In article , "George" george@least
wrote:

Used to be an "A" store was defined that way.

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
gy.com...
Just because it's in the catalog does not mean it's gonna be in the store.
It's very common for catalogs to have a much wider selection than the
retail
stores. Do you expect to go into a Sears store and find everything that's
in
their catalog? Sheesh.

I could certainly better inclined to agree if Rockler were a *general*
hardware store, but this is a *speciality* store. the catalog is not
that large, so to think that what's in the catalog should be in the
store would not seem to be unreasonable.
--
Thanks,

Ham

Bob Brogan writes:

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
gy.com...
Just because it's in the catalog does not mean it's gonna be in the
store.
It's very common for catalogs to have a much wider selection than the
retail
stores. Do you expect to go into a Sears store and find everything that's
in
their catalog? Sheesh.

I could certainly better inclined to agree if Rockler were a *general*
hardware store, but this is a *speciality* store. the catalog is not
that large, so to think that what's in the catalog should be in the
store would not seem to be unreasonable.

Unless it's a corporate store, there's no way on earth company management can
force them to carry any particular item. I don't know if this particular store
was a franchise operation or not, but IIRC, both Rockler and Woodcraft are
fairly heavily into franchising. Corporate loses a certain amount of control
when someone else actually owns the store it is supplying.

Some guy who owns a franchise might well believe that a hinge that sells 1000
units a year is a better SKU than is a light that sells 50. Or a book that
sells 50 copies is a better bet than those 50 lights, because the book's gross
profit to the store is 12 bucks and the light's is 3.

Having a full load of stock in the store may not be unreasonable, but for some
owners it may well be unaffordable. If it's unaffordable, carrying all the
extra items becomes unreasonable because it puts them on the edge of
bankruptcy.

No store is obligated to carry the same stock all the time, regardless what
many of us might wish.

Charlie Self
"It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

Charlie, you're making far to much sense for this guy. He'll never catch
it.


"Charlie Self" wrote in message Unless it's a
corporate store, there's no way on earth company management can
force them to carry any particular item. I don't know if this particular
store
was a franchise operation or not, but IIRC, both Rockler and Woodcraft are
fairly heavily into franchising. Corporate loses a certain amount of
control
when someone else actually owns the store it is supplying.

Some guy who owns a franchise might well believe that a hinge that sells
1000
units a year is a better SKU than is a light that sells 50. Or a book that
sells 50 copies is a better bet than those 50 lights, because the book's
gross
profit to the store is 12 bucks and the light's is 3.

Having a full load of stock in the store may not be unreasonable, but for
some
owners it may well be unaffordable. If it's unaffordable, carrying all the
extra items becomes unreasonable because it puts them on the edge of
bankruptcy.

No store is obligated to carry the same stock all the time, regardless
what
many of us might wish.

Charlie Self
"It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

CW writes:


Charlie, you're making far to much sense for this guy. He'll never catch
it.


Well, I watched the retail guys go nuts at Woodcraft when I was there because
they couldn't get a franchisee to carry a strong line of power tools, with
their high ticket, low margin work-up. He claimed that the percentage wasn't
enough to justify, etc., etc., etc. And he has a lot of company, though to as
vociferous. A lot of people would rather sell 1000 $10 blurfls at 65% gross
profit than 2 $1500 blurfls at 17% gross profit, especially if the cheaper
blurfl is a near certain 1000 seller in the period of time the 2 expensive
items might move.

I don't know the final resolution, but there were rumors the company was going
to buy out the franchise. I got let go before it was resolved, or at least
before I heard about it.

Sometimes franchisees can be ballbreakers, and justifiably so, IMO, because
their investment starts around half a mil for a full-sized store.

I haven't seen one yet, but there are smaller market franchises available, with
2 now open, 1 in my old home town of Albany, NY and another in a town near
where I will soon be living, Roanoke, VA.

Anyway, IF the Rockler store is a franchise, that may explain part of the
changes in the line. And, as I recall, I'd be really curious about the sales
associate mentioned earlier. He was going to quit. Did he, or was that more
balm for the customer, who is not always right, but is always the customer,
from whence all profits flow? Or was he a lot like a couple guys I got promises
about years ago: "We'll fire those turkeys today. They can't treat our
customers like that." So the boss fires the guy, in front of the customer, and
a week later, he's back in place, probably never having left.

