Found out why stores are closing! - Page 5

handygal2 · ‎01-19-2015

It seems to me that it's a vicious cycle.

As more and more people shop online, the stores lay off employees, and stock less inventory, to save on overhead.

As a result, the people who DO go to the B&M stores are frustrated b/c there isn't enough sales and cashier help, or selection of items to choose from. When customer service and selection suffer, so does business.

So people continue to abandon the B&M stores, and shop online.

Unfortunately, unless the B&M stores hire more help, and carry more variety of goods-- like they used to-- the situation will continue to get worse.

~~Be careful when you follow the masses. Sometimes the 'm' is silent.~~

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

I think a huge part of the problem with b&m stores is shoplifting.

At a local Sams, somebody had cut open a big pack of toilet paper and taken out a roll that someone noticed only when she got home. The clerks said it happens all the time. People come in, slit open something, take out some of it and steal it.

People used to be more honest and had respect. it doesn't happen now. You would not believe some of the other especially personal products those women said were shop lifted like that. One or two at a time. Unbelievable!

lovesrecess · ‎03-14-2010

I know lack of customer service is the main reason I hate going into many stores now. Long lines, no one to assist customers, or going into a store and being completely ignored by staff who are just standing around or talking on their phone. I have left more than one shopping cart full of merchandise behind when I couldn’t spend any more time waiting in a long line due to only one register being open. You can’t blame Amazon for that! Ultra is close to where I live...but I have never been there without a long line and only one cashier...so I usually just don’t bother with that store.

TY · ‎03-10-2010

Even before Walmart announced that they were getting rid of their greeters and replacing them with hosts, I stopped buying cat litter there. Why? Because of the roadblocks the store puts in front of the customer. Those boxes weigh 22 kilograms or about 50 pounds. Walmart Canada only has those old fashioned deep basket shopping carts which aren't ergonomic for a heavy item. It's a shopping cart or one of several dolly carts that they don't allow you to take out of the store so you have to get customer service to call someone to escort you to your vehicle so they don't get their dolly cart stolen. On top of that you pretty much have to wait until the mall closes in order to park close enough to the main door entrance at Walmart Canada in order to wheel something that heavy to your car easily.

So I switched to getting litter at a competitor's grocery store that has those double shallow basket ergonomic shopping carts that you can easily lift something heavy in and out of to get into your auto easily. And of course it also means that I don't shop for groceries at Walmart either since we always got some too when getting cat litter. Nope, those dollars go to their competitors who have figured out how to accomodate a customer. And the competitor has a loyalty card where I can earn points that I can redeem at their sister company's drugstore's prestige cosmetics too.

bells4me · ‎03-13-2010

I would much rather browse the stores than shop online, especially clothing & shoes.

WindingRoad · ‎06-18-2018

@Sooner wrote:
I think a huge part of the problem with b&m stores is shoplifting.

At a local Sams, somebody had cut open a big pack of toilet paper and taken out a roll that someone noticed only when she got home. The clerks said it happens all the time. People come in, slit open something, take out some of it and steal it.

People used to be more honest and had respect. it doesn't happen now. You would not believe some of the other especially personal products those women said were shop lifted like that. One or two at a time. Unbelievable!

@Sooner I agree with everything you're saying, but can't help but feel bad for someone who needs to steal one roll of TP.

panda1234 · ‎04-27-2015

Stores may seem understaffed but some of the time people just don’t show up for work. There is a very poor work ethic out there, I see it at my job.

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

@this is my nic

Boy, I feel your pain!

The only solution to shopping on weekends is to make a point of being there when the store opens.

Or find a way to shop during the week ... your sanity is important.

Remar · ‎08-18-2015

This is my nic.

I'm so glad you posted this. I miss going to the mall with my Mom and daughter. It used to be that when we walked in to a store we were asked how we could be helped. Try finding an employee now to help find something. You won't.

I was shopping at Walmart not long ago. The few lnes they had open were packed so I decided to go through self checkout. The woman told me, you can go to a line. I told her, look at the lines, they're packed and there's a register open right here. This woman drove me crazy! She kept coming to my cart saying I had not scanned this or that when I had. She was rescanning items and then I had to show her, because she wouldn't take my word for it, that I had indeed scanned the item. So she had to go back several times and remove the second scan that she had done. I wasn't the only one either. She was driving other customers crazy. She even lifted my purse up to make sure I had scanned everything. It made me want to go to the manager to tell them that this woman was driving all of us crazy and she was picking up our personal things. If she had asked me to pick up my purse myself that would have been different. I carry a tiny purse when I shop so there's no way I could over look anything.

It's obvious that shopping online is so concenient. You're bound to find what you're looking for at an online store.

I still miss the days of shopping at the mall when employees were so nice and helpful. If my daughter was in a dressing room and something didn't fit they would gladly bring her a different size or something in the same style. We could choose the shoes we wanted to try on and an employee would measure our foot, bring us the shoes and help us with trying them on. I ordered a pair of Vionic shoes here on QVC and she had to send them back. Like most of you, I hate to pay shipping both ways when an item doesn't work out. It's the price we pay for convenience though.

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

@Sooner wrote:
I think a huge part of the problem with b&m stores is shoplifting.

At a local Sams, somebody had cut open a big pack of toilet paper and taken out a roll that someone noticed only when she got home. The clerks said it happens all the time. People come in, slit open something, take out some of it and steal it.

People used to be more honest and had respect. it doesn't happen now. You would not believe some of the other especially personal products those women said were shop lifted like that. One or two at a time. Unbelievable!

I had to laugh at this line. My old next door neighbor who was in her eighties would carry funnels in her purse and anything liquid she'd buy in a grocery store she'd open two bottles, use one of the funnels to transfer liquid from a second bottle to absolutely fill the one she was buying, then put the second, partially empty bottle back on the shelf. Her rationale was that she was paying for a full bottle, so by God she was getting a full bottle. Suffice to say she wasn't especially popular with grocery store managers. She did this all her life. She'd do the same with boxes of cereal. She'd open a second box and fill the one she was buying, then put the second one back on the shelf.

She would also take cuttings of plants in garden centers rather than buy a plant. She drove stores a bit crazy with her antics.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!