I’ve recently noticed how diverse area businesses are becoming in this struggling economy. A few businesses that come to mind are Garden Ridge Pottery, Atwoods and Warehouse Market. All three have specific niche markets they serve and have in the past carried products to fit their target market. They are now all three stocking anything and everything possible to push more products out the door at higher profit margins. I understand that’s how business works - maximize volume and profit margins, preferably both at the same time. However, as a consumer I find this diversity in selection somewhat offensive.
Garden Ridge has always had an assortment of product lines, but generally specialized in the area of home décor. Now the store is a mangled mess of cheap imports to include complete home furniture sets, excessively cheap mattresses, nursing uniforms and two full aisles of imitation handbags. Those are just the product lines that stood out as awkward to me.
Next in my lineup is Atwoods, which carries farm and ranch equipment and supplies. Walking in the door, the first product for sale is cheap bed sheets by the pallet load. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, however it’s just not what I would expect Atwoods to carry. In marketing, there’s a term called positioning. It’s where your business or product line stands in the minds of consumers. I have Atwoods positioned in my mind on a different plane than Egyptian 300-count bed sheets in every color of the rainbow. I have stores like Atwoods positioned like classic general stores of the Old West – a wonderland of tools, equipment, saddles, bridles, gear, knives and guns (not that they sell guns, but it could happen). I expect the store to smell like leather and gunpowder and kerosene. So perhaps you can feel my disappointment as my heart sank, walking the aisles surveying the cheap imports stocking the shelves.
Warehouse Market is the third business I’ll pick on today. It’s a small grocery store in town, probably part of a small chain. The first rack of items for sale when you walk in the door is full of cable-knit sweaters and jeans! Don’t forget the aisle of socks to match, followed by a full selection of kitchen utensils and home décor items. However, the product line that takes the cake is Egyptian 300-count bed sheets - most likely the same brand of bed sheets sold at Garden Ridge and Atwoods – except instead of by the pallet load, they have them conveniently placed in shopping carts about the store. You know, just in case you run out of milk and the wife says ‘don’t forget to pick up bed sheets while you’re out’.
It’s been proven that in a down economy, certain businesses flourish and top on that list is thrift stores. I honestly feel that’s what these major retail chains have become, but instead of selling used product lines, they’re selling cheap imports that may or may not contain lead. Did they think I wouldn’t notice that now I can buy jeans, bananas and kitchen décor all at the same place? Wait a minute – that sounds oddly familiar to another business model I know of….what could it be?
Which leads to my next point…why are the aisles at Wal-mart looking more like a Great Value factory instead of a grocery aisle? I can’t even find the real Raisin Bran anymore. My strategy in shopping at Wal-mart now includes looking for the colored boxes, cans or bottles because the ones with white labels are Great Value. Nothing particularly wrong with that, but some brands I refuse to buy generic, such as mayonnaise. I know, they’re probably made in the same place, but we all have our quirks. As I said before, I find some of this offensive because I feel retailers are telling me I’m too poor, dumb and/or lazy to shop for quality products made in the U.S.A.
I’m a firm believer in ‘you get what you pay for’. If I pay $1 for a set of dishes at Warehouse Market, they will most likely last me a week or kill me with lead poisoning. Whereas if I shop around and find a reputable brand selling a quality product, hopefully on sale, the dish set will last me a lifetime. I pinch pennies where I can no doubt, but there’s a time to support products made in the U.S.A. and this economy is that said time. So I challenge you to become a consumer aware of what you’re buying and who you’re supporting.
