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Sick economy, healthy business

Found in: Current Events, Economics, Store Openings & Closings
Wednesday
December 3, 2008
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Chris Churchill, of the Times Union newspaper in Albany, NY, has a good look into the expansion plans of drug stores like Walgreens, CVS, and Rite-Aid in the New York region: Sick economy, healthy business. Despite the downturn in the economy, drug stores have not completely cut out their expansion plans and are still opening new locations at a solid rate.

And despite the recession, the proliferation continues. Other retailers, shaken by falling sales, are limiting expansions — but nearly every planning board agenda, it seems, contains a drugstore proposal.

The retail economy is ill. But drugstores seem healthy.

“We’re not immune from what’s going on in the economy, but we’re better insulated,” said Michael DeAngelis, spokesman for Rhode Island-based CVS Caremark Corp. “People are still getting their prescriptions filled. They’re still getting sick.”

I think there are a lot of people in the industry, myself included, who spend a lot of time looking at the big picture – national plans and trends of retailers – that we overlook the unique impact that every retailer has on the different locales that they serve. I like articles like this that examine the localized plans of retailers.

Also to note and put out there as a disclaimer, that Chris reached out to me for my thoughts on these retailers expansion plans. I am quoted about midway down the first page of the article. Thanks to him for allowing me to share some of my thoughts with him.

Express Lane for August 11

Found in: Express Lane, Social Media
Monday
August 11, 2008
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Couple of stories catching my eye this morning:

The New York Times has a look Red Hook, Brooklyn, just a couple of months after the Ikea there opened. Many community residents were against the opening of this location, as they feared the traffic and noise impact on the local community. Ikea also tore down several historic buildings to make room for this location. But now, just two months after the retailer opened there, some residents in the community are finding positives in what Ikea has brought to the community.

Best Buy has announced a series of airport kiosks/vending machines that will dispense cell phone accessories and other portable electronics. Apple has had their own iPod vending machines in airports and other locations for a few years now and this model has, seemingly, worked well for them. This similar model should also prove to be a low-cost distribution channel for Best Buy.

Finally, Customer World is discussing social media in banking and the obstacles that it faces in adoption. Interesting views on an industry that has been slow to adopt social media and why customers would be reluctant to embrace social networking in banking.

Express Lane for 6/18/2006 (Father’s Day Edition)

Found in: Express Lane
Sunday
June 18, 2006
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Friday I took a walk around to mall to see how the retailers were preparing for the upcoming transition from Summer to Back to School. I also wanted to take advatange of the early-clearance and Father’s Day sales to pick up some new clothes. I was successful on both accounts.

All of the stores are in different stages of the transition, with Abercrombie & Fitch looking spotless as they’ve completed the first phase of their set. Look for their full BTS floorplan to be set by June 29. Limited Brands is running Summer clearance sales at their stores (Limited, Limited Too, Victoria Secret & Express), while Gap Inc. is starting the markdowns at Old Navy and Gap. Gap has previously stated that they will re-launch all of their stores on July 20th, which is the same date they have also announced that Old Navy will begin their BTS advertising blitz.

Some notes from around the world this week:

Wal-Mart gets sued by Prada for selling fake bags, a week after Fendi filed suit against them for fake goods as well. Is this the start of a larger trend that will unravel to the core of what drives Wal-Mart’s business model, or is this just two more examples of the litiguous society we live in today? [via Wake Up Wal-Mart]

Also on the Wal-Mart front, they’ve opened a new store in Kearny, New Jersey at the same time that activists in the Bronx gear up to fight Wal-Mart coming into that part of New York City. The fight to enter New York City is going to be tough for Wal-Mart. Target, Kohl’s, Best Buy and numerous other “big box” retailers have locations within the five boroughs, but expect a long, drawn out fight against Wal-Mart as they continue to look for reality in the City.

Monday’s New York Times reports that Playskool will be expanding into Baby Care, via a partnership with drug store chain CVS. Will parents react? September will tell. Hasbro will have a lot of work to do in order to build more brand loyalty in an area that is completely new to them, but they may be able to do it. I don’t have kids, but it seems that shoppers in this area respond to name recognition second and value first. When everything is unveiled, baby care could be a very lucrative area for Hasbro.

A lot of retailers (and investors) are banking on this Father’s Day being very good to them. June 2005 was very good to a lot of retailers, so this month’s numbers will be scrutinized as we go into the BTS season. I can’t believe we’re only a little more than half way through June.

Express Lane for 6/11/2006

Found in: Express Lane
Sunday
June 11, 2006
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The second half of last week was crazy busy for me. Let me catch up on a few of the stories I missed last week:

Fendi sues Wal-Mart over sales of fake handbags:

Italian fashion group Fendi S.R.L. sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in U.S. federal court on Friday, accusing the world’s largest retailer of selling counterfeit handbags and passing them off as genuine at its Sam’s Club warehouse stores.

Sam’s Club stores in California, New York, Florida and other states sold knock off handbags, wallets and key chains that were identified as “genuine” Fendi products, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The suit by Fendi said that Wal-Mart has never purchased its products and never asked Fendi if any of the items bearing its trademark were genuine.

Having never stepped foot into a Sam’s Club, I’m suprised to even imagine that they would carry any Fendi products. This suit will be interesting to watch to see where the blame, if any, lies within Wal-Mart. Is this the case of an over-zealous buyer making sure they’re meeting “always low prices” or is this the case of Fendi not happy that their goods somehow ended up in Sam’s Club?

Good coverage in the comments over at Wake Up Walmart

More about the changes at Federated as the September transition to the Macy’s brand approaches. Here’s the rundown: Macy’s is the brand that people response to the most nationally, even if people in this article are negative about the loss of their regional department stores. Expect less promotions and increased private-label and exclusive offerings, as well as stores tailored to the region that they are in, so that Federated can maintain some of the things that people loved about all of the chains that they’ve swallowed up. Very informative article, though.

And lastly, two food-related quickies about two different chains who are being compared to Starbucks:

First is Dunkin Donuts, who are obviously competiting in the same space as Starbucks (in the sense that they both sell coffee). Boston.com has an article outlining the future growth plans of this chain. The plan calls for 15,000 U.S. locations in 2020, up from 5,000 today, and this will be done through a variety of store layouts and prototype as well as increased product offerings to drive afternoon business.

Is this all being done in an effort to compete with Starbucks? Not so much, it seems. As a loyal dunkin Donuts coffee drinker, I think that as much as these two brands concentrate around the same product (coffee), there is not too much overlap in their philosophy and themes, so I can see both of them co-existing pretty well in the world we live in. Seriously, though, whoever thought that there will be a day that we will live in a world with tens of thousands of locations of the same two stores?

The other eatery being compared to Starbucks doesn’t deal with coffee, but instead deals with ice cream.

USA Today has an article outlining the future growth of Cold Stone Creamery and the ice cream business in general. Two quotes that sum up this article really well are the following:

Cold Stone doesn’t just sell sundaes and sorbet, it sells sizzle. “It’s like Starbucks for kids,” says George Carey, president of Just Kid, a consulting firm.

and

An industry that once sold ice cream now is selling an ice cream experience.

Tonight I went to Friendly’s to get a large Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup sundae. I’m not concerned with the experience, I just want good ice cream. But with that said, it will be very hard for me to resist the new Cold Stone Creamery that they are building three minutes from my house.

That’s all I got tonight.