,” in the Sept. 1, issue—OK, so I’m a few weeks behind) that offers some interesting insights into a $40 billion-plus problem: retail shrink. The author, John Colapinto, presents an inside view into an industry that, as he so aptly puts it, is “virtually defined by its secrecy.” And in a feat I find truly impressive, he got Target Corp. to go public.

Colapinto interviews Target’s head of asset protection, Brad Brekke (he succeeded the legendary King Rogers to the post in 2001), who created a crime-laboratory complex inside office headquarters. Initially designed to combat retail-theft gangs, the labs have evolved to play a key role in the fight against “e-fencing,” or the resale of stolen goods online via Craigslist, eBay and other Web sites (Interesting tidbit from the article: Among the hottest theft items for sale on auction sites are Dyson vacuum cleaners.) The author was given a tour of Target’s crime labs by the company’s manager of forensic services, Rick Lautenbach. (Attention CBS: This could serve as the basis for another CSI spin-off.)

The labs include a “latent-fingerprinting lab,” where fingerprints not visible to the naked eye can be detected and recorded. Lautenbach explains how it all works, and then tells how the lab played a pivotal role in the recent case of a man suspected of repeated thefts at Target stores in Arizona. The man was eventually convicted of felony trafficking in stolen property and computer tampering.

Also on site: a video-analysis laboratory, and a computer forensics lab, where digital storage devices (ranging from BlackBerrys to cell phones) taken from suspected retail-crime gangs are analyzed. Target isn’t fooling around—its senior computer investigator joined the chain three years ago after a stint in the United States Army where, as part of the Computer Crime Investigative Unit, he analyzed the pictures taken by soldiers at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison.

As to the extent of the problem, Target asset head Brekke, in remarks made last year before a congressional subcommittee on organized retail crime, said: “In the most recent year, Target alone made approximately 75,000 theft apprehensions in its stores. By comparison, the total number of criminal cases in all federal district courts across the country is usually less than 60,000 in one year.”

Sobering statistics.

By Marianne Wilson

Gap’s French Accent

2008-09-10T11:35:00.003-05:00

In well-traveled fashion circles, retail doesn’t get much hipper than Colette. The uber-cool Paris boutique is a showcase for up-and-coming fashion labels, limited-edited products and high-quality brands, from the past and present. More than a store, Colette is a meeting point of fashion and culture for well-heeled hipsters and fashionistas of all ages and stripes from around the globe.

Now, in a surprising collaboration, Colette has joined forces with Gap, whose own hip quotient has been sorely lacking in recent years. The two retailers have joined forces to open a one-month pop-up store adjacent to Gap’s Manhattan flagship on Fifth Avenue and the corner of 54th Street. (It closes on Oct. 5.)

Replicating Colette’s Paris store concept, Colette + Gap features a combination of unique Colette products, otherwise unavailable here, along with items created especially for the temporary store. Prices run the gamut from $10 to $400.

The merchandise ranges from such signature Colette items as stationery, candles, CDs and room fragrances to limited edition T-shirts designed by French and New York artists. Iconic Gap items, such as the trench coat and sweatshirt, have been reinterpreted by designers selected by Colette. A French artisan has designed a collection of key trinkets styled after such classic Gap products as jeans and denim jackets.

According to Gap, the space is designed to capture the spirit of the Paris boutique. The walls are white, and feature unusual typography depicting letters of the alphabet. An illustrated motif that shows cranes lifting shipping cranes, the American flag and boxes with the respective Colette and Gap logos is featured on the walls. The construction theme continues in a yellow-and-black-striped decorative border that recalls the tape used in construction areas.

Colette + Gap is fun. And while it won’t turn around the chain’s image nationwide, it has created quite a buzz on New York’s retail scene. Gap is cool again. At least for a month.

Marianne Wilson

The Dillard's Decline

2008-08-28T10:31:00.001-05:00

In Nebraska, two major department stores have battled for market share. As of last month, there is a clear victor.

Dillard’s announcement in July that it would close 13 stores—one of which is in Crossroads Mall in Omaha—came as no surprise to me. Though I shop in Lincoln, not Omaha, I have witnessed the demise of what was once a great department store chain.

And I have watched its chief competitor—Von Maur—continue its rise in the state.

In the Lincoln Dillard’s, the department I have long referred to as the “club house” (a throw-back term to the old days, when Dillard’s formally labeled its designer-wear section as the club house) has shrunk its offerings to a sad selection of barely designer-wear. In place of Dana Buchman and Ellen Tracy apparel is the Reba line. Hardly comparable. While Austin Reed suits are still displayed, the pickings are meager. Nygard, however, reigns, eating up a huge display area. (For those of you who don’t know Nygard’s Nebraska selection, think crepe-y suits with old-lady floral blouses.)

The latest change to the Dillard’s merchandise selection impacted the shoe department. Donald Pliner was discontinued. Word from the sales staff is that Cole Haan will be next, supplanted by lower-end shoe designers like Steve Madden and Nine West.

Today I read that Dillard’s 2Q loss was $38.3 million, widening from a $25.2 million loss in the year-ago quarter. Same-store sales dropped 4%. And the Omaha store has now closed.

No shocker. I’ve been a loyal Dillard’s shopper for 30 years. I now patronize Von Maur, driving about 10 miles out of my way to do so. My latest purchase was a $250 pair of Donald Pliner shoes.

By Katherine Field

Tales of Brooklyn: Retailing in Red Hook

2008-08-25T14:06:00.003-05:00

I grew up in Brooklyn. Spent the first two of my six decades of life there. Thanks mostly to my father’s intimate knowledge of the streets of Brooklyn, I gained a pretty good feel for Kings County. About 18 months ago my daughter opted to reside in the “mother country,” so I’m reacquainting myself with the many ’hoods of my youth. Last year my wife, also Brooklyn-raised, and I did a nostalgia tour of the borough.

One area generally avoided in the past was Red Hook, a hardscrabble warren of narrow streets, run down, low-rise apartments and warehouses abutting New York’s harbor. Aside from a wonderful view of the Statue of Liberty, Red Hook had little to offer the casual visitor.

But Red Hook, as have many neighborhoods in New York, has undergone gentrification. Warehouses have turned into lofts. Renovations turned ramshackle buildings into modern apartment complexes.

Often, the presence of new retail revives a community. In Red Hook’s case, renewal preceded retail.

When it did arrive, retail came with world-class vengeance—an IKEA opened this summer, while 18 months ago a Fairway supermarket made its entry in a five-story, 150-year-old warehouse. IKEA is world-renowned. For those who believe New York City is the center of the universe, Fairway is world-renowned as well.

Though some Red Hook residents feared traffic congestion and the impact both emporia would have on their quiet streets, the stores have been successfully integrated into the area.

A visit Sunday to both stores that are about a half-mile apart could not have been more spectacular. Walking the 346,000-sq.-ft. IKEA, I couldn’t help but comment that one could hear more languages being spoken than at the United Nations. New Yorkers embrace value. IKEA fulfills their desires.

Fairway’s tag line is that it is “like no other market.” Its four New York area specialty food stores live up to the hype, none more so that the 52,000-sq.-ft. unit built inside a Civil War era, 230,000-sq.-ft. warehouse that includes workspaces for local artists, offices for community-based not-for-profit organizations, event spaces and 45 loft apartments. There is more electricity inside Fairway than a dozen regular supermarkets. Perhaps it’s from the co-generational power plant that utilizes waste heat to generate power.

Each store takes full advantage of its proximity to the water. From IKEA’s restaurant you can see the Statue of Liberty; its bedroom department has a large picture window with a harbor view. It also built a 6-1/2-acre waterfront esplanade open to the public. Outside Fairway patrons can sit at tables and enjoy the vista, or walk along a path beside the water.

