Informed Retail

Target Goes Organic!

2010-07-27T14:57:02Z

I went to Target yesterday to buy some dishwasher detergent and figured I would peruse their food section while I was at it.

Unfortunately, the entire frozen food and dairy section was out of commission thanks to the crazy power outages throughout the metropolitan DC area, but I shopped the cereal and snack aisles.

I was so pleasantly surprised to find organic corn chips and organic salsa!! At great prices nonetheless, and I ate a bunch last night and they were delicious!

I'd previously looked through Target to try and find organic products without much luck, inspired by the film Food, Inc. which depicted WalMart embracing the organic food movement. I figured: "If WalMart is embracing organic products, Target must be as well." During that shopping trek, I was only able to find a few brand name organic items - and only one Stony Field Farm (the organic product Film, Inc.highlighted that WalMart was selling) product - baby yogurt.

This time, I again tried looking for brand name organic products, but didn't find much. I think I saw some Cascadian Farms products, but not many. I gave up on that and started checking out the Target brand items - believe me, I was surprised, and impressed.

Way to go Target! Keep it up and I'll keep shopping with you.

Unsubscribing from REI Catalog Mailings

2010-04-27T15:53:19Z

I've always respected the REI brand - they have a great selection of products, and seem to comprehend the concept of social responsibility.

Not sure how, but I ended up on the REI catalog mailing list. Perhaps because I'm a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club? Who knows. Anyway, I do not like catalog mailings.

Thankfully, REI makes it easy to discontinue their catalog mailings by visiting this page:

Unsubscribing from REI Catalog Mailings

I had this to say in the comments section:

"Thanks for making it easy to unsubscribe. In my humble opinion, catalogs are a waste of paper."

This Pearl is Closed

2010-01-24T19:58:09Z

The sentiments I expressed in my last post about Pearl Arts and Crafts turned out to be correct - the store is now closed.

Montgomery Mall

2010-01-19T13:09:28Z

While going to Sears to pickup some vacuum cleaner bags, I went to the Montgomery Mall. Its a nice mall, as far as malls go.

Sears Merchandising Pickup

2010-01-19T13:05:13Z

I went to Sears yesterday to pickup an order I placed online. I arrived at the kiosk ready to scan my bar code only to find the system was down. It runs Windows so personally I was not surprised that it had crashed.

Pearl 75% Off Sale

2010-01-16T20:57:17Z

I've meant to got to the local Pearl store here for awhile, and today I went in, only to find they were having a 75% off everything in the store sale. I didn't see any signs about the store closing, but with a sale like that, and the way the interior looked, I wouldn't be surprise is that store is closing for good.

Urban Outfitters Storefront

2009-12-15T02:52:48Z

I saw this Urban Outfitters storefront when I traveled to Charlottesville, VA last month.

It looks nice and is a lot like most Urban Outfitters I've seen, but in some ways it almost blended into the neighborhood too much.

Wild Rumors About Amazon.com

2009-12-07T05:27:02Z

Apple has done well with their retail stores, are there other technology companies that could do the same?

Its possible, but I don't think its too probable. I heard awhile back that Microsoft was going to open up some stores, and that made sense to me from a marketing perspective, but not from a sales perspective - they just make so much money from their deals with OEMs like Dell, I doubt it would make any substantial business. Besides, if I recall correctly, they own a decent chuck of BestBuy, so in a sense they already have their hands in retail.

Today I read some rumors about Amazon.com opening up brick and mortar stores. If anything, I'd guess that they would go keep going in the opposite direction - towards eBay's business model - allowing individuals and small businesses to build stores on top of their technological infrastructure. That brings up a good point too - Amazon's technological infrastructure includes their "Amazon Web Services", about as far as a business model can get from retail!

Strip Mall Signs

2009-11-20T03:52:38Z

I went bowling in Silver Spring, Maryland last weekend and while waiting outside the lanes enjoying the nice weather, I took this picture of some stores arranged nearby in what sort of looks like a strip mall:

The bricks and the consistent design of the signs makes the stores look great though. I wonder how Payless got away with their uniquely branded sign - premium lease with fringe benefits?

Removal From Valassis

2009-11-10T02:31:57Z

I'm trying to get my mailbox to a point where its not overflowing with junk mail.

I recently requested that LL Bean stop sending me catalogs.

Today I've asked the same of Valassis. It took me a moment to find the form to request that they stop mailing me junk, but this is what I found:

http://www.valassis.com/1024/Contact/MailingListRemoval.aspx

Too bad they only remove the entry in six to eight weeks, and too bad its not permanent. Its disappointing to me that consumer product manufacturers still pay for this type of junk mail.

Unsubscribe From LL Bean Catalog Mailings

2009-11-06T00:08:31Z

This post is a little bit ironic, because I had previously posted that I was annoyed at LL Bean because they sent me a catalog, even though they canceled my online order because they ran out of stock but didn't update their website fast enough..

Today I'm still annoyed with them for a similar reason. A relative of mine bought a present for my daughter from LL Bean and had it shipped directly to me. And today I got a catalog from them. Ugh.

However, the irony is that they make it very simple to unsubscribe from their catalog mailings.

I know for a fact that people enjoy getting some catalogs. I don't. I find them to be a huge waste. Unfortunately, most retailers don't make it as easy to unsubscribe from their mailings as easily as LL Bean.

What is Greenberry?

2009-10-24T02:39:41Z

A new store is opening up in Rockville, Maryland: Greenberry!

What exactly is Greenberry though? California has Pinkberry, a frozen yogurt shop. Maybe its similar?

I'm on to you CVS, and its FUN!

2009-10-10T16:08:03Z

I visited with my sister last weekend. We're both bargain hunters and I happened to see a large CVS receipt on her counter with a bunch of coupons on it. I was impressed and it reminded me that my CVS Extra Care Bucks would be available soon, too.

The week went by and I forgot all about it. CVS sent me a $4 off $20 coupon via e-mail and since that's a good deal, I drafted a list of products that needed replenishment in my household.

I was about to leave for CVS when I remembered my sister's coupon. If I went to CVS, bought $20 worth of items, and THEN got my Extra Bucks, I'd be compelled to go back the next week and shop some more!

I decided to only buy one small item at first, get my Extra Bucks coupon, and then return the next day to claim both the Extra Bucks and my email coupon. I know this is terribly inefficient, but since I spend a good amount of time with my daughter and she's not currently enrolled in any specific activities, we have a good time lallygagging around running errands and whatnot.

But back to the coupons - I'm not sure if CVS planned to inspire two trips with their concurrent Extra Bucks and email coupons, but if they did, that would have been pretty clever on their part. And surprisingly, its kind of fun to play cat and mouse with their marketing department!!

Retail on H Street in Washington, D.C.

2009-10-01T00:14:25Z

Today on the Kojo Nnamdi Show the topic of conversation was the development of H Street) in Washington, D.C..

The gist of the program, as I gathered it, was that the H Street area is becoming a hotbed of food and drink for the city, and the city planners are determined to strike a balance between the old and the new, as well as the day and the night.

By day and night, I mean that they are trying to bring in more retail to the neighborhood to balance well with the nightlife which is proving to be very successful there. If you are looking for retail in the DC area, this might be a great opportunity!

Whether or not they were successful, it sounds like a very cool area I'd like to visit.

Shopping in Chevy Chase

2009-09-22T00:53:01Z

If you make a lot of money - Chevy Chase is a good place to go! There are tons of high-end shops.