Lack of small stores

[Angelo Castellano pos]

[Tom]

Angelo wrote:> I'm sure I spent more on gas than I would have saved by

Thank you. And the "little guy" thanks you. Tom Someday, it'll all be over....

[nospambob]

[Eric Scantlebury]

On the flip side. I ran out of nails building my son a sandbox yesterday. Drove over to the local hardware store and they were closed becuase it was Sunday. I wasn't going to drive the 20 minutes to the Borg so I had to stop building for the day. I was very frustrated.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I find it interesting that we expect others to work on our day off so we can indulge in our hobby. When I was a kid, this would not be a problem because every store was closed on Sunday. Now it is the biggest shopping day of the week.

While good arguments are made on both sides for Sunday sales, I still refuse to go to any store on a major holiday. Ed

[Bill]

I'm not sure about your part of the world, but I actually find the service at the Borg to be better than that at my local "little guy" shops. We live in a small town with a mom and pop hardware store. The items are disorganized, the prices are higher than at the Borg, and the owner always greets you with a grunt when you say "Hello." The best part comes at checkout - not a single word is spoken. The owner punches some keys on the register, waits for you to look at the register to find out how much you owe, and then hands over your change after you pay him. All of this without a single word, smile, or "thank you." We call this hardware store the "fire extinguisher" - we only use it in case of an emergency. Most times we just start a list and make a big trip into "town" to visit one of the Borgs. I hope this one is an exception.

Bill

[nospambob]

[charlie b]

I wish we, as bean counters would do a better job of counting ALL the beans. THEY keep track of all their expenses and procedes/proceeds, the difference being their profit. We keep track of only the "price tag" cost and ignore the rest of the expense (hours getting our purchase to work - including gas cost, wasted time, blood pressure meds ...)

CHEAPER often works out to be far more expensive when all is said and done. The price of a bad customer experience really needs to be worked into corporate accounting practices.

Maybe if we became better "consumers" (interesting label to put on us) the retail business might change- perhaps for the better?

charlie b

[Sweet Sawdust]

[Eric Scantlebury]

If I limited myself to that rule I'd be a very rich man - but rather short of chattle ;)

[VRadin]

Seems to be less of the exception than a rule in some areas. We had a few "locals" that everyone cried over when the first of the BORGS moved in- Homebase, Builder's Square, Home Depot, and Menard's, and finally our very own Lowes... The full service, we got it and if not we'll GET it, knowledgeable, and professional little guy is not only STILL in business, but just finished a big expansion. They outlasted Homebase and Builder's Square both long gone and all but forgotten, and will probably outlast the orange borg if they don't get some better help in there soon.

The little guy that wouldn't smile, charged an extra 10% or more for special orders, and was rude has since gone the way of the dodo- extinct and deservedly so. Sometimes these mom & pop shops die off for reasons other than being assimilated by the evil empire.

Now if only we could get a REAL woodworker's store to open closer than the 45 or 60 minute drive....

[Brian Elfert]

I was just in Beatrice, Nebraska over the weekend. The population is about 12,000. We drove all over town looking for a hardware store to get a valve for my RV. We finally stopped at a little gas station and found out both hardware stores closed in the past two years.

It is about a two hour round trip to the nearest Lowes or Home Depot. I have no idea why a town like that wouldn't have a hardware store. Problably a two hour round trip to any hardware store.

The town does have a Super Walmart, but they don't overlap too much with a hardware store.

Brian Elfert

[Brian Elfert]

Some car dealers here in Minnesota want the legal right to open on Sunday.

I have no idea why. This just means they have increased costs. Nobody is going to decide not to buy a car just because the dealers are closed on Sunday.

Once one car dealer is open on Sunday, they will all do it or risk losing sales to the other guy.

Brian Elfert

[B a r r y]

Sure it does!

Paint, tools, screws, nuts and bolts, lawn care stuff, etc...

Almost everything that commonly sells on a regular basis. All the little stuff left wouldn't keep the little guy in business.

Barry

[J. Clarke]

Are the dealers in neighboring states open on Sunday? If so then the dealers near the borders are losing sales out of state.

[RB]

Foggy thinking. In the limit, all auto dealers should get together and only open between noon and 6 pm on Wednesdays. If folks couldn't shop for cars any other time they'd all do it Wednesday afternoon and the dealer's costs would be minimized.

RB

Brian Elfert wrote:

[Robert Bonomi]

that's _why_ they want to be open on Sunday. consider places like Moorehead,

*on* the border. Where the dealer on the 'other side of town' (in a different state) *is* open on Sunday.

Or even somewhere like Rochester, which is just a 'short drive' from the Iowa border.

With the right access to motor-vehicle registration data, it *is* easy to quantify just how much business is _currently_ being lost to 'out-of-state' sales. And one can reasonably figure that a _large_ proportion of that 'lost business' is Sunday sales.

Also, the cost _to_the_dealer_ for being open on Sunday is *really* small. Some electricity for the lights, and 'something' for heating or A/C.

And _maybe_ the wages for a receptionist/telephone answerer -- though in most of the Sunday operations That's left to an auto-attendant and/or the sales people themselves.

The sales types are, almost universally, all on 'straight commission', so there's no coast increment there.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Here in CT, the dealers want to stay closed. Right now they have little or no worries of border crossing. Some of the dealers watched as people feely browsed the lot looking at cars with no fear of a salesman pouncing on them. The same people were recognized coming back in th e next few days.

We have a dealer in our "downtown" area. I won't even walk on the same side of the street when they are open. Made the mistake of just slowing down to look at a car and WHAM, I was attacked by a salesman, bound and gagged, and held for a time while I was interrogated.

Liquor stores are now allowed to be open an extra hour. They have not gained any sales. The last minute shoppers used to come in at 7:45, now the same people come in at 8:45. No added profit, just added expense. Ed [e-mail]

[B a r r y]

Here in Central CT, nowhere near any borders, about 25% of the dealerships are open Sunday.

Barry