Successful retailers try to build in theater. For IKEA and Fairway, stores that already are exciting venues inside, the allure of the ocean is an attraction bound to bring back shoppers again and again, if for no other reason that to sit with a cup of coffee and gaze out at Lady Liberty.

By Murray Forseter

Kimono Shopping in Japan

2008-07-31T09:09:00.010-05:00

My mom has been into Asian collectibles ever since I can remember—she even has an Asian-inspired room in the house I grew up in. So when I told her I was going to Japan and Korea for two weeks this summer, she (of course) wrote out a laundry list of things that would be perfect for her beloved room. On the top of her list was a traditional kimono—something I thought would be easy to pick up and highly marketed to tourists.

Surprisingly, I had no such luck in Tokyo and put my hopes into finding a reasonably priced one in some of Kyoto’s famed shopping districts. When we arrived via bullet train, I saw many women sporting kimonos about town. (I love how the image at left captures traditional Japanese culture fused with modern cell-phone technology. Given that Japan is so far ahead with m-commerce, I find this picture both ironic and fitting.)

For some reason, even in Kyoto, I still couldn’t get my hands on a kimono. The few I did see on display far exceeded my budget. Feeling defeated, I figured the search for her kimono was a lost one.

That is until my good friend and travel companion Sharon ran into the fast-fashion apparel chain Uniqlo to pick up some t-shirts before continuing on our trip. While looking around, my eyes set on something I never expected to see there: An entire kimono section in the middle of the store. Cheap! Stylish! Perfect.

And just like that, my quest—one that included hours of rummaging through markets and stores for affordable kimonos—came to an end. Why hadn’t I thought of the popular Japanese retailer before? I have often shopped at its global flagship (and largest location) in Manhattan’s SoHo district since it opened nearly two years ago.

My mom loved the kimono—and for all she knows, I shelled out the big bucks to get her exactly what she wanted.

—Samantha Murphy

Say 'Yes' to the Show

2008-07-24T08:56:00.003-05:00

Until very recently, my favorite television show set in a retail store was an old "Twilight Zone" episode in which a man somehow gets trapped in a department store after closing time. The lights go off—and the mannequins slowly come to life. Next morning, there was a new mannequin in the store. At the time, the show scared the daylights out of me, and I would hurry past mannequins lest they glance my way. Truth be told, they still give me the chills every now and then.

Apart from that "Twilight Zone" episode, TV shows set in retail stores have left me cold. I gave Unwrapping Macy’s (the 2006 reality show about working at Macy’s) a shot, but it came across as phony and overly staged. So it was with some trepidation that I decided to watch, on the advice of a friend, "Say Yes to the Dress," which is set inside the country’s most famous bridal salon: Kleinfeld, in Manhattan. I was hooked after one episode.

Unlike most other reality shows, this one actually lives up to its hype: It casts a spotlight onto the inner workings of the store. Part fashion show, part bridal drama and part family therapy, the show feels real as it details the many hurdles the sales associates face to make sure that each customer leaves 100% satisfied with regard to the dress she will wear on her big day. Given the demands of some of these customers, it is no easy job by any means.

More than the customers, however, it’s the sales associates and the store’s co-owners, Mara Urshel and Ronnie Rothstein, who fascinate me. I’m impressed with the respectful way they treat each customer—regardless of whether she has budgeted $5,000 or $50,000 for the dress—and one another (with some exceptions). That they all seem to love their job is a given.

During a summer when there is precious little to watch, I’m happy to report that "Say Yes to the Dress" is now back for its second season. You can catch it on the cable channel TLC, at 8 p.m. (7 Central) on Tuesdays.

—Marianne Wilson

Kudos to Chick-Fil-A for 'Moo-ving' Traffic

2008-07-23T14:34:00.002-05:00

Do you ever feel like you’re going to be sitting in a drive-through lane until the “cows come home?”

It’s ironic, given that the fundamental purpose of drive-through lanes, particularly at fast-food restaurants, is to provide expedient service.

Problems typically arise during peak hours, when the cars snaking around many restaurants often out-number the bodies standing in line at the inside counter. Unsurprisingly, walk-in service during those hours may prove faster than drive-through.

Such was the case at our local Chick-Fil-A, which was notorious for attracting long lines inside and out, particularly during lunch hour.

Dashing between appointments recently, I found myself sitting at an intersection a half-mile from the Chick-Fil-A and wondering where I could grab a fast sandwich. The clock on my dash registered 12:04, which I expected would mean long lines at Chick-Fil-A.

As I got closer to the restaurant, cars were exiting but there were only two cars visible in the drive-through lane and they appeared to be moving. Pulling into the lane, I saw a teenage employee speaking to the driver in front of me.

“Oh, great,” I instantly presumed the drive-through must be out-of-service.

Wrong, the young man walked to my window, greeted me with CFA’s typical employee enthusiasm, and asked if he could take my order. A second young man took the paper the order was written on and read it into a cell phone.

My car barely stopped moving as I circled the building and picked up my chicken-salad sandwich.

“Great service,” I observed to the cashier, and then asked if the drive-through system was out-of-order.

“No, we just have employees outside taking orders between noon and 1:00 so we can give our customers better, more personal service,” she explained.

And it was clearly working— as I exited the parking lot, the time on my dashboard clock was 12:06, which would be an impressive service record even when it wasn’t lunch hour.

The take-away message for other retailers, including those without drive-through lanes, is Chick-Fil-A’s willingness and ingenuity to do whatever it takes to provide customers with that “better, more personal service,” even when doing so may mean putting your technology investments on hold and standing in the hot sun to personally get the job done.

—Connie Gentry

Ken Macke: A Remembrance

2008-07-02T16:39:00.001-05:00

As the only journalist permitted to attend the annual Modes of Creative Retailing conference produced by Jeff Feiner, the retail analyst for Merrill Lynch, in the late ’70s and ’80s, I kept a low profile. Which meant I usually sat in the back of the conference room. I was there on an off-the-record basis, to absorb the details and nuances of the retail industry’s leading executives and their plans for growth.

It was during one of those executive presentations that I first met Ken Macke, at the time the CEO of Target discount stores, the largest but still not overwhelmingly dominant division of Dayton Hudson Corp. Macke was sitting in the last row, gnashing his teeth, mostly muttering to himself as he listened to his predecessor at Target, Stephen Pistner, then president of DHC, explain why the chain was successful. Pistner was trying to woo institutional investors. Macke thought he was spilling corporate secrets. He loathed providing details, such as Target’s unique bag-and-ring checkout system that trained cashiers to look directly at customers and the merchandise on the stand while touch-punching the price into the cash register (editor’s note: yes, there was a time before scanning). The bag-and-ring system made Target a more personal shopping experience.

Target sold many of the same goods as other discounters. Systems, and the discipline to adhere to them, differentiated the Target experience, not just from Kmart, which was 10 times larger at the time, but also from other so-called upscale discounters such as Venture and Gold Circle (Wal-Mart was about the same size and mostly did not compete with Target, as its real estate was in small towns in the South Central states). Product differentiation, such as the Michael Graves collection, would come later, under CEO Robert Ulrich. Under Ulrich, Target became “Tar-zhey.” Under Macke, it was plain, well-run Target.

After Pistner left Dayton Hudson and William Andres retired as corporate chairman and CEO, Macke became, at age 44, the head of the company he first went to work for right out of college when it had just seven department stores. When he took over, the company had revenues of $7 billion. By the time he retired 11 years later in 1994, Dayton Hudson Corp. was the fifth-largest retailer in the country, with 960 stores churning out $21 billion in sales.