Charlie Self
"It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

In article ,
otforme (Charlie Self) wrote:

Bob Brogan writes:

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
gy.com...
Just because it's in the catalog does not mean it's gonna be in the
store.
It's very common for catalogs to have a much wider selection than the
retail
stores. Do you expect to go into a Sears store and find everything that's
in
their catalog? Sheesh.

I could certainly better inclined to agree if Rockler were a *general*
hardware store, but this is a *speciality* store. the catalog is not
that large, so to think that what's in the catalog should be in the
store would not seem to be unreasonable.

Unless it's a corporate store, there's no way on earth company management can
force them to carry any particular item. I don't know if this particular store
was a franchise operation or not, but IIRC, both Rockler and Woodcraft are
fairly heavily into franchising. Corporate loses a certain amount of control
when someone else actually owns the store it is supplying.

Some guy who owns a franchise might well believe that a hinge that sells 1000
units a year is a better SKU than is a light that sells 50. Or a book that
sells 50 copies is a better bet than those 50 lights, because the book's gross
profit to the store is 12 bucks and the light's is 3.

Having a full load of stock in the store may not be unreasonable, but for some
owners it may well be unaffordable. If it's unaffordable, carrying all the
extra items becomes unreasonable because it puts them on the edge of
bankruptcy.

No store is obligated to carry the same stock all the time, regardless what
many of us might wish.

Charlie Self
"It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

Charlie, I spoke with the corporate office and they mentioned the "store
manager" so I don't know if it's a franchise, but I'm thinking it
isn't. The times I've been there it seems like a company store in that
the SA that quit referred to some manager over the stores who made these
decisions to take stuff out and that customers were complaining and he
wasn't listening. Also, in talking with corporate, they didn't make a
reference to it being a franchise and thus things being "out of their
hands" so-to-speak.

--
Jim Polaski
"The measure of a man is what he will do
knowing he will get nothing in return."

Jim Polaski writes:


Charlie, I spoke with the corporate office and they mentioned the "store
manager" so I don't know if it's a franchise, but I'm thinking it
isn't. The times I've been there it seems like a company store in that
the SA that quit referred to some manager over the stores who made these
decisions to take stuff out and that customers were complaining and he
wasn't listening.

Sometimes franchisees hire store managers--have to. IIRC, all the Woodcraft
stores in Texas (5?) are owned by one guy. Ain't no way he's going to manage
those properly.

You're probably right, though. It does seem that Rockler would ditch the
manager if he's screwing the store up, but a chain that is small but national
may have difficulty in keeping good local control and hiring replacements. Fire
the guy now, for example, and can't hire a replacement for 2-3 months (unlikely
in today's economy, but stranger things have happened) and the store might go
completely belly up, especially if hes already annoyed a large enough group of
customers.

I'm not sure any franchise seller is going to admit that control is out of
their hands if there is a problem with the store. Probably an individual
decision by the corporate person. But I did state that I wasn't absolutely
certain Rockler was francising stores. They may all be corporate owned, as the
Lee Valley stores are, which could account for their slower expansion into
markets than Woodcraft's.

"The measure of a man is what he will do
knowing he will get nothing in return."

You ALWAYS get something in return, if nothing more than the satisfaction of
knowing you've done good.

Charlie Self
"It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

Just FYI - All Rockler stores are company-owned.

And here's some more Rockler secrets:

1. The retail stores stock less products than the catalog because of
the limited space they have within the four walls.
2. The catalog lists less products than the Internet site because of
the cost of printing and postage.
3. The internet displays the most items (over 10,000 and growing).

So if you're looking for that hard-to-find thingy you just have to
have to finish your project, check Rockler.com first. Then, call the
store to make sure it's in stock before making the drive. Or, skip the
drive, order online, and spend more quality time in the shop ;-)

Scott Ekman
Rockler Internet Director

On 7 Apr 2004 09:10:09 -0700, (Scott Ekman)
wrote:

Just FYI - All Rockler stores are company-owned.

And here's some more Rockler secrets:

1. The retail stores stock less products than the catalog because of
the limited space they have within the four walls.
2. The catalog lists less products than the Internet site because of
the cost of printing and postage.
3. The internet displays the most items (over 10,000 and growing).

