― Ally, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Target is cleaner K mart is Meaner Walmart sells more Weiner
this is why we win
by the way how does ames stay in business wit an average of 5 customers an hour
― Michael D, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― geeta, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Laura, Wednesday, 10 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mr Noodles, Wednesday, 10 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Russ, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Marie Fox, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Kris, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dave Maldonado, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Bob Benton, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sep, Thursday, 29 August 2002 17:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo (cindigo), Thursday, 29 August 2002 20:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Topher', Friday, 6 December 2002 18:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 6 December 2002 22:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Friday, 6 December 2002 23:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 7 December 2002 05:10 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 7 December 2002 05:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Saturday, 7 December 2002 05:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― k3rry (dymaxia), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 16:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 17:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― k3rry (dymaxia), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 18:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Zimmer026 (nader), Thursday, 18 November 2004 03:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― k3rry (dymaxia), Monday, 22 November 2004 13:46 (nineteen years ago) link
there is an old Sears in Brooklyn. I may go there tom'w morning for a doorbuster New Balance sale.
― your generation appalls me (Dr Morbius), Friday, 29 April 2011 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
I remember these Sears that were these huge castle like buildings. Like this one in Memphis or this one in Minneapolis.
― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 29 April 2011 16:37 (thirteen years ago) link
At Sears, Eddie Lampert's Warring Divisions Model Adds to the Troubles
Once you get to this sentence:
"Lampert runs Sears like a hedge fund portfolio, with dozens of autonomous businesses competing for his attention and money. An outspoken advocate of free-market economics and fan of the novelist Ayn Rand, he created the model because he expected the invisible hand of the market to drive better results. If the company’s leaders were told to act selfishly, he argued, they would run their divisions in a rational manner, boosting overall performance.
the rest of the story writes itself.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 13 July 2013 21:27 (ten years ago) link
Sears brings you...Elegant Moments.
Like this.
Not *exactly* SFW.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 August 2013 20:09 (ten years ago) link
http://www.businessinsider.com/target-shuts-down-canada-operations-2015-1
Target closing all 133 Canadian stores after being in the market for only two years.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 15 January 2015 15:55 (nine years ago) link
yeah that's been a colossal shitshow. just for local economic health reasons i hope they figure their shit out (same with best buy, god)
― goole, Thursday, 15 January 2015 16:10 (nine years ago) link
It sucks that 17,000 people are about to be laid off.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 15 January 2015 16:29 (nine years ago) link
What happened? There can't be that much of a cultural difference.
Though to add to this:
While the move is not a surprise, it sends a stark reminder to American retailers who think that brands between the U.S. and Canada face no real consumer borders. Burger King, which recently acquired the Canadian brand Tim Hortons, could face its own obstacles trying to get American consumers to embrace the Canadian coffee shop chain.
I will be the first in line at the Little Rock Tim Hortons.
― pplains, Thursday, 15 January 2015 16:40 (nine years ago) link
What happened?
They opened all 130 stores (at once instead of rolling it out slowly) and had no real plan for distribution to those 130 stores. Shelves were often empty and they were almost always sold out of everything that was on sale/advertised in their flyers. We have one very close and I have really liked it (at minimum it is SO MUCH cleaner and visually appealing than the gross old Zellers it replaced), so I am bummed it's going, but it definitely had stocking problems that they could not seem to sort out.
― franny glasshole (franny glass), Thursday, 15 January 2015 17:47 (nine years ago) link
Also just realising this means the only Starbucks nearby is probably closing too and omg NO
wow, my 23-year-old self just read my comments in this thread and killed herself
― franny glasshole (franny glass), Thursday, 15 January 2015 17:50 (nine years ago) link
this article from last year goes into what went wrong : http://gawker.com/why-was-target-canada-such-a-disaster-1579554288
I remember going into a Target several months after it opened and there were still many empty shelves. I think most people just stopped going to Target, because you often didn't find what you needed. Things may have improved, but Target was still stuck with a bad reputation.
― silverfish, Thursday, 15 January 2015 18:17 (nine years ago) link
They opened all 130 stores (at once instead of rolling it out slowly)
well that's insane.
― pplains, Thursday, 15 January 2015 18:57 (nine years ago) link
Sounds like they... missed their target
― 龜, Thursday, 15 January 2015 19:09 (nine years ago) link
I feel like if you asked 100 people at random, "What do you think would happen if (insert retail chain) simultaneously opened 130 stores in a new and untested market?", you would probably receive 100 variations of the same correct answer.
― Smoothie Operator (Old Lunch), Thursday, 15 January 2015 19:18 (nine years ago) link
Not unhappy this didn't turn out well, but unhappy for all the people laid off. Can we just go back to it being Zellers and keep the employees?
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, 15 January 2015 19:22 (nine years ago) link
Yeah it felt insane even when they started doing it. Until then, Target was viewed here like "oooh fancy! but cheap! you can only get this shit in the States!" and everyone took weekend trips to Buffalo just to shop there. People were excited it was coming...so don't open one in, like, Chatham, Ontario. If they had opened one or two big flagship stores in the Greater Toronto Area and made them awesome, they could have maintained the appeal.