Kenneth A. Macke died last Saturday at age 69, from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Macke was a bear of a man. Though he always looked to be brooding when talking to the press, that is, if he talked at all to the press, he did occasionally flash a smile that could brighten a room. The thought of him vanquished by this debilitating disease is unsettling.

In June 2005, one of his sons, Jeffrey, wrote a piece for our magazine about his father. Writing about his legacy, he wrote, “He created jobs. He felt more than generously rewarded for doing something he loved, and he never enriched himself at the expense of others’ livelihood.”

I’ve met many retail executives over the last 30-plus years. Macke was not an easy person to know as an outsider. But he was a determined advocate who laid the foundation for what is now one of the most successful and well-respected corporations in the world.

—Murray Forseter

Busted: Confessions of an Unintentional Shoplifter

2008-06-30T13:42:00.005-05:00

I got caught shoplifting on Saturday morning.

That’s another retail industry first for yours truly and certainly a lead I never expected to write.

Ignorance is not an excusable alibi so the fact that I didn’t mean to steal something is irrelevant.

Long story short: I paid for a 10-lb. bag of ice; pulled a 20-lb. bag out of the Food Lion freezer and proceeded out the door. The cashier manning the one check-out lane that was open before 8 o’clock Saturday morning, politely but firmly interrupted my exit.

Since I’m not writing this blog from a cell, the story is fortunately about how this young man handled the apprehension—not about my nefarious behavior.

Food Lion had evidently done a superlative job training its associates on loss prevention.

The young man, probably in his late teens, possibly 20ish, excused himself from the three or four people waiting in his lane as he walked over to me and inquired: “Did you mean to buy a 20-lb. bag of ice?”

“No, I thought this was the smaller bag,” I said—as he took the bag from me, held it up and pointed to the large “20-lb.” imprint on the bag.

I was beyond humiliated and apologetic. He returned the 20-lb. bag, handed me the 10-lb. size I had paid for, and appeared to accept that I was merely absent-minded rather than criminal.

He stopped the shrink. He did it professionally. He exercised appropriate judgment and he resumed his cashier duties with limited interruption to the other customers he was serving.

Lesson 1: Food Lion had taught him what to do.

The second take-away message speaks to the generational differences. All you baby-boomer execs out there take note: tattoos and body piercings aside, these Gen X’ers possess an innate ability to react with confidence and poise.

Confronted with a similar situation when we were in our teens, most of us would have sought out a store manager to intercept an older adult who we suspected of shoplifting. Authority was earned through seniority, either in position or age. Not so with today’s emerging workforce—and I for one applaud the initiative and leadership potential of our next greatest generation.

—Connie Gentry

Is Your Employee Smarter Than an 11th Grader?

2008-06-26T10:37:00.001-05:00

I can’t give you the absolute answer to the question posed above, but I can tell you what I think it should be. A store employee should be able to guide a teenage customer toward her purchase—and if that employee falls short, then the store manager certainly should be smart enough to help.

My daughter, who will be starting her senior year in high school in the fall, is working part-time for her dad this summer and, as one of her “gopher” duties, she made a trip to Wal-Mart yesterday to buy $25 gift cards for two of his company’s VIP customers. At the register, she handed over the $50 bill her dad had given her as payment, but was surprised to find out she was $16 short.

The store associate said it would be $66 for two $25 gift cards. Nonplussed, my daughter questioned the $16 surcharge and, when the employee didn’t give a satisfactory answer, my daughter asked for the manager’s assistance. To his credit, he came right over, but he backed up the employee: there would be an $8/card charge.

After a quick call to her dad, my daughter said ‘no thanks,’ went straight to Target and bought two $25 gift cards. She paid $50.

When all of this was reported to me last night, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Wal-Mart is now charging fees—and huge ones, at that—for gift cards? Not quite believing that the world’s largest retailer would commit highway robbery, I called the store this morning, and talked to a friendly, and well-informed, lady in the service department. When I explained what had transpired, she immediately said, “Oh, your daughter must have been trying to buy a Wal-Mart Visa card, which has fees attached to it.” After going back and forth for a minute, she and I decided that was indeed the case. And, of course, the lady confirmed what I had suspected all along—Wal-Mart doesn’t charge a fee for gift cards.

However, Wal-Mart should better train its employees and managers. You would think that, when a teen who clearly wasn’t so clear about what she was buying, expressed surprise that there was a fee attached to the purchase, the employee (and certainly the manager) would have realized (as the lady on the phone did) that there was an issue with semantics, and then would have steered her in the right direction.

—Katherine Field

The Buckle: Securely Belted

2008-06-09T12:17:00.003-05:00

It would seem that The Buckle is impervious to climate changes—both natural and man-made. The Kearney, Neb.-based apparel chain has successfully weathered a series of Nebraska tornadoes that have sent residents across the state into our basements night after night after night. (A few nights ago, Kearney was hit so hard that I actually checked the next day’s newspaper to see if Buckle’s headquarters building had been tumbled.)

But no Nebraska tornado touched the 376-store retailer—and no economic storm has either. An article in the June 6 Lincoln Journal-Star, headlined “Nebraska’s The Buckle Among Leaders of May Retail Strength,” reported on the youth fashion retailer’s shining performance that surpassed even the discount stores around the country.

For the month of May, discounters such as Costco and Wal-Mart were among the stronger performers as consumers strategized how best to spend what remained after paying their gasoline bills. But, according to the newspaper article, “Nebraska’s own The Buckle, a younger-fashion retailer based in Kearney, blew the doors off again, as it has been for months.” The article cited “staggering” numbers: May same-store sales increases of 34.7%.

I get asked all the time if Nebraska has any retail. Instead of making excuses, I think I’ll just answer “we’re home to The Buckle” and feel a little smug when I say it.

—Katherine Field

Destination Retailing Is a Two-Way Street

2008-06-03T10:50:00.008-05:00

The school year is ending and like every proud parent I seize any opportunity to cheer on my students’ successes. Today was cause for a classic moment of spontaneous celebration – the annual arts magazine published by my daughter’s high school featured one of her paintings. The local Starbucks that we frequent almost daily just wasn’t special enough – instead we dashed across town to our favorite ice-cream parlor, Stucci’s.

There are several great frozen-dessert cafes along the way; Goodberry’s is the local craze and, of course, Marble Slab is always popular, but Stucci’s is unique because its selections are extra-creamy, supposedly because the frozen delicacies were trucked in from those prime bovines in Midwestern dairies.

The trip to Stucci’s is an extra 10-minute commute past the other options, which in this gas-centric economy equates to more than just a little pocket change, but for special occasions, it’s worth the drive.

Imagine our disappointment when we saw that Stucci’s name had recently been changed to Golden Cone. The reason, explained the co-owner, is that it has become too costly to transport the Stucci’s brand from Michigan to North Carolina. Instead, the ice-cream parlor has begun to carry the Hershey’s brand of ice cream because it is locally distributed. Hershey’s ice cream is okay, but it is available at a number of local restaurants, including fast-food chains such as Hardees.

The couple who owns the Stucci’s-turned-Golden Cone are really nice folks – the kind of people you want to help stay in business. So, whenever we’re in their neighborhood and needing an ice-cream fix, that will be our first choice. But next time we have cause to celebrate, sadly we won’t think about driving across town for the same kind of ice cream that’s available on several other corners.

The secret to destination-retail success is that it has to be worth the drive, and with gas prices approaching $4.00 a gallon, consumer expectations have been raised.

Now is not the time to trade brand equity for lowered costs – that will cost you in the long run. The real opportunity here would be for the Stucci’s parent company to step in and provide its franchisees with better transportation partnerships – unless of course they are content to keep all their ice cream in the Midwest.

