Community Chat

[Caaareful Shopper]

Totally agree about Chico's sizing @Cakers3.  I guess they wanted to be unique, but it was frustrating more times than not.

[Spurt]

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@shoekitty wrote:

It's not just online shopping hitting brick and mortor stores.  It is Costco, Sams, Walmart.  People want it cheaper  and they want it  NOW.  They also want  a one stop shopping if possible.  Rents are higher and people are busy.  The hassle of parking, traffic and the likes,hit malls.  Plus malls have so many extra fees that they cannot afford to reduce prices and carry a larger stock.  A mall has  security, parking fees, upgrade fees, the list is endless.  One of those kiosks at a mall in San Jose, CA  costs  8,000 a month and that was a few years ago!! Geesh, imagine the keychains or mugs you have to sell to make that? 

Walmart took all manufacturing of its items overseas to reduce prices years ago. They sent employee around to all surrounding stores, then  walmart would reduce prices lower ,even if it was at a loss.  This forced small business out of downtown. Then amazon, and then the Costco's expanded.  At the same time as people got busier, and life more complicated online business soared. Most people can go to an online store find the color and the size they want in 5 minutes, get it shipped to their own home in 2-6 days free.  If they don't like it, they put it in a bag, slap a return label ...then return ! free in most places. How can anyone compete?  Plus they eliminate the American worker, or reduce labor force.

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@shoekitty 

Its not always easy to return stuff that was bought online....I'm lucky that USPS has free pickups with a return label in my area if pickup is done within regular business hours...Sadly some areas don't offer this service and people have to go to a post office to send back a return....long lines, long wait////

[chihuahuamom]

The Dollar Trees in our area outside Los Angeles seem to be booming (there are a number of them in a small area).  We also have a number of 99Cent stores (this store irks me in that they have more things above 99 cents than their name implies). However, we have a big mall with JCP and Macys. Not sure if our JCP is closing, but wouldn't be surprised.  Their clothes are all so over priced and many poor quality.  We also have a Sears that I suspect will bite the dust. It is huge and few customers when I have been in there. No Dollar Generals that I know of where I live.

[Naturesbeauty]

People don’t want to go to stores now a days. The younger generation shop online and credit cards. Myself I enjoy going shopping and strolling thru the stores. It gets me out of the house and enjoy other people. Personally I think we are heading into a major Depression......just my thoughts. Stores closing, major businesses closing, stock market dropping, very scary!

[Hooty]

I love the Dollar Tree, but never been inside a Family Dollar, in my area, most of them are in rural areas (out in the middle of nowhere) and they are always getting robbed, maybe that is why they are closing!

I guess I have gotten lazy, I prefer to shop online, I still do my grocery shopping, but these days you can even do that online and just go curbside pick-up or have it delivered!

[drizzellla]

After working in retail, I can understand why B&M stores are closing. Our store had a huge problem just in shoplifting. Our store was right off a major traffic corridor. It was amazing we would get hit by pros all the time. And it was company policy that you could not follow the shoplifter. In fact a friend was fired because she did follow a shoplifter after a person walked out with a complete display of DVDs. 

Then we would have people buy a big ticket item with a bad check. We would get an OK for the check. And then the person would quickly go to another store and return it. Before we were notified the check was bad. He made thousands of dollars doing that. 

Or people returning huge bags of clothing for their kids saying they don't fit. The clothes were worn all season and beat. And they wanted to buy the next season of clothing for their kids with the return money.

They have been closing stores that were owned by the company I worked for, and I can see why. There is no way with all the fraud and shoplifting going on that they are profitable. The mall rent is not cheap, staffing costs money, changing displays and updating plus keeping the inventory fully stocked and updated. The company wants to keep tighter control of their products. 

[bootsanne]

@Spurt I live in PA, one of the states with the highest gasolene taxes.  The closest gas to me is $2.69 but 26 miles away in Ohio I paid $2.15 at Sam's.  That's also the area that has all the restaurants and stores I usually go to.  Ohio's milk prices are less than half of ours but they do tax clothing.  

[gardenman]

Retail is a brutally competitive field. Very few companies can stay on top for long. If you do something well, others will imitate you and steal your customers. Theft and deceit can kill your profits. Nuisance lawsuits (fake slip and fall lawsuits for example) can have you spending much of your profits on legal fees. It's nearly impossible to stay profitable for long. If you're making money, people/rivals will want to find a way to take it away from you. Stores that are hot business models now, will have been copied and put out of business in a few years time. Your best chance to survive is to create products unique to your platform. Even then others will copy what you do.

[Weebles]

You are 100% correct.  I also used to work in retail.  You wouldn't believe the things people tried to steal.  I know, because sometimes I had to sit with our loss prevention employee and the person they caught until the police arrived.  They stole everything from  big things to little items like lipstick.  It's the theft and the people that get away with returning used items that make prices go up.  Things certainly have changed.  No one has any class anymore.  Rude customers, employees, and messy stores are what keep people out of the stores too.  I try to put all that aside and just go in to get what I need and get out quickly as possible!