Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9307280011
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There were all kinds Wednesday when Roanoke Valley Leggett stores opened around dawn.
There was a young woman who lives out of town but was back visiting family. A young man dressed like a tourist. Some older couples. Night-shift workers who hadn't been to bed yet.
We stood in line, munched Hardee's biscuits provided by the store, drank the store's coffee and juice and laughed about how silly we must have looked.
"It's still dark!" one sleepy woman moaned as she took her place.
More than 400 people showed up at Leggett's Tanglewood and Valley View mall stores. The company's general manager, Sidney Miller, said he could document the count because the stores distributed 400 certificates for discounts on non-sale items before running out of them.
"We did as much business in the two hours as we do in some days," he said, happily cleaning up empty coffee cups and sausage biscuit wrappings.
And a lot of that business was in full-price items rather that the discounted goods.
Some shoppers said they had scouted out the stores the night before to see what already was on sale, because many of those items were to be discounted Wednesday another 30 percent to 50 percent. Many people seemed to know exactly where to head when the doors opened at 6 a.m.
The rest of us browsed our way toward those "50 percent off" racks placed like oases amidst non-sale items, and we got distracted by the more expensive merchandise.
Which is exactly what the retailer wanted to happen.
When clothing stores put checkout registers way, way in the back and grocery stores put all those geegaws near the checkout, they're betting that something we hadn't planned to buy will catch our eyes.
I'm happy about buying a Carole Little jacket for $26, however.
\ For two Roanokers, shopping wasn't much fun recently, because they thought they got bad deals from the places they shopped.
Eleanor McGuire saw a Phar-Mor ad with the guarantee: "Have your prescription filled at Phar-Mor. If you find a lower price at any drugstore within 30 days