The only winner in this scenario is my waistline, which will benefit from afternoon treats of coffee sans cream instead of extra-creamy frozen desserts.

—Connie Robbins Gentry

Breaching Comes Home to Roost

2008-05-30T09:08:00.003-05:00

In yesterday’s mail was a little surprise for my husband and me. In a bright-yellow envelope marked “urgent” was a printed note from our credit-card company, informing us that our account information had potentially been compromised by an “unnamed retailer” and that, in order to protect us from identity theft, we were being issued a new credit card and account number.

The company requested that we destroy our current credit card.

Because in tandem with my colleagues at Chain Store Age I routinely report on the sizeable security breaches that have occurred of late—TJX Cos. and Gap Inc. among them—I am certainly aware of the havoc wreaked by the leakage of personal information. But until it happened to me, I didn’t personalize it. Now it’s personal.

We found ourselves wondering if it was too late. Had our information already been leaked? Was there some spend-happy criminal out there perpetrating shopping sprees at our expense? If so, would we be held responsible?

My husband and I now count among the thousands—make that hundreds of thousands—of people who have experienced these same fears. You can bet that the next time I report on a newly announced breach, I’ll have a new level of empathy for the cardholders who receive that little note in the mail.

—Katherine Field

Memo to Mackey: Watch Out for the Joys of Blogging

2008-05-23T11:26:00.001-05:00

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Markets, is back to blogging after months of staying away from the keyboard after it was revealed that he blogged under a pseudonym on everything from the way he looks to the value of Whole Foods stock and the quality of the company’s competitors.

In his first new entry, which includes an apology for putting a “negative spotlight” on his company, Mackey also states, “I’ve learned many things from these events. The primary lesson I’ve learned is that because of Whole Foods Market’s success, I have become a public figure. My personal and work lives are now closely connected—and impact one another. Anything I say or do is now at risk of showing up on the front page of a national daily newspaper and therefore, I need to be much more conscious about the implications of everything that I say or do in all situations …”

Perhaps I am being too harsh on him, but where had Mackey been the last few years? Did he not see the coverage of Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco? Or Ken Lay of Enron? Or that of Robert Nardelli when he was at The Home Depot? Even the straight-laced Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are subjects of personality profiles. Did it have to take Mackey’s public embarrassment to wake him up to the fact that we live in a celebrity society, and that the heads of major companies, particularly public companies, and even more so companies that are frequented by the rich and famous and those who aspire to be, are targets for paparazzi and would-be Pulitzer Prize reporters?

Business journalism no longer is confined to a few select media outlets. It has gone mainstream, partly because of the cult of personality that has engulfed journalism. Fox is launching a new business cable channel. Conde Nast launched Portfolio last year.

New concepts and ideas, case studies and thematic strategic stories abound in all media, as they do at Chain Store Age. But the stories that gain the most attention are those tied into people. Executive profiles fascinate readers. We do our fair share at Chain Store Age, though we admittedly are careful not to focus on peccadilloes or other potentially embarrassing traits or frailties. Not so the consumer business media. They are after headlines—big, bold, banner headlines. The juicier, the more salacious the incident, the better they like it. So if I were John Mackey, I’d keep my guard up. It’s okay to blog again. Just be careful because the media is watching and waiting for you to slip once again.

—Murray Forseter

Weighing in on Linens ’n Things

2008-05-14T14:55:00.001-05:00

News of impending store closings in Lincoln, Neb., is generating as many column inches as the Nebraska Huskers’ no. 5-ranked baseball team.

Bloggers are particularly busy trading rumors and predictions for facts as they try to anticipate what retailers are closing in Nebraska’s capital city.

The biggest buzz right now is over Linens ’n Things’ upcoming closure of 120 stores nationwide. Relieved that Lincoln wasn’t on the shutter list, but Omaha is, capital city residents have made LNT a hot topic of discussion.

“I know you were all worried ... [but] Lincoln’s Linens ’n Things is not among the 120 stores the company is closing due to its bankruptcy. However, Omaha isn’t so lucky,” blogged a Lincoln Journal-Star Biz Buzz writer on May 12. “While Lincoln dodged that bullet, there are a lot more coming. Chains that have announced plans to close multiple stores include Zales, Foot Locker and Charming Shoppes, which owns Lane Bryant.”

Bloggers are chatting back and forth about what stores they think are going to close, which ones they feel should close, the rapidly emptying Westfield Gateway Mall on the east side of town, the new corporate silence that surrounds what was supposed to be a new Kohl’s on the south side.

My bet is that my hometown isn’t alone in its retail chatter. The topic of store closures will likely be keeping bloggers busy for the rest of the year.

—Katherine Field

Capitol Makeover

2008-05-08T14:25:00.003-05:00

Lincoln, Nebraska, is buzzing with the news that Wal-Mart has selected Nebraska as one of 20 state capitols to get an energy makeover – but not all the buzz is positive.

When the announcement came on May 5 that the world’s largest retailer would partner with 19 states and Puerto Rico to perform energy audits on selected government buildings and recommend ways to lower energy costs, Nebraskans were at once surprised, pleased and disgruntled at the news that our state got a nod. Although we don’t yet know which of the three nominated buildings – the state capitol or one of two state office buildings – will actually receive the audit, the responses have been prolific, and both under- and over-whelming.

One blogger to the Lincoln Journal-Star newspaper opined, “This is great news.” Another whined, “They [Wal-Mart] do a lot of good for the environment, just not for their employees.”

But the most far-reaching, and wary, response came from this blogger: “My concern is the size of the company. We all know they are big, but now big enough to do Nebraska a favor and select us so they can help us. Will we as a state be able to say no to them in the future if need be? What about other states across the country? When you consider their size and the amount of money they are spending lobbying and giving to political campaigns, it would seem that a thinking person would ask where this is all headed.”

Given the suspicious tone of this blog and plenty of others, it becomes quite clear that potentially being beholden to Wal-Mart isn’t a pleasant thought to a population of conservative Midwesterners.

—Katherine Field

Photo courtesy of the Lincoln Journal-Star

Sales Pitch

2008-05-05T14:09:00.002-05:00

There’s no optimism in this headline: “The Continued Collapse of the Nation’s Teen Job Market and the Dismal Outlook for the 2008 Summer Labor Market for Teens: Does Anybody Care?” However, retailers looking to hire teens might see a half-full glass vs. the mostly empty glass teens are facing.

Published last month by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, the report has a plethora of facts and figures but the killer stat is this: “The teen employment/population ratio of 33.5% in the most recent quarter was the lowest ever recorded in the 60-year history of national teen-employment data going back to 1948.”

This hit a personal nerve at my house, where we’ve been watching an interesting retail phenomenon unfold. My 16-year-old daughter is seeking her first “real” job and has an interview at her favorite teen-apparel store next week. Whether or not the interview results in a job, it’s been fascinating to witness the recruiting expertise of this particular store manager.

Sorry, revealing the name of the multi-channel mall-based chain would compromise the confidentiality agreement I have with my family—and the point here is that the store manager’s approach could apply equally well to any chain looking to hire.

Case in point: At the mall where my daughter has her interview, another apparel store has a “now hiring” sign posted at the POS—but when an associate in the store asked my daughter if she’d like to take an application to work at that store, my daughter said “no thanks.” Go figure.

Conversely, the dialogue between my daughter and the store manager with the desired job has been going on for several weeks. It started in mid-March, when my daughter was shopping for a dress. The manager struck up a conversation, complemented her on the dress she was trying and then switched from “sell-the-dress” mode to “sell-the-brand.”

She asked my daughter’s age and my daughter immediately took the bait: “Sixteen, how old do you have to be to work here?”

