Toph Bei Fong posted:

Nah, thanks to metal bending, the internet is a breeze.

Everything I know about K-Mart comes from this person's obsession: http://superkmart.blogspot.com/

It's almost cute, the way he turned what most people would do with trains into a blog about a failing retail store.

Mange Mite posted:

i believe it

Cowman posted:

Sears is run by the worst CEO and everything is an incompetent clusterfuck and no one is happy there. The customers are also all old and dying off and Sears has nothing to appeal to younger people because they only sell old people clothes. It's terrible and I'm glad it's burning down.

Jonny 290 posted:

here's walmart's unironic, 100% guaranteed 20 year plan

1: get you normalized to self-checkout (this is done)
2: get you normalized to seeing the shelves 80% stocked (done) and pallets of merchandise on the floor (in progress)
3: Fire 80% of the checkers, hire the other 20% on loss prevention.

MEANWHILE back at the home office:

a. There is an enormous datacenter in Jane, MO, buried under hundreds of feet of limestone. It is so secret that the county inspector had to sign an NDA before entering. It is strongly suspected that this is where the image recognition from the camera system is processed. (Fact: the DVR/video system is treated with higher IT security than the store registers) This is all being cross-referenced with information snooped via the "Free Wifi" and app installs on phones.
a1. If you stare at a TV or blender for more than 8 seconds and walk away, the video system will look up your linked Walmart App on your phone and push you a one-time loss leader coupon. Remember, their goal isn't to make a profit today, it's to murder the competition. A special deal is not illegal and lets them snag loss-leader sales without losing money on the 'regular' sales.
b. BYOD will be pushed as a 'clever' answer to the increasing lines of the 3 self-checkout. You say "gently caress it" and start scanning items yourself.
c. Pallet-2-cart will be pushed as a 'clever' answer to the empty shelves. Just forklift that pallet of cat food out to the floor and box-cutter the shrink wrap off, and let them go at it like a bunch of loving animals.
d. BYOD will be mandated to further enable point a1. If you do not have a phone you can put the Walmart (tm) ShopApp(r) onto, a lovely chinese tablet will be loaned to you at the front door for a modest $199 deposit.

and that's how you fire all your employees and get a customer to never shop anywhere else while scanning their own groceries and bagging their own poo poo.

source: i worked on the wireless networks in walmart for 3 years. Hint: never never EVER EVERRRRRRRR use the "Free In-Store Wifi"

cool and good posted:

Revenue is not profit

Professor Shark posted:

Sears is the only urban place I've ever been where I've like I'm the last person on Earth.

I was in one a few years ago and after getting to the Men's Wear section I was alone for like 15 minutes, then I passed some people on my way upstairs to see what was there and it was a whole floor of no one but me. I looked at some beds and sat on a few to test them, all alone without even any sales people around, then I looked at the Home Goods and thought about buying a wind up radio (this one!) but it was too much so I didn't.

Microwaves Mom posted:

I used to work for sears in the men's department. I had customers come up and ask me things and I generally helped.

I remember one really old lady I called miss and she was super flattered that I called her Miss. Then there were the old guys that told me they used to work for sears selling tractors and what not.

I miss those old people they were nice, friendly, and social. Probably all dead now. I left sears when it was starting to lose money back at the start of the depression. You could tell the company was struggling and desperate to figure out a way to stay afloat.

Bert Roberge posted:

Wal-mart's strategy has always been to hyper-expand, run out the competition, then cut back on stores.

Nonsense posted:

perhaps put the waltons in a hyper-expanded pressure chamber?

Germstore posted:

WalMarts seem to be playing a game of chicken with how few employees they can get away with having. I fully expect to eventually walk into a WalMart being completely run by one extremely frazzled store manager.

Business Gorillas posted:

Pretty much everywhere is doing this now, hth

Chomp8645 posted:

A company called Games Workshop (sells those warhammer toys) has been operating one man stores for a while, particularly in Europe. One dude is responsible for all areas of operation from inventory, to sales, to the running of games, to answering the phone, everything. If the dude is sick or something the store is just closed that day. If he goes to eat lunch, the store closes until he gets back. If some issue demands his attention for a while then nobody can get service or even buy product until it's resolved.

The future, folks.

