Q's CVS Lounge

Amazon has ruined retail. Bookstores were thriving 10 years ago. Now, Borders is gone and B&N is barely hanging on. Used bookstores are a thing of the past. If you want to sell your stuff online, amazon takes all of the profit and you take all of the risk.

if it wasn't amazon it was going to be somebody else. actually things change yet they stay the same. online shopping is just a reiteration of catalogs which used to be huge way back when. they didn't really have malls until the 1950's. people used to shop the sears, jcp, and montgomery ward catalogs for almost everything, even prefab houses.

malls were overbuilt and now we are seeing the weak die out and the strong get stronger.

online only stores are also finding out that a brick & mortar location can enhance their business model,

and in retail these days, either you keep up w/ technology or you get left in the dust. that is probably one reason why jcp has been able to stay in business. they've always had a good online store and pick up in store free whereas companies like walmart, target and staples and even best buy came to that party late trying to figure out how to get around the cost of shipping and are just waking up to the fact that they shouldn't pit online and store divisions against each other, they can complement and actually create add-on sales. how many people will just go to a store to pick up their items and not shop for at least 5 minutes to see what's new?

another sales technique that may have kept jcp afloat is being able to order online at any cash register anything that is out of stock at the store with free store pickup or ability to find it at another store.

at least target has the right attitude.
http://www.cnet.com/news/target-c...op-online/

sorry, i was just going to post this article i found and somehow it became this long-winded essay about retail. that was not my original intention!

if it wasn't amazon it was going to be somebody else. with the proliferation of mobile devices the way people shop was going to evolve sooner or later. all companies, no matter what field have to constantly reinvent themselves or die. we are watching macdonald's go thru it right now with trying to change the perception of serving junk food to healthier choices. actually things change yet they stay the same. online shopping is just a reiteration of catalogs which used to be huge way back when. they didn't really have malls until the 1950's. people used to shop the sears, jcp, and montgomery ward catalogs for almost everything, even prefab houses.

Amazon had an unfair advantage. They didn't have to pay for their book inventory upfront and they got to buy it at cheaper prices. Of course, they were going to win and put everybody else out of business especially the small guys. E-books went from being a joke one year to dominating the market the next year but it was a lousy deal for consumers. Independent, specialty, and used bookstores were left in the dust and Borders closed. How are you going to find out about a new author? By reading the reviews on amazon? Not likely... You used to be able to walk into a bookstore and get lost in shelves of paperbacks and hardcovers. Now there aren't any bookstores to go to. Can you imagine? I have to drive an hour (probably longer) to get to the closest Barnes & Noble. 10 years ago there were at least 20 bookstores within 30 minutes of me.

It's probably a good thing that nobody in the lounge reads this thread...

I'm thinking of turning this into a late 60's/early 70's rock thread. It's much more fun to talk about Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Traffic, Blind Faith, early Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, Grand Funk Railroad, ELP, King Crimson, Joe Cocker, Iron Butterfly, Creedence, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, UFO, Allman Bros, Deep Purple, and Uriah Heep. Just put on some Quicksilver...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOhwxosNSds

i did actually work at a *bookstore* one summer, the university bookstore. i worked in the logo merchandise dept and a big job was taking orders for people to get their diplomas made into wooden plaques, and then cashier when school started. i quit when the operations mgr who everybody knew was cheating on his wife, who was an asst to one of the deans, with one of the employees said some strange things to me about other employees asking or accusing him of altering timecards and a more worldly friend recommended i leave.

My list would include the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, Pink Floyd, Heart, Queen, Cream, and how about the Beach Boys?

Last time I was in an Ulta was 3 years ago. They used to allow coupon stacks so I went to stack - and the ASM wouldn't let me and told me they had never allowed it. (She wasn't new, why would she lie?!) So I contacted Corporate Customer Service and never heard anything back, then chose never to give them my money again. That's the way you keep (or permanently lose) customers.

Last time I was in an Ulta was 3 years ago. They used to allow coupon stacks so I went to stack - and the ASM wouldn't let me and told me they had never allowed it. (She wasn't new, why would she lie?!) So I contacted Corporate Customer Service and never heard anything back, then chose never to give them my money again. That's the way you keep (or permanently lose) customers.

there are also 2 barnes & nobles by me, 1 about 15 minutes north and 1 about 15 minutes south. a target opened nearby maybe 5-6 yrs ago and you can buy some books and magazines there. it's very close to where the remainder warehouse used to be, actually closer. the warehouse was only open a few times a yr, so actually my access to shopping for books has moved closer. the borders turned into a buy buy baby, which has a babies r us in the same plaza. i don't understand that one. i hardly ever went there anyway, so no loss.

Absolutely, yes. I was lucky enough to see the Who with Keith Moon at The Forum. I remember that we had to camp out overnight for tickets. What a concert! Never saw the Beatles and Stones... Dark Side would probably be my pick as greatest rock album of all time but everybody always got arrested at their concerts so I never went. I love Heart. I never was a big Queen fan but I would've seen them in concert in a second. Cream is beyond awesome. Wasn't Eric Clapton on the Dating Game back then? There's a lot of weird stuff with Brian Wilson and Charles Manson. I used to drive by the Spahn Ranch all of the time. There's a gust of wind that flies across the road sometimes right when you get there. I've always wondered what the connection is (if any) to the Manson family and the nuclear accident that happened just up the hill. There was some other strange stuff that went on in those hills. The Band of Barefoot Hippies (I think that's what they were called). The wife caught the husband cheating and blew a bunch of people up with dynamite.

we are watching macdonald's go thru it right now with trying to change the perception of serving junk food to healthier choices.

Got screwed at Target tonight. Just wanted to get 2 Iams and 6 Febreze. I hand over the Iams IP, cashier reads it carefully, and decided I can only use 1 since it is "1 per purchase." No use arguing, so I tell her to take it off. Then she scans Febreze coupon and screen comes up where they have to type in price. She thinks the computer is rejecting the coupon and decides I can't use those ones either. So I drove to Target in the rain and left empty handed.....and wet.

I don't think it has much to do with the perception of selling junk food. The problem is that the prices are high, the service is terrible, and the food is blah. I remember the days when McDonald's fries were the best and they deep fried the apple pies. If they offered the choice of those unhealthy tasties, they might be able to lure back some of the working class guys who now get their unhealthy tasties from gas stations.