“We prefer over 18, but I sometimes hire mature 16- or 17-year-olds,” answered the manager, who then did a great sales pitch on the value of working in her store, assuring my daughter that she respected and understood that high school students have academic, extracurricular and family obligations. “If you tell me what’s best for you, I schedule your hours accordingly.”

She then turned to me, saying, “And for high-school students, I like it if the parents have input into schedules as well so we don’t conflict with family trips or events.”

Wow, now she’s sold both mom and daughter and we’re thinking this could be the ideal teen job. My daughter left with the dress, an application and instructions to return it the first week in April—which she did.

On that return visit, my daughter reported that the manager continued her sales pitch—again extolling the virtues of working at her store. She ended by telling my daughter that she would not review applications or begin interviewing until the end of the month or the first of May, when she knew which of her college employees would be staying for the summer.

The entire month of April we dealt with typical teenage tenacity—no way my daughter would apply for another job because this was the store she wanted to work in. (Score another point for that store manager—and by the way, want to guess where my daughter shopped when she needed spring shorts in mid-April?)

On April 30 my daughter called the store and the manager promptly scheduled her to come in for an interview. The job may or may not happen—but every interaction with that store manager has left my daughter convinced this would be a great place to work and, if no job happens, it’s still one of her favorite places to shop.

Contrast that to the stores that are on the teen-taboo list. Yes, even when the economy is miserable and reports suggest few teens have viable job opportunities, the notoriously fickle Gen Y gang is choosy about where they will work. Sure, some of it is about working in a “cool store”—but the bigger factor is the store manager. Word spreads fast on stores and managers that are great to work for—and even faster on those that have bad reputations with teens.

Initially, I was surprised to learn that the movie theater and computer-game stores were high on the list of places never to work (after all, they are prime hangouts). But, employment is a revolving door at these establishments, which are all but black-listed by the local teen-texting network. Merchants in our market that have a waiting list of wanna-be associates are those where teens start working in high school and return to work in the same stores over college breaks. Target, Staples, Michael’s and Chick-fil-A are among the most-popular choices.

With unemployment on the rise, why should retailers work so hard to pitch jobs in their stores? Maybe because those teens who are worth stringing along from high school through college are hard to come by. On my daughter’s last shopping trip to the store where she has the interview, three associates were on the floor—one was texting on her cell phone; one was at the POS complaining loudly about the last customer she waited on; and the third was working hard. The manager was not present—but two strikes and one hit don’t produce the same results in store sales that it does in baseball.

—Connie Gentry

Follow Whole Foods Market’s Lead on Bags

2008-05-01T12:59:00.008-05:00

With all the attention being given to the green movement, I think it’s time retailers got serious about reducing the use of plastic shopping bags. Just the other day, I went shopping at Target and the cashier used nine plastic bags for my order (a few, it should be noted, were filled with only one or two items). Once home, the bags were destined to sit in my kitchen cabinet—with at least 20 others.

But a message printed on the Target bag caught my eye: “California shoppers: Please return [this bag] to a participating store for recycling.”

That got me thinking. I know that it is not easy to start a citywide—let alone statewide—recycling program. But here’s a much simpler idea: What if grocers, mass merchandisers and drug chains took a lesson from Whole Foods Market and not only banned plastic bags, but also rewarded customers for bringing their own?

Whole Foods shoppers are encouraged to bring any bag from home, paper, plastic, or fabric, to carry groceries. And their proactive efforts earn them a refund of approximately $0.05 per bag.

You don’t have a bag? No problem. The grocer sells reusable bags, created from recycled plastic bottles no less, for $0.99.

If more retailers took advantage of similar programs, they could make that much stronger of an impact on the environment, and get shoppers in on the action.

I can’t imagine that I am the only one who is tired of being bogged down with plastic bags. And statistics show that only 1% of these bags are recycled worldwide anyway.

If all shoppers did their part–and got rewarded for it in some way—I’m willing to bet that one important component of the green movement would surely get underway that much quicker.

—Deena M. Amato-McCoy

Reviewing Shopko's New Format

2008-04-30T12:52:00.004-05:00

My hometown Lincoln, Neb., Shopko underwent its extreme makeover several months ago, but until I read Marianne Wilson's and Connie Gentry's coverage of the discounter's new store concept in the May 2008 issue of Chain Store Age (due out May 1st), I hadn't yet made it a point to see the new look for myself.

Although the first of the new concepts debuted in Suamico, Wis., near the chain's home base of Green Bay, Lincoln was an early recipient of Shopko's upgraded appearance. With my 17-year-old daughter in tow, I drove the two miles to the store on Tuesday to compare the CEO's description of the makeover (see "Shopko's Strategy for Growth," page 22, and "Shopko's New Format Shows Feminine Touch," page 156, in the May issue) to what was unveiled in Lincoln.

My first impression, of course, was the new Shopko logo, a feminized and dramatic departure from the former red and blue iteration. I had, of course, seen the new bronze logo on the storefront, but hadn't ventured beyond to see the interior follow-through. I was surprised at the size of the optical department and the pharmacy, both up front and each an upscaled version of what you'd expect to see. The apparel departments filled the interior core of the store, framed by a series of functional, yet aesthetically pleasing, endcap fixtures holding a varied assortment of accessories. The book department was dramatically expanded, so much so that my daughter was moved to make a book purchase. I gravitated toward the expanded patio shop, pleasantly surprised at the merchandising plan and depth of product.

My daughter and I were most taken with the lifestyle graphics that lined every wall of the store. A mixture of product shots and people, the graphics were colorful, upscale, and accented by attractive crown molding ledges.

My biggest disappointment was the fitting-room arrangement. Instead of the prototype's promised four zoned fitting areas, the only one we found was in the women's department, which would force juniors and men and children to travel quite a distance to try on an apparel item. Definitely not ideal.

All in all, I was impressed with the changes in Shopko. As I paid for my daughter's book purchase and we exited the store, I asked her if she would return. "Probably not," she said. "It's definitely better than Wal-Mart, but I still prefer Target." That jives with how CEO Michael MacDonald describes his store, and his customer base. "Shopko merchandise offerings are more traditional [than Target's], whether it's fashion that you wear or for your home. It's going to be current, but not very, very forward ...," he told senior editor Connie Gentry. In other words, there are plenty of stalwart Nebraskans who are drawn toward Shopko's conservative discount merchandise. But my daughter and I likely aren't among them.

Impulse Buys Require In-Stock

2008-04-17T15:27:00.000-05:00

Guaranteed, every woman reading this blog has faced the following scenario: On my lunch break, I dash to the local mall to grab a gift. Harold’s, a 43-store chain out of Dallas and a personal fave of mine, is having a store-wide sale. I zip in and nab two great shirts for the birthday boy—my father, turning 81.

Wow, great looking spring skirts and tops. Treat myself to an outfit instead of lunch nibbles? Why, that’s a win-win for the waistline no matter how you measure it. The skirt I like best is available in sizes 0, 2, 4 and 6…(maybe the 6 would work….) But no, the coordinating shirt is only available in L or XL. End result: Harold’s and my waistline both lose as I console myself at Moe’s.

Moral of the story: Retailers that don’t utilize store transfers to juggle sizes and keep sets in stock will lose all those impulse buys. Sure, I could have asked the sales associate to see if the shirt was available at another store, which she did quite efficiently on one of the items I was purchasing for my father. However, the nature of impulse buys is that, if it’s not in the store, by definition it can’t satisfy that spur-of-the-moment consumer whim.

Message to Harold’s: Guys you’re so close, push that POS inventory tool to the limit and bring those sets together—if not for me at your Raleigh, N.C. store, then for my friends in Atlanta, Nebraska or Texas.