Chomp8645 posted:

A company called Games Workshop (sells those warhammer toys) has been operating one man stores for a while, particularly in Europe. One dude is responsible for all areas of operation from inventory, to sales, to the running of games, to answering the phone, everything. If the dude is sick or something the store is just closed that day. If he goes to eat lunch, the store closes until he gets back. If some issue demands his attention for a while then nobody can get service or even buy product until it's resolved.

The future, folks.

Chomp8645 posted:

A company called Games Workshop (sells those warhammer toys) has been operating one man stores for a while, particularly in Europe. One dude is responsible for all areas of operation from inventory, to sales, to the running of games, to answering the phone, everything. If the dude is sick or something the store is just closed that day. If he goes to eat lunch, the store closes until he gets back. If some issue demands his attention for a while then nobody can get service or even buy product until it's resolved.

The future, folks.

Chomp8645 posted:

A company called Games Workshop (sells those warhammer toys) has been operating one man stores for a while, particularly in Europe. One dude is responsible for all areas of operation from inventory, to sales, to the running of games, to answering the phone, everything. If the dude is sick or something the store is just closed that day. If he goes to eat lunch, the store closes until he gets back. If some issue demands his attention for a while then nobody can get service or even buy product until it's resolved.

The future, folks.

Microwaves Mom posted:

I've seen these stores in the US but its a nerd hobby store so they can get away with this. Because whats a nerd gonna do?

Prav posted:

i'd rather be buried in a loving cardboard box than in a supermarket casket. god drat

Chomp8645 posted:

A company called Games Workshop (sells those warhammer toys) has been operating one man stores for a while, particularly in Europe. One dude is responsible for all areas of operation from inventory, to sales, to the running of games, to answering the phone, everything. If the dude is sick or something the store is just closed that day. If he goes to eat lunch, the store closes until he gets back. If some issue demands his attention for a while then nobody can get service or even buy product until it's resolved.

The future, folks.

Microwaves Mom posted:

I've seen these stores in the US but its a nerd hobby store so they can get away with this. Because whats a nerd gonna do?

Hillary Clintons Thong posted:

I haven't been to an aldi in like 20 years, but you bag your own groceries there too! gently caress you baggers union!

Business Gorillas posted:

They just buy it on ebay for a half of the price and the company is currently on a death spiral

Omi-Polari posted:

Oh yeah. How is GW doing, anyways?

Hopefully bad haha suck it nerds.

Ooh thread idea.

Chomp8645 posted:

It's basically the opposite conclusion from the troubles of Sears. For decades Sears sold quality but practical products for the middle class. Sears prospered on the strength of the middle class and then when the middle class began declining so did Sears.

On the other hand, Walmart sells garbage to idiots. They became the giant they are today on the strength of poor or foolish consumers buying low quality products and sold at the lowest possible price so all the profit is made from sheer volume. They also have terrible service because their employees and underpaid and under appreciated, with perpetual low morale. If they are in trouble it indicates that consumers have more money with which to buy things that aren't total garbage, or for products that are the same regardless of price (like brand name consumer electronics) they are willing to spend more money simply for better service. Both are good indications of strong consumer spending.

Microwaves Mom posted:

try walgreens

Omi-Polari posted:

Bag your own groceries, shopping-cart dispensing machines, obsessed with cost efficiency, and they close early.

Yup, it's German.

They're apparently all over other parts of the U.S. (not where I live) but I've never been in one.

Don Tacorleone posted:

In the grim future of GBS, there's only war hammer threads

naem posted:

There was I think a Kmart I remember as a kid where hamsters and parakeets he gotten loose from a pet dept (did Kmart have pets?) anyways they had colonized and reproduced it was an ecosystem with animals burrowed into forgotten dry good ls that is my story

naem posted:

There was I think a Kmart I remember as a kid where hamsters and parakeets he gotten loose from a pet dept (did Kmart have pets?) anyways they had colonized and reproduced it was an ecosystem with animals burrowed into forgotten dry good ls that is my story

ScrubLeague posted:

Service Merchandise was a great store because they sold really expensive jewelry and also hard-to-find Nintendo tapes.

Mariana Horchata posted:

Omi-Polari posted:

(2) They don't collect carts in the parking lot. If you want a cart, you feed a quarter into a machine which dispenses a cart, which you return after you're done.