― franny glasshole (franny glass), Thursday, 15 January 2015 19:41 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, in Vancouver, Walmart is in such a suburbany area. Superstore was/is usually closer.
There's a Costco downtown, though. But I can never see myself buying from it unless it was to split it with friends.
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, 15 January 2015 20:59 (nine years ago) link
I am curious to see what, if anything, takes their place. What else is there to fill those anchor spots in malls and large retail park units? Presumably some of them will be taken up by other big box retailers but 100+ units?
― salsa shark, Thursday, 15 January 2015 21:54 (nine years ago) link
If it's anything like what happened in the US, expect an eventual spike in Churches and/or Fitness Clubs/Membership Gyms.
― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 15 January 2015 22:03 (nine years ago) link
Were the stores put into existing locations? Tell me they didn't build 130 Targets all at once.
― pplains, Thursday, 15 January 2015 22:04 (nine years ago) link
No, they took over a really shitty chain called Zellers which were mostly dim, filthy and empty and no-one liked going there - maybe another problem? I see that they had problems with distribution and so on but another thing is that may we don't need any more stores selling crap. All the urban areas of Canada already have more of that than they need thanks.
― everything, Thursday, 15 January 2015 22:17 (nine years ago) link
Haha, I think I saw this episode of Hoarders.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Zellers_Walmart_comparison.jpg/800px-Zellers_Walmart_comparison.jpg
― pplains, Thursday, 15 January 2015 22:37 (nine years ago) link
We had a Sears at our local mall since the mall began in the late sixties. Just a few years ago, it closed. After forty some years. They're putting an athletic facility in its place.
I've learned it doesn't pay to lash out at "the invisible hand", but replacing an institution with a sports facility is, like a lot of these big box replacements, a comment on what corporate America thinks of certain demographics.
We lost our Target, too, but to be frank, they didn't try very hard at that location to win people's love. It was nowhere near as nice as the one five miles east.
Something has to change wrt the values that inform urban planning but I've been told I am a fool.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Thursday, 15 January 2015 22:49 (nine years ago) link
Target in AU must be an entirely different company. Its not fancy in the slightest, and has no chance of going out of business any time soon. I dont mind it's clothes tbh, if I can get past the whole "this was made in a sweatshop in bangladesh for 10 cents" guilt.
― I checked Snoops , and it is for real (Trayce), Friday, 16 January 2015 02:31 (nine years ago) link
(I just googled it - it is a diff company. Started the same year!)
― I checked Snoops , and it is for real (Trayce), Friday, 16 January 2015 02:38 (nine years ago) link
Some Zellers were dingy, but some were okay. It was a good place to find remaindered DVDs, sometimes highly unlikely ones like Aparajito. I rarely went to the Target close to me.
― clemenza, Friday, 16 January 2015 02:45 (nine years ago) link
Five Below is mostly toys, it should be noted. Last time I went into a Dollar Something it was like a low-grade CVS without the pharmacy.
― how's life, Thursday, 5 February 2015 17:43 (nine years ago) link
I'll sometimes stop at Dollar General before moving on to the real grocery store. They do sell stuff cheap.
Though Sunny was a little perturbed when I bought some Coca-Cola 12-packs a couple of months ago that still had World Cup logos on it.
― pplains, Thursday, 5 February 2015 18:45 (nine years ago) link
The "dollar store" used to be those places that sold wigs and weird make-up, lots of hair products. I used to get hair doo dads and scented oils at them, but a lot of people would not set foot in them. I'd say that in the past fifteen or so years they've shed their "reputation" - the stores are very clean and you can get cleaners and paper towels and dog food. I'd wager you could cook a decent meal from dollar store food if you tried.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Thursday, 5 February 2015 18:52 (nine years ago) link
Oh by the way, Staples and Office Depot are merging. Maybe some day there will be one giant store for everything - one brand. Today's shopping mall will become one giant store owned by one company.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Thursday, 5 February 2015 18:56 (nine years ago) link
I had thought it was Office Depot merging with Office Max, rather than Staples.
― Aimless, Thursday, 5 February 2015 18:57 (nine years ago) link
As the guy who handles purchasing in my dept, the last two days have been a pain in the ass. Had tax exempt status "disappear" from the merger.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 5 February 2015 19:05 (nine years ago) link
Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are merging btw, Dollar General rebuffed
― 龜, Thursday, 5 February 2015 19:41 (nine years ago) link
I enjoyed this headline:
Family Dollar Stores Sticks With Dollar Tree, Refuses Dollar General's $9.1 Billion Offer
― pplains, Thursday, 5 February 2015 19:49 (nine years ago) link
Imagine being paid with 9.1 billion items from a Dollar Tree
― 龜, Thursday, 5 February 2015 19:52 (nine years ago) link
I've seen one Five Below around here, but it's the first one I've ever seen and I had no idea what it was. Toys, huh?
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 5 February 2015 20:07 (nine years ago) link
Really cold toys.
― Mouth-Watering Broiled Chops! (Old Lunch), Thursday, 5 February 2015 20:11 (nine years ago) link