—Connie Gentry

Here’s the Hype—Not So “Venti Big”

2008-04-15T14:33:00.002-05:00

“We’re doing something big at Starbucks. Like Venti big. We can’t tell you what’s going to happen because that will ruin the surprise. Come to any Starbucks on April 8, at noon sharp, to celebrate something big.”

Ok, I admit it. When I got this e-mail, I was instantly drawn into the hype. And I shared it with friends.

On Monday, April 7, my colleagues Samantha Murphy and Barbara Hagan, and I debated what the “big” announcement would be. “Maybe they will announce that they will offer free wireless,” I suggested.

“Nah, they would tell you to bring a laptop or wireless device. I think they are introducing their self-service coffee machines,” predicted Samantha. (We had just posted this very story on our Web site that morning.)
“We’ll find out tomorrow,” I added.

As we each made our way to three separate Starbucks locations on the appointed day at noon, we learned the big news—the company introduced a new daily brew. This new brew, called Pike Place Roast was named after the first Starbucks store that opened in 1971. It was located in Pike Place, Seattle (home of the famed Pike Place Market).

Truth be told, the entire experience was really a let down—big time. While visiting the Starbucks on Park Avenue in Rockville Centre, N.Y., I was one of four customers on line at noon. The gal in front of me ordered a latte, and only then did the barista ask if she would like to try a “Short cup” (8 oz.) of the new brew for free. She said, “Sure.” Then it hit the barrista to ask the rest of us if we wanted to try one too. Hey, that’s why I was there, right?

After paying for my Grande non-fat, iced cafe mocha (yes, I made a purchase), I also got my Pike Place Roast, as well as a “loyalty card” entitling me and a friend to a free Tall Pike Place every Wednesday from now until May 28.

Sam’s experience had even less customer service. Visiting the East 57th Street location in New York City, “I was surprised by how little fan-fare there was,” she told me.

They too were giving out free samples, although she had to ask about the promotion. Worse, they had her stand off to the side with about five others, all waiting for someone to bring them their Short cup of Joe. After seven minutes—yes, seven—she was served. She received no loyalty promotion.

And poor Barbara, who visited the location on 56th Street and Lexington Avenue, New York City, had the worst experience. There was no signage or indication of a “big announcement.” Being the only one in the store, she was too embarrassed to ask about the promotion and left.

On a high note, the blend was pretty good. It was similar in taste to espresso, which I am partial to. Yet, I still question the effectiveness of this promotion. The e-mail did its job. It caught my attention and brought us all into the stores.

However, with little to no signage or cross-selling efforts, how effective could the overall promotion have possibly been? I have no idea how Starbucks will measure the effectiveness of this campaign, and I would love to know how many customers will become fans of the new roast.

While we may never learn the true results of the promotion, the experience did teach us all one big lesson—don’t believe the hype.

—Deena M. Amato-McCoy

The Real Hy-Vee Story

2008-03-25T09:53:00.002-05:00

I read with interest the latest news coming out of Hy-Vee’s headquarter offices. A national report issued Friday, March 21 said that the Des Moines, Iowa-based supermarket chain, which has 223 stores in seven Midwestern states, is planning to test a small format in Lincoln, Neb., explaining that “there is a value in developing a smaller store model with a limited assortment of merchandise.”

What they’re not saying is why the smaller format was created. Huge, and well-organized, opposition to the closure of key stores in both my hometown of Lincoln and the chain’s home market of Des Moines has prompted the grocer to find alternatives to leaving neighborhoods grocery-less.

In Des Moines, Hy-Vee is closing an older store on Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and replacing it with a larger store several miles away. In Lincoln, Hy-Vee is closing a longtime store at 48th and Leighton Streets and, like Des Moines, supplanting it with a modern, 80,000-sq.-ft. supermarket about 40 blocks away.

Both neighborhoods in Des Moines and Lincoln erupted. And not just because largely pedestrian neighborhoods—with a significant disabled and elderly population—were going to be without a nearby grocery store, but because a lease provision prevents another grocer from filling the gap for at least five years.

Hy-Vee’s argument was that it needed to “protect its investment” in the new stores by eliminating potential competition for an extended time period. But the residents’ argument packed more punch. In Lincoln, a group called “Release the Lease,” formed to protest Hy-Vee’s lease restrictions, organized a rally and a press conference. The members generated a flurry of coverage in the local newspaper and on area television and radio stations. They met with Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler. And, finally, after a period of non-response, Hy-Vee officials answered—with plans for a smaller store, designed to “allow it to serve areas with unique needs.”

—Katherine Field

Prepared, or Paranoid?

2008-03-21T08:19:00.002-05:00

Approximately 100 days after the shooting rampage in an Omaha Von Maur department store, another Von Maur incident occurred—this time in neighboring Lincoln, Neb.

I was in my office on Tuesday (March 18) on the phone with one of my Chain Store Age colleagues when, in the background, I heard some kind of urgent news break-in over the radio. The broadcaster said a man with a butcher knife was in my local Lincoln Von Maur—in the upscale SouthPointe Pavilions shopping center—and that the open-air center was in the process of being evacuated.

A few panicky hours later, during which time the center was successfully cleared by quick-thinking Von Maur and SouthPointe personnel and swarming Lincoln police, it was announced that the man—though not yet apprehended—was likely not a threat, but rather was apparently shopping in Von Maur before heading over to the nearby Scheel’s Sporting Goods to have his knife sharpened.

Sounds ridiculous, I know. And many a family shared a shaky laugh over dinner that night, as they discussed the events of the day.

Although it appears that the man was innocent, though not very bright, the incident shines a scary light on the state we’re in. The Dec. 5 shooting in Omaha, which left eight innocent people plus the shooter dead, has left the rest of us fearing the worst, looking over our shoulders even on a sunny Tuesday at our favorite upscale shopping spot.

—Katherine Field

Take Two on Irresponsibility

2008-03-20T14:02:00.002-05:00

After reading my colleague Katherine Field’s blog on a mall’s responsibility to assume a more authoritative role in what happens in its stores, my first reaction was, “No, it is the retailers who are responsible for the merchandise they sell.”

Then I walked through a recently opened XXI store with my 16-year-old daughter this weekend. Blaring throughout the store was a rapper repeatedly swearing a vulgarity that if I were to write it in this blog I’d be out of work tomorrow. Suffice it to say, the first word was “mother” and the second was unprintable.

Like Katherine, I’m not a prudish mom—but that was tasteless. Frankly, if the words have to be bleeped out of the song when it is played on the radio, what business does a retailer have blasting it on the store’s airwaves?

What was interesting was my daughter’s reaction—definitely an artsy, edgy kind of teen, even she raised her eyebrows over the choice of in-store music. “Honestly, Mom,” she told me, “I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if I’d been shopping with my friends—but shopping with you, yeah it was harsh.”

So I asked her, given that she’s the age demographic XXI is looking for, should they be allowed to play that music? Her answer: “It depends on who they are targeting, like radio stations play those songs all the time and may get fined for the swearing, but it’s worth it if they get more listeners. Personally, I didn’t like the store because it was so hard to find things and I didn’t like the music.”

I’m still of the opinion that it’s the retailer, not the property owner, who has responsibility for what is presented inside the store. However, perhaps malls should borrow the film industry’s rating system and post G, PG or R beside store names on the mall directory. Of course, that would spawn endless debate and probably create more confusion than clarity for shoppers. (I’m reminded of the mothers who protested the “obscene” T-shirts sold in department stores…basically if it’s not Build-A-Bear Workshop, most stores would probably earn an R rating.)

Ultimately, I think it is the consumer’s choice what they buy, and the retailer’s choice what they sell. The gray area for me is the public environment—if stores are operating in a family-focused shopping center, then both retailers and property owners have a responsibility to keep the visual and auditory environment free of vulgarities. That would include swearing, sexually explicit language, pornography, graphic violence and any images that promote derogatory feelings toward a group of people.