So if you're looking for that hard-to-find thingy you just have to
have to finish your project, check Rockler.com first. Then, call the
store to make sure it's in stock before making the drive. Or, skip the
drive, order online, and spend more quality time in the shop ;-)

Scott Ekman
Rockler Internet Director
Great info. I finally got a chance to visit your new store in Houston
today. I was a little disappointed at the lack of power tools
(especially table saws - 1 only) but impressed with the selection of
other goodies). I was especially impressed with the service - greeted
warmly and promptly with an offer to provide any info I needed (wish I
had gotten the guy's name). This is the exact opposite of your
competitor on Hwy. 290 - spent 45 minutes looking around without a
Howdy-Do. 3 guesses where I'll do my shopping???

I guess I've never seen a lobster larger than about 2 lbs. I need to get up
to where they catch the little beggars, and have a few!

Kevin
wrote in message
...
Lobster about 1-1.5#, little fellers. I find them tastier than the
brutes.

On Sun, 4 Apr 2004 09:14:42 -0400, "Kevin Singleton"
wrote:

What's a chicken lobster? Let me guess: it tastes just like ...!!!

We're starving for Mexican food, chili without beans, and chicken-fried
steak. There's lots of Italian food, though, and the hoagies. There are
some small towns that have more pizza shops than houses, and almost
everywhere serves liquor. That's a big change from Texas, where some parts
of town are "dry", and you have to have a membership to buy liquor by the
drink.

What's Rhode Island chowder? I've never heard of that.

Kevin
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
om...

"Kevin Singleton" wrote in message
What's a chicken lobster? Let me guess: it tastes just like ...!!!


Chicken lobsters are the small ones, barely legal to catch.

I'm originally from PA and moved to CT about 23 years ago. It was a
change
in cuisine and I learned to make a lot of things that I took for granted
before. In or town you could not buy a decent loaf of crusty bread or
roll,
deli sandwiches were not like from any Philadelphia or New York deli I
ever
went to. Here they do have a good white chowder and you can get good Fish
&
Chips anywhere. Since I'm near the state line, Rhode Island chowder is
readily available also.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

On one of the trips to Bahston a fellow went with me that we referred
to as "The gentle giant" which was an apt description. About as broad
as he was tall, from Hawiian Islands and weighed probably better that
300#. On the way to the airport I bought a few chicken lobsters and
he got his counterpart, a giant lobster. He had to rent a pot big
enough to boil it. He made the mistake of letting the lobster see the
boiling water prior to going in so it spread its legs wide enough
where it couldn't go in head first. In desparation he reversed
orientation and dropped it in tail first. I do NOT miss the frequent
travel from So. Calif. coast to Bahston that I endured for 22+ years!

On Thu, 8 Apr 2004 17:17:16 -0400, "Kevin Singleton"
wrote:

I guess I've never seen a lobster larger than about 2 lbs. I need to get up
to where they catch the little beggars, and have a few!

Kevin
wrote in message
.. .
Lobster about 1-1.5#, little fellers. I find them tastier than the
brutes.

On Sun, 4 Apr 2004 09:14:42 -0400, "Kevin Singleton"
wrote:

What's a chicken lobster? Let me guess: it tastes just like ...!!!

In article ,
(Scott Ekman) wrote:

Just FYI - All Rockler stores are company-owned.

And here's some more Rockler secrets:

1. The retail stores stock less products than the catalog because of
the limited space they have within the four walls.
2. The catalog lists less products than the Internet site because of
the cost of printing and postage.
3. The internet displays the most items (over 10,000 and growing).

So if you're looking for that hard-to-find thingy you just have to
have to finish your project, check Rockler.com first. Then, call the
store to make sure it's in stock before making the drive. Or, skip the
drive, order online, and spend more quality time in the shop ;-)

Scott Ekman
Rockler Internet Director

Scott, this all got started because of someone trying to buy an item
that was previously bought in one of the stores, under cabinet lighting.
More over, there wasn't even replacement bulbs for those who already
owned the product. The space was still in the store filled with this and
that when the item apparently could still be there AND other customers
had been complaining at that store about this kind of stuff.
It's hard to think that ALL the books, knobs, and other little do-dads
sell so much better than lighting things so that lighting and
replacement parts are not in the store in any form of representation.
Sure one can go to the catalog or online, that's obvious but with a
store this size, and having bought the stuff there before...well you get
the idea.
--
Best,
Kirby

Yes, we get the idea. The idea that it is their store and they can run it
the way they want.

"Kirby" wrote in message
...
....well you get
the idea.
--
Best,
Kirby

In article ,
"CW" wrote:

Yes, we get the idea. The idea that it is their store and they can run it
the way they want.

