Toys R US Bankrupt. JCPenny closing stores!! Kohls struggling!! Sears on life support

BobF
 
The days of touching, squeezing, petting and calling something Jolene before you buy it are pretty much over.

No more Jolene?
 

 
Amazon.....please don't take them, though you can.

There used to be this place in Canada that IIRC was called "Consumers Retail" or something like that. Essentially you would go into this kind of bank looking place and they'd have catalogs for you to browse through. If you saw something you liked they'd generally have ONE demo model of the thingy (and they had showcases/display cases showing off specific items) that you could take a gander at.
 
Then you'd fill out an order form and hand it to the people behind the counter. The thingie would be delivered to your door (and/or I think in store). As no nonsense hippety dippety yet capitalist pragmatist I always liked that model. Less "showroom" space, less "shrinkage", less... well everything and you could get whatever you wanted.
 
I think Amazon has been tinkering with the idea of showrooms and I'd certainly like to see other companies go that route for the sheer efficiency/less wastage while still allowing us, the buyers, have a place to go and actually check things out before buying AND be able to pay cash or whatever instead of mucking about online.
 
The downside of course being a lot of crappy retail jobs get lost but that's happening anyway and they would still need staff in the warehouse/shipping departments.
 
Meh.

In a lot of ways brick and mortar places like BB, Futureshop and so on pretty much ARE becoming glorified showrooms... for Amazon!
 
Ha!

Beepster
There used to be this place in Canada that IIRC was called "Consumers Retail" or something like that. Essentially you would go into this kind of bank looking place and they'd have catalogs for you to browse through. If you saw something you liked they'd generally have ONE demo model of the thingy (and they had showcases/display cases showing off specific items) that you could take a gander at.
 
Then you'd fill out an order form and hand it to the people behind the counter. The thingie would be delivered to your door (and/or I think in store). As no nonsense hippety dippety yet capitalist pragmatist I always liked that model. Less "showroom" space, less "shrinkage", less... well everything and you could get whatever you wanted.
 
I think Amazon has been tinkering with the idea of showrooms and I'd certainly like to see other companies go that route for the sheer efficiency/less wastage while still allowing us, the buyers, have a place to go and actually check things out before buying AND be able to pay cash or whatever instead of mucking about online.
 
The downside of course being a lot of crappy retail jobs get lost but that's happening anyway and they would still need staff in the warehouse/shipping departments.
 
Meh.

They were called catalog stores here. In smaller places that couldn't sustain a full blown store, Sears, Monkey Wards and other companies would open them. They would have a showroom with some appliances and stuff and then catalogs for other stuff - like croquet sets and wall clocks and dishes ...
 
B&M stores are not dead just yet. Just look at Walmart, Ikea or NFM. If you want to see a truly sickening display of consumerism, go to the Nebraska Furniture Mart in North Texas. That place is HUGE. I'm not sure if all their stores are that big but you practically need to pack a lunch if you visit there.

I always preferred the small local shops where you could buy/sell/trade used gack (and they still kept new stock around) much better than the Wal-Guits of the world.
 
Soooo much cool/old interesting gear to muck about with. Usually had much better staff/repair depts. too.

Beepster
There used to be this place in Canada that IIRC was called "Consumers Retail" or something like that. Essentially you would go into this kind of bank looking place and they'd have catalogs for you to browse through. If you saw something you liked they'd generally have ONE demo model of the thingy (and they had showcases/display cases showing off specific items) that you could take a gander at.
 
Then you'd fill out an order form and hand it to the people behind the counter. The thingie would be delivered to your door (and/or I think in store). As no nonsense hippety dippety yet capitalist pragmatist I always liked that model. Less "showroom" space, less "shrinkage", less... well everything and you could get whatever you wanted.
 
I think Amazon has been tinkering with the idea of showrooms and I'd certainly like to see other companies go that route for the sheer efficiency/less wastage while still allowing us, the buyers, have a place to go and actually check things out before buying AND be able to pay cash or whatever instead of mucking about online.
 
The downside of course being a lot of crappy retail jobs get lost but that's happening anyway and they would still need staff in the warehouse/shipping departments.
 
Meh.

Consumers Distributing? 
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers_Distributing
 
I remember their annoying commercial (Distribution aux Consommateurs, in french) but not much more. It seemed like a good idea for a while but I guess that living in such a remote region as where I lived, I never really saw it taking off. Only heard their annoying commercials. :P