—Connie Gentry

Irresponsibility at the Mall?

2008-03-07T12:03:00.005-05:00

Much like homeowners are responsible for the goings-on inside our own dwellings, mall owners may need to assume a more authoritative role in what happens in the shopping centers they own.

If I permit underage drinking in my home, I am accountable. If I distribute cigarettes to the teens who visit my kids, I am to be held responsible. Should mall owners accept the same accountability?

A report this morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” titled “Morality at the Mall," questioned retailer Spencer Gifts’ practice of selling sex toys and games in suburban malls around the country. While the retailer maintains a chainwide policy of refusing the sale of sexually explicit items to minors, many stores didn’t honor the ban—and sold freely to kids the same ages as my own—14 and 17.

Would I want my children to be able to drive down the road to our local mall and buy sex toys at the Spencer’s store (which, by the way, neighbors a slew of other retailers that skew young) or any other store for that matter? I don’t even need to answer that.

I don’t suggest that malls be liable. But I do feel they should assume a more active role in assuring that a tenant follows the dictum of its parent company.

Visit http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4399117&page=1 to view the ABC report.

—Katherine Field

Spitting Nails

2008-03-03T11:33:00.001-05:00

I’ve somehow found myself into the middle of a retail catfight. A newly opened natural nail spa on the east side of Lincoln, Neb., has attracted an enthusiastic customer base—women who have tired of acrylic tips and seek natural nails that still have all the visual appeal of their acrylic or silk-wrapped counterparts. Count me among them.

The Natural Nail Spa is a single unit, operated by an accomplished nail technician who worked for years to establish her own business. She envisioned the types of services she would offer (spa manicures and spa pedicures) and those she would not (quickie “mall” pedicures, as she calls them), all in an upscale, highly sensory environment. Sounds fine, right? Not exactly.

Several customers—rebelling against pricey spa pedicures with no alternative offering—conferred on the side and decided they would approach the owner about expanding her services to include a less expensive “express” pedicure. They put together their arguments and made a group appointment to present their ideas. The owner listened, then politely refused, explaining that she chose to maintain her $25 manicures and $45 pedicures, that she would not be interested in offering a lesser experience, but that all were certainly free to visit the local mall for $19 pedicures with no explanations required.

Now the ladies are angry. And two have called me to ask for my help in convincing the owner, who is a friend of mine, to give in. Ridiculous, surely, but there is an interesting quandary here. If the customer is always right, is the owner obligated to expand her services to satisfy demand? Or is the owner in charge of her own store, and her own destiny, and is she right to stand her ground? My feeling is the latter. And I told her so. As long as she makes each manicure customer feel free to visit another salon—mall or otherwise – for a cheaper pedicure, and truly doesn’t make them feel guilty for utilizing another purveyor, then I feel she is perfectly justified in staying true to her spa-only convictions. What do you think?

—Katherine Field

A Renaissance Man

2008-02-28T14:40:00.004-05:00

Some people lead cool lives. Max Raab, who died recently at the age of 81, was one of those people. Truly a Renaissance man, Raab founded several successful apparel companies, helped pioneer the concept of in-store shops and produced movies in his spare time.

Back in 1958, Raab and his brother started a clothing line called The Villager. The preppy-styled collection grew into a national phenomenon in the sixties. Raab even convinced department store retailers to create special in-store shops, with their own custom look, dedicated to the brand. I can still remember its logo—the Villager name enclosed in an oval with an eagle—with crystal clarity. “Is that a Villager?” my friends and I would ask each other whenever one of us turned up in an outfit that looked even vaguely preppy. It was the first brand that we ever panted over, from its shirtdresses and wraparound dresses to its button-down shirts and madras shorts. More than that, it was the first logo that we ever really coveted. In 1969, Raab sold The Villager (it was eventually acquired by Liz Claiborne).

Even as he was enjoying success in the apparel industry, Raab had his sights set on something else: the movies. In the late 1960s, he bought the film rights to the futuristic novel “A Clockwork Orange.” He was listed as an executive producer on the film, which was released in 1971. He went on to rack up film production credits for a whole slew of movies, including “Walkabout” and “Moment to Moment.”

But as much he loved the film business, Raab couldn’t get the rag trade out of his system. In 1974, he founded another apparel company, J.G. Hook. Initially a menswear line, it expanded into women’s sportswear. He also opened a necktie manufacturing company, Tango.

In 1998, Raab left the apparel business to start a documentary film company, Max Raab Productions. He produced and co directed “Strut!,” a documentary celebration of the Mummers, and “Rittenhouse Square,” a musical rhapsody.

In the final year of his life, Raab returned to his first love: retail. He opened a shop that sells tin toys and model planes, boats and cars. Published reports said he opened the store just for fun.

Good for him.

—Marianne Wilson

Penney’s Ullman Bets on American Living

2008-02-21T15:39:00.002-05:00

In the Old West, according to movie lore, the hero rode into town on a white horse. He stood for strong traditional virtues, like family, hard work and honest value for the dollar.

This being the 21st century, the new American hero rolled onto the stage at Skylight in New York City on a Segway, a motorized scooter. At least that’s how Myron “Mike” Ullman, CEO of J.C. Penney, made his appearance Tuesday night at the debut of American Living, Penney’s biggest product launch ever.

Ullman uses a Segway to get around because of a physical condition that limits his mobility. But his ability to tap into the core of Penney’s customers is in no way impaired. Building on a turnaround foundation laid by predecessor Allen Questrom, Ullman has expanded Penney’s position as a true alternative to traditional department stores and specialty stores. By bringing to Penney Sephora, a company he ran before joining Penney, Ullman did what Questrom could not. He layered on a cosmetics option that brings female customers into the stores over and over.

With American Living, Ullman adds another coup. Developed, designed and produced by Polo Ralph Lauren, but with no mention of that pedigree in any marketing campaign, American Living is meant to be an “aspirational” choice across 40 different merchandise categories, from apparel to home furnishings, said Ullman.

The brand will officially launch with TV ads during Sunday’s Oscar Awards. Merchandise will appear in 600 of Penney’s top department stores across the country.

Will it work?

Probably, if the quality is there and Penney promotes it aggressively and often. Given Polo Ralph Lauren’s and Penney’s history, it’s fair to assume positive responses to both assumptions.

Particularly during these troubled economic times when customers are looking to trade down in price points while retaining as much quality and value as possible, American Living may well appeal to Penney’s existing public and to the new shoppers it wants to attract with products that have a Ralph Lauren look and feel but don’t mind that the merchandise doesn’t carry his signature Polo horse logo.

The company hopes that within five years American Living produces annual sales of at least $1 billion.

—Murray Forseter

Zappos Backlash

2008-02-20T10:08:00.006-05:00

I received an e-mail this morning with the subject titled “OUTRAGE!” I could sense the panic and urgency in my friend’s e-mail and I knew it must be serious.

She attached a linked that revealed the following statement from Zappos.com:

“We will no longer be promoting "Free Overnight Shipping" and we no longer will be promoting our price protection policy. Instead, we will be focusing more on our "free shipping" and our expanding selection of merchandise.”

I went on Zappos.com's live chat option and asked the representative about the change:

"We decided to remove our price protection policy from Zappos because we didn't feel it was consistent with our goal of focusing mainly on customer service rather than on having very deeply discounted prices," she told me. "We found that most of the customers who were using our former price protection policy would actually save even more money if we started out with deeply discounted products in the first place, which is what you will now be able to find on 6pm.com."

