Eisboch wrote:
Maybe. Radio Shack used to do that; specifiying design and manufacture
criteria to a major manufacturer, then selling them as an "Archer" or "Radio
Shack" model. I am told that most were made with cheaper components, (i.e.
10% tolerance resistors instead of 5%, etc.), that seems to be borne out by
the inferior performance and lifespan of the products.


Hard to believe that a slight difference in ingredients
affected the profit margin that much when so much of the
cost of goods sold is labor & overhead.

OTOH a *lot* of people in this world are penny wise & pound
foolish (more below).

Sears used to - and still does- the same thing I guess, selling a washer or
whatever as a "Kenmore" that was actually made by Maytag or GE. Seems like
Kenmore appliances are a lot better quality than the Radio Shack clones
though. It's only been in the past 10 years or so that both Sears and Radio
Shack have been offering name brand products in addition to their own.


The only problem I've ver had with Sears is some bonehead
tool managers refusing to replace Craftsman tools. In one
case, another department manager straightened him out, in a
nother case I just shrugged and left the tool laying on the
counter and told my credit card company that I had returned
it & the store was being jerks about a refund... they gave
me credit back for it (and I assume shorted Sears for it).


Other retailers do similar things. I was in the market for a set of JBL
speakers a couple of years ago and a friend told me they sold them at Best
Buy in West Palm. I didn't believe it, so off I went, only to discover that
the JBLs at Best Buy, although genuine JBLs, were all low end plastic crap,
not the Studio Monitors I was looking for.


I've noticed this too, but then most shoppers will buy a
cheaper item even if it's obviously shoddy. In fact there
have been a lot of studies on this. The two conflicting
irrational market behaviors, both very common, are buying
cheap crap and complaining that it doesn't work (often
followed by buying another of the same); and buying
expensive "show-off" goods as a display of pretended wealth
(such goods are often shoddy, too, but the buyer doesn't
know any better and has been persuaded by expensive
advertising campaigns).

DSK

In article ,
says...
Chuck,
I was watching a show about Wal-Mart last night. One of the things they
talked about was a "LOW COST ITEM". The low cost item would be the best
price anywhere, a $29 microwave etc. Once you stepped up in quality, the
price was probably not the best price in the marketplace. I would guess
many of the box stores use this marketing strategy.

Fascinating show. Low cost items from China have buoyed Walmart's
profit and stock price for years. Now that everyone has to go to China
to purchase goods for resale in the states, the loss of jobs is starting
to affect Americans buying power.

The Chinese workers who couldn't afford goods built for America will be
in a better position to purchase those goods than the American markets
for which they were designed.

Just another step in the transition of America from 1st to 3rd world
country. In the 1970s, the US was the biggest exporter of finished
goods and biggest importer of raw materials. Now we're the largest
exporter or raw materials and biggest importer of finished goods -- all
at the cost of our manufacturing base and decent wage jobs - while the
Chinese use currency manipulation to keep the balance of value on their
side. Our trade deficit with China is enormous and growing. The Chinese
are eating us for lunch and we don't even recognize it.

Pretty soon we won't be able to afford the expensive military we
maintain (or try to) and we'll be facing the same gulch the Soviets
faced trying to keep up with Reagan's drunken spending spree.

Short-sighted stupidity of US gov't and corporations whose first
responsibility is to shareholders, not the country in which they reside.

Whoops.

jps

"Jim" wrote in message
ink.net...
There are quite a few Fry's in my area. Each store has a theme.

Manhattan Beach- South Seas (Looks like Gilligan's Island) It works.

Anaheim- Space Shuttle

Fountain Valley- The fall of the Roman Empire

Woodland Hills- Alice in Wonderland (better than it sounds)

Burbank- The best of all, Space Invaders. Flying saucer crashed through
front wall, military guy posed with rifle. . . shooting aliens while being
shot with a ray gun. Snack area is a drive in with old cars made into
seating areas. 55 Buick, Kaiser (?) Always showing an old horror flick on
the screen above the snack bar. Very cool.

You'd have to see it. It's worth the trip no matter how far it is.

What themes do the rest of the stores have?

Jim


From http://www.frys.com/
Each store carries its own unique theme.

In Northern California:
- Campbell's ancient Egyptian theme displays King Tut tombs.
- Concord is the newest addition to the Bay Area market.
- Fremont's 1893 World's Fair theme is a flashback to the first city
powered by electricity.
- Palo Alto steps straight out of the old wild, wild west.
- San Jose pays tribute to the first astronomers, the Mayans, with settings
from Chichenitza.
- Sunnyvale reflects the history of the Silicon Valley.

In Southern California:
- Anaheim places you on the NASA flight deck for the Endeavor Space
Shuttle, complete with launches on big screens all weekend long.
- Burbank pulls you back in time to the 1950's with a retro-space theme
from Hollywood, complete with little green Martians and Gort, the robot.
- City of Industry pays tribute to the industrial revolution with
bigger-than-life gears.
- In Oxnard the rich agricultural and commercial history of this coastal
community is featured in historical wall murals.
- Fountain Valley hails the ruins of ancient Rome, complete with a flowing
aqueduct.
- Manhattan Beach takes you to Tahiti with sculpted lava tiki heads and its
own rain forest.
- San Marcos takes you to Atlantis, with its aquariums, exotic fish, and
waterfalls.
- Woodland Hills is a page out of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
storybook, with 10 to 15-foot high figurines of the story characters.

In Texas:
- Austin is a tribute to the city's reputation as the "Live Music Capital
of the World."
- Dallas allows you to experience the Lazy-K ranch, complete with a herd of
longhorn cattle.
- Houston lets you view the history of Texas oil, complete with oil
derricks.
- Irving pays tribute to its history, which is depicted throughout the
store on mural-size photos.
- Plano shows how the railroad impacted the development of this thriving
area.
- South Houston honors the city's rich pioneer heritage.
- Webster's murals depict the history of space exploration together with a
scale replica of the international space station.

In Arizona:
- Phoenix is a journey into an ancient Aztec temple.

In Illinois:
- Downers Grove displays historical pictures of the train station, the
Downer Family and local business sites throughout the store.

In Indiana:
- Fishers pays tribute to the origins of the pre-1960's Indy Speedway.

In Nevada:
- Las Vegas reflects the history of "The Strip."

In Washington:
- Renton reflects past historical events.

The Sacramento, San Diego, Concord, Tempe, Wilsonville and Arlington stores
are all works in progress.