The Original Locations of 15 Famous Chain Stores

  Earlier this year I shared The Original Locations of 30 Fast Food Chains, and now here’s a companion list from Mental Floss  of some major retailers.     The GNC original building is certainly interesting, and the only comment I’ll make about #8 is that considering their reluctance to remodel and update their stores, the one Read More…

Spectacular IKEA Fails

   So you buy some inexpensive furniture from IKEA, and fortunately they have provided you with easy-to-follow directions with diagrams that even a child could understand.  Unfortunately, they overestimated the intelligence of the average American and some interesting things were built as a result.   I have personally purchased things from IKEA and I will Read More…

The Shopper And In-Store Marketing

Here’s an interesting Infographic about in-store marketing.   A couple of things jumped out at me–first, I can definitely vouch for the increasing use of smart phones in stores, as not only do I use mine a lot while shopping (either for my grocery list or to check reviews on a product I might buy) Read More…

The Mustard Guy

      This little gem comes from Thrillist.com    A couple months ago I blogged about customers who are known by their actions rather than by their name, so here we have a story about The Mustard Guy.   I tried to imagine a condiment that would make this story even worse, but I think The Read More…

More Deceptive Advertising

When will it end?   Can we trust no one?   The foot long isn’t even a foot long!!  Well then again, I guess we can’t trust anything Jared Fogle was telling us all these years…and the last one is a bold faced lie if I ever saw one.   Game of Inches Because “$5 11-Inch Long” Read More…

Staples/Office Depot Merger Fails, CEO Steps Down

          This could imply bad news for Walgreen’s acquisition of Rite-Aid, because the FTC put the halt on the proposed Staples/Office Depot merger saying it would impact pricing and competition for customers.  So there will still be 2 stationery stores to visit, unless Depot ends up going out of business. Sadly, Read More…

Curbside Ended at Target Already, is CVS next?

Last month I told you about a program coming to CVS for curbside pickup and mentioned several obstacles I saw that could impede it being a success.   Well, another major retailer has already given up on it after less than 2 years. Target is bailing out, and with the synergy between Target and CVS Read More…