"Regarding our decision to stop advertising and promoting free overnight shipping on Zappos it was a decision to stop advertising and promoting it, not a decision to actually stop doing it. Free shipping will always exist. There's always a great chance that a lot of orders are shipped just as fast as when we did provide free overnight shipping."

But judging by the tone of the e-mail, my friend didn't like those odds. And it's evident that Zappos just turned one of their most devoted shoppers into a very angry one. The online shoe retailer had successfully recruited an enormous amount of loyal shoppers with its free overnight shipping incentive and a 110% price-match guarantee. But if the e-mail is an indication of any backlash to come, Zappos better be ready for some major damage control by making it up to customers in other ways soon.

—Samantha Murphy

Mall Violence: Up Close and Personal

2008-02-13T15:25:00.005-05:00

It’s been 70 days since a teenaged gunman opened fire in the Von Maur department store in Omaha, Neb., murdering eight shoppers before killing himself. The pages of my hometown newspaper, the Lincoln Journal-Star, no longer carry any stories on the shooting that occurred in our neighboring city, but the tragedy hasn’t been forgotten. And now, with another shooting earlier this month that killed five in a strip mall in Illinois, the wounds have been re-opened.

But instead of licking our wounds and moving on, the time has come for some kind of action.

I read earlier today that the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) have formed a working group to address how to combat active shooters in malls and stores. And a conference, to be held March 30-April 1 in New Orleans and co-hosted by both groups, will focus specifically on mall violence. (Visit www.icsc.org and click on “full meeting calendar” for more information on the Shopping Center Security Conference.)

Attendees of the conference will discuss how to train employees to protect themselves and their customers in the event of a shooting or hostage situation. It’s a sad state of affairs when an entire conference centers around protecting ourselves and our customers from murderers who target malls and retail stores. But that’s what it has come to, and I for one am glad that the NRF and ICSC have taken the bull by the horns.

—Katherine Field

Larry David and Me and Checkout Lines

2008-02-07T16:29:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been stuck in the wrong line at the checkout? And by wrong, I mean the slow-moving one. It seems to happen all the time to me. Just the other night, I watched with growing frustration as the woman in front of me took out one credit card after the other, only to have each one declined. She then launched into her personal credit history with the very patient and chatty cashier. Meanwhile, I watched as two people—both of who had walked up to the checkout after me but were in a different line—cashed out and left the store.

I didn’t make a big deal of it as I wasn’t in all that much of a hurry. But the fact is, I don’t like stores that have checkouts with multiple lines. I don’t like having to gamble which line will move the quickest and which line will get bogged down. And I can really get riled up when a new register suddenly opens and the last person on line suddenly becomes the first on the new line.

I have tried not to let checkout line injustices (actually, inefficiencies is a better word) get the better of me. But sometimes I just can’t help give in to what one of my friends calls “queue rage.” It happened this past December, on the last Saturday before Christmas. There were three long lines at one central checkout. The line I was in had come to a standstill, while the other lines moved briskly. Then an associate walked up to the counter and opened a new register. I fumed as she called out to customers at the end of the other lines to come up to her register.

A store manager watched as this all unfolded. I went over to her and started talking (okay, so I raised my voice a little as the discussion went on) about the unfairness of it all, and how the customers would be better served with a single line that fed all the checkouts. She was patronizing. I left the store in a huff, feeling like some ranting crazy lady.

Still, I had to smile when a friend sent me a link to an episode of the HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” in which the star, Larry David, fumes when he stands on the “wrong line” at a perfume counter. After loudly going on about the unfairness of checkout lines, he stalks out.

“There’s one way to solve it—one line,” David says.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

—Marianne Wilson

What’s in a Name?

2008-02-04T15:27:00.000-05:00

Tom Coughlin is a name shared by two high-profile leaders in their respective fields currently undergoing vastly different experiences.

Tom Coughlin is the head coach of the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. Exultation would be a mild term to describe his emotions after the Giants upset the 18-0 New England Patriots in Sunday’s Super Bowl, 17-14. Coughlin, who barely survived dismissal last year and earlier in this season’s campaign when his team started 0-2 in giving up 80 points, is expected to be rewarded with a four-year contract extension.

Super Bowl weekend also proved to be good to another Tom Coughlin, the disgraced former vice chairman of Wal-Mart, guilty of stealing more than half a million dollars worth of gift cards from the retail company. A judge ruled on Friday that Coughlin would not have to serve any jail time because of his health. The judge added 1,500 hours of community service to Coughlin’s sentence that also included 27 months of house arrest, five years’ probation, a $50,000 fine and $400,000 in restitution. It is uncertain if the government will appeal the judge’s ruling to keep Coughlin out of jail.

—Murray Forseter

Not Your Parents’ Stock Exchange

2008-02-04T12:10:00.001-05:00

When you think of the stock market, you can’t help but visualize the loud metal starting bell ringing, and a frenzy of brokers and buyers primed for a busy day of trading. Today, Nasdaq is changing the face of financial trading with an all-electronic environment.

At Nasdaq Marketsite, New York City, there is no trading floor, or even a starting bell to commence daily trading. All processes, from ringing the bell to processing deals and orders, are all done electronically through algorithmic trading technology.

That said, I guess it was appropriate that Juniper Networks, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company that provides high-performance networking infrastructure and services, was invited to ring the opening bell on Wed., Jan. 30. Juniper is a well-known name in the retail industry, and has retail customers such as bebe stores inc., Hallmark Canada and Rent-A-Center.

(For example, bebe stores, inc., uses the company’s architecture to reduce bandwidth and improve performance across its e-commerce site. Besides helping the company reduce bandwidth costs by 30%, Juniper’s architecture helped bebe accelerate load times by 43%, thus improving the customer experience.)

The Nasdaq event marked Juniper’s 12th anniversary, and highlighted the company’s milestone of reaching $2.8 billion in total revenue for 2007.

Forty-two Juniper executives and associates were present at the event. They cheered on Scott G. Kriens, Juniper’s CEO and chairman, as he rang the proverbial bell and announced Juniper’s next milestone: to keep up the pace and become a $10 billion company.

—Deena M. Amato-McCoy

Local Costco’s 20% Expansion Could Mean 100% Aggravation for Shoppers

2008-01-28T12:17:00.000-05:00

I shuddered after reading an article in my local newspaper, the Staten Island Advance, regarding Costco’s plan to expand its busy Staten Island, N.Y., store by 20% (21,000 sq. ft.) and reducing precious parking space by 10%. The reason behind the expansion: to make room for large appliances that are currently available at other locations and to store more inventory.

That seems fair, but according to the Advance, this Costco location “ranks among the top 15% of the company’s 529 stores worldwide when it comes to customer traffic and sales.” The parking lot already resembles a carnival-style bumper-car ride; I can’t imagine it getting any better. Cutting 76 out of 808 parking spaces will be a problem for customers—and, perhaps, for sales, too.

The parking lot is always busy with drivers and shoppers coming and going with carts in tow—not to mention the line at the gas pump—and there are only two ways to enter and exit. I learned to steer clear of this area and do my shopping at the local supermarket or out-of-town Costco (there’s one only 25 minutes away in New Jersey).

After this expansion (which is still being reviewed by the New York City Department of City Planning Commission) I wonder if shoppers will flee and find another wholesale club with more parking; or if they will battle the Staten Island crowd to buy the new stock of large appliances and inventory that awaits them inside.

Costco’s president and CEO Jim Sinegal told the Advance that the store plans to use off-site employee parking and will work with City Planning to improve traffic flow in and out of the lot. Driving aisles will be widened and a pedestrian-friendly grass buffer will be added around the perimeter.

Wider driving aisle and a grass buffer still sounds like less parking to me; and it may not be enough to bring shoppers like me—who want to get in and get out—back into the store.

—Jennifer Mosscrop