Over the holiday season, while driving around Los Angeles I noticed an inordinate amount of vacant storefronts. These vacant storefronts were not located in the more destitute of neighborhood, although I’m sure there are plenty of empty stores there as well. These vacancies were located in some of the more tony neighborhoods, along certain streets that are known around the country, if not the world. If there are empty stores in places like Beverly Hills and Brentwood, Studio City, then it is fair to believe there are empty retail venues in just about every neighborhood in every city.
This is the holiday season, after all, and the business that once occupied these stores couldn’t hang around long enough to make good in this brief window of shopping. I would guess, as most do, that once this very disappointing holiday shopping season is over, the economic downturn will cause many other retail venues to fold their proverbial tents to never again appear.
Even the once solid luxury consumer market is down over a third. For the stores that haven’t yet folded, the all but beg consumers to come in and buy the stuff that just a few months ago seemed to disappear magically from the shelves. There are liquidation sales, giant liquidation sales, blowout sales, here is the deal of a lifetime sales, and just get this stuff out of here sales. There are sales in Beverly Hills and sales in Studio City. The entire city seems up for sale. It probably would be, was it not carrying with it huge budget deficits. And predictions for California’s immediate future are pretty grim. If not dire.
Some of it is due obviously to the economic meltdown and the accompanying fallout. There is no doubt people who have maxed out their credit cards, can no longer go to the equity home loan well, and who may be out of a job, are buying milk and groceries and not designer clothing and jewelry. And while most are buying cheaper merchandise, reports say that the wealthy in cutting back may still buy the same brands but they are buying fewer items. So what was once a well stocked store is now stuck with surplus.
There are other factors at work here. Go to any mall. Go to even the chic stores in the upscale shopping areas. What do you see? You see the same stuff. In the mall you see the same cheaper brands. In the richer neighborhoods you see the same richer brands. There is nothing unique, really, nothing unusual. The good news is that we understand our brands. The bad news is that we are enslaved by them.
Not only can most consumers not afford many items. What is really the point in purchasing the same items as the store down the block and the store across the street? What about original merchandise?
Perhaps to survive and to prevail in the future it is incumbent upon the retailer to find not only quality merchandise at a better price point, but original brands from emerging designers and manufacturers. It may well pay to hire people who after a preemployment screening check can demonstrate they can source new clothing, equipment, cupcakes, whatever it is, so customers will shop your stores because of the original merchandise you carry. I realize this is not always possible. I also realize that carrying the same-same as your competitor doesn’t say very much about your own branding and your buyers’ imaginations.
Look to employ people who can bring you the unusual. Not just wild and unusual but something that people actually want to buy. Look for employees who understand what customer service is all about and know how to apply it. Forget about the sales clerk snobs at some of the tonier stores on Rodeo Drive and places like it. Their time may soon be past. Customers want someone who they can actually talk to. Who actually understands their needs. They are hard to find. I realize that.
But sooner or later even the blowout sales will get pretty boring. Those who are going out of business will be out of business. it will be up to the survivors in the retail trade to try something a little different. Like true service. And merchandise that you can find everyhwere. It’s a challenge to offer both service and original merchandise. But what isn’t a challenge? Driving by an empty store.