"Kirby" wrote in message
...
...well you get
the idea.
--
Best,
Kirby

Yo're totally right and correct!

However, that doesn't mean that what they're doing is good management
either. I hope you don't think that just because it's their choice,
whatever they do, it is always good management. In this case, didn't the
original poster say other customers had been complaining too?

Seems to me that so many,many places have thrown out the notion that the
"customer is always right" and favored a "we'll do what we want and
you'll like it" approach. Maybe that's why a place like Lee Valley is so
liked since they seem to be so customer oriented.
--
Best,
Kirby

"Kirby" wrote in message
...

However, that doesn't mean that what they're doing is good management
either. I hope you don't think that just because it's their choice,
whatever they do, it is always good management. In this case, didn't the
original poster say other customers had been complaining too?

What the OP related about other customers was rather suspect. It may or may
not have been the case. There are plenty of cases of poor management but,
ultimately, that is the store's problem as the customer can always go
somewhere else.

Seems to me that so many,many places have thrown out the notion that the
"customer is always right" and favored a "we'll do what we want and
you'll like it" approach.

That they have and, as shopping is now considered a sport, people put up
with it.

Maybe that's why a place like Lee Valley is so
liked since they seem to be so customer oriented.

Yep. Rare these days.

In article ,
"CW" wrote:

"Kirby" wrote in message
...

However, that doesn't mean that what they're doing is good management
either. I hope you don't think that just because it's their choice,
whatever they do, it is always good management. In this case, didn't the
original poster say other customers had been complaining too?

What the OP related about other customers was rather suspect. It may or may
not have been the case. There are plenty of cases of poor management but,
ultimately, that is the store's problem as the customer can always go
somewhere else.

I was relating what the SA said about other customers having problems of
a similar nature. He was also complaining about the new guy in
management (who also was the one who got rid of the lighting he said)
having made other similar decisions and that is what customers were
complaining about and it was inhibiting him(he felt) in doing his job so
he was quitting.

You can call the SA,"suspect" and perhaps he embellished a bit, but I
doubt it's a fabrication either. Which is to say, the truth is in the
middle, with the SA being more right than wrong.


Seems to me that so many,many places have thrown out the notion that the
"customer is always right" and favored a "we'll do what we want and
you'll like it" approach.

That they have and, as shopping is now considered a sport, people put up
with it.

And that's where the problem begins. When customers are too
lilly-livered to stand up and be counted, then they deserve to have
their shopping be a sport rather than a "service to the customer"

That's also why so much in this wonderful country is going downhill. No
one wants to stand and be counted. I suppose that's because they're
afraid.


Maybe that's why a place like Lee Valley is so
liked since they seem to be so customer oriented.

Yep. Rare these days.

And it's rare because of the customers lack of feedback. If these folks
realized that customers were upset, things might change. I told Rockler
to take me off the mailing list. I will go there if there is no other
source, but I will try my darndest to shop elsewhere.
--
Thanks,

Ham

BULL!

Problem is everyone is standing, demanding to be counted and _served_ in
place.

When it goes from shopping, where they refuse to vote with their feet or
fingers, to the job, where they do only what's in the contract language,
then it's really economic disaster.

The right not to be inconvenienced must be something the Supreme Court could
invent.

"Bob Brogan" wrote in message
...

That's also why so much in this wonderful country is going downhill. No
one wants to stand and be counted. I suppose that's because they're
afraid.

In article , "George" george@least
wrote:

BULL!

Problem is everyone is standing, demanding to be counted and _served_ in
place.

When it goes from shopping, where they refuse to vote with their feet or
fingers, to the job, where they do only what's in the contract language,
then it's really economic disaster.

The right not to be inconvenienced must be something the Supreme Court could
invent.

"Bob Brogan" wrote in message
...

That's also why so much in this wonderful country is going downhill. No
one wants to stand and be counted. I suppose that's because they're
afraid.


Well George, I've run several businesses and owned one. I adheared to
one philosophy...THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.

When you're a service business, you have a responsibility to those
customers. Rockler appears to be abdicating that according to the SA to
some point.

Like many you haven't heard Rockler's pov, and you automagically make
them right. How rich.
--
Thanks,

Ham

They are. It's their store.

"Bob Brogan" wrote in message news:Ham-

Like many you haven't heard Rockler's pov, and you automagically make
them right.