Feb

7

From Downtown America: A History of the Place and the People Who Made It:

But variety store shoppers habitually brought out familiar often old fashioned merchandise that they could not find elsewhere" - thingamajigs such as 39 cent diamond engagement rings, pant stretchers and plain serviceable stationery. "The typical variety store customer - old and frugal, low-income, taking public transit or walking - participated in urban commercial life in ways that defied the pronouncements of market analysts. When Woolworth closed its remaining American variety stores in 1997, Kurt Barnard of Barnard's Retail Marketing Report observed that the company "died many years ago, but it just wasn't buried."

But Woolworth refused to give up their emphasis on variety stores until 1997. Walmart took another tack and their bathrooms and water fountains were integrated.

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