Changing times for the Porter Square Star
Nov. 13th, 2005 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mattlistenerI had a very interesting conversation with a store manager at the Porter Star Market last week. I'd stopped him to find out where something had been moved with their shelf re-org, and then it popped into my head to ask "So, what's the idea behind the new way of organizing things?" That turned out to be just the right question to ask this fellow.
He said the idea of the re-org is to bring the store in line with the standards of Shaws (who bought Star some time ago). Stores are no longer allowed to use their familiarity with the local market to make decisions about what products to highlight and how much space to give them. So for example, there's this new kind of kitty litter, Feline Pine. He said he could sell 22 bags of it in a few days if he could make an end-cap display of it. Instead it just gets a small amount of shelf in the aisle and it's always sold out.
Here's why: Shaws doesn't just sell products, they sell shelf-space. So they don't care if their individual stores make somewhat less money by ignoring local variations in demand, they more than make up for it by selling companies the opportunity to put their product in every Shaws in the country.
The man was heartsick. He said he'd been a store manager for 20 years and now can't make decisions anymore; he's been reduced to just fulfilling instructions from Corporate. When we parted I thanked him for explaining and said I hope he finds a way to put his skills to good use again.
I then went over to check out the Feline Pine. It's the Nirvana of kitty litter, made of 100% pine trees (farmed). It's pellets rather than grains so it stays in the box and doesn't track or make airborne dust. The pine neutralizes the urine and turns to sawdust, which you shake to the bottom when you scoop out the solids. When it all turns to sawdust, it's compost.
It was reasonably priced *and* had a ~30% discount with the Shaws card. I bought 4 bags, wiping out their remaining supply. :-/
He said the idea of the re-org is to bring the store in line with the standards of Shaws (who bought Star some time ago). Stores are no longer allowed to use their familiarity with the local market to make decisions about what products to highlight and how much space to give them. So for example, there's this new kind of kitty litter, Feline Pine. He said he could sell 22 bags of it in a few days if he could make an end-cap display of it. Instead it just gets a small amount of shelf in the aisle and it's always sold out.
Here's why: Shaws doesn't just sell products, they sell shelf-space. So they don't care if their individual stores make somewhat less money by ignoring local variations in demand, they more than make up for it by selling companies the opportunity to put their product in every Shaws in the country.
The man was heartsick. He said he'd been a store manager for 20 years and now can't make decisions anymore; he's been reduced to just fulfilling instructions from Corporate. When we parted I thanked him for explaining and said I hope he finds a way to put his skills to good use again.
I then went over to check out the Feline Pine. It's the Nirvana of kitty litter, made of 100% pine trees (farmed). It's pellets rather than grains so it stays in the box and doesn't track or make airborne dust. The pine neutralizes the urine and turns to sawdust, which you shake to the bottom when you scoop out the solids. When it all turns to sawdust, it's compost.
It was reasonably priced *and* had a ~30% discount with the Shaws card. I bought 4 bags, wiping out their remaining supply. :-/
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-13 09:21 pm (UTC)The only drawback is that they're not a mega-company so the product will probably disappear in a few years, regardless of superiority.
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Date: 2005-11-13 10:36 pm (UTC)I was just in there yesterday afternoon and wondered if the stupid reorg (oh, look, toiletries and grape jelly, together again!) was to standardize Stah Mahket into a proper Shaws...
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Date: 2005-11-13 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 04:30 am (UTC)