TBF,
Yeah, I've heard of that practice although it does smack of urban myth to me so I reject your claim. When Wal-Mart moved into McMinnville one thing they did, was hire literally six times the amount of workers that were needed to properly run the store. When you went into Wal-Mart it felt like you had your own personal shopper and after a few months they thinned the ranks down so now it is the regular amount of service you would expect from a large chain store.
One store that was driven out of business was the local craft store. That was the only one that had a direct effect on me and what I can tell you is the guy deserved to lose his business because he didn't react correctly when Wal-Mart moved in. He should have ran through the craft section and figured out what they didn't have and then sell those things as well as provide good advice to anyone that came into the store. The fact was that he was a prick and failed to build a relationship with the people over the years because he rested on the fact that he was the main craft store in town. He had a much better selection but was hard to deal with so I changed my buying practices and drove to Tammy's Hobbies in Beaverton for any specialty items that I needed.
The whole reason for the above anecdote is to illustrate that price isn't the only way to differentiate your business. Knowledgable sales staff is one way, as is selling higher quality merchandise, or a larger selection.
Rhizo
Yeah, I've heard of that practice although it does smack of urban myth to me so I reject your claim. When Wal-Mart moved into McMinnville one thing they did, was hire literally six times the amount of workers that were needed to properly run the store. When you went into Wal-Mart it felt like you had your own personal shopper and after a few months they thinned the ranks down so now it is the regular amount of service you would expect from a large chain store.
One store that was driven out of business was the local craft store. That was the only one that had a direct effect on me and what I can tell you is the guy deserved to lose his business because he didn't react correctly when Wal-Mart moved in. He should have ran through the craft section and figured out what they didn't have and then sell those things as well as provide good advice to anyone that came into the store. The fact was that he was a prick and failed to build a relationship with the people over the years because he rested on the fact that he was the main craft store in town. He had a much better selection but was hard to deal with so I changed my buying practices and drove to Tammy's Hobbies in Beaverton for any specialty items that I needed.
The whole reason for the above anecdote is to illustrate that price isn't the only way to differentiate your business. Knowledgable sales staff is one way, as is selling higher quality merchandise, or a larger selection.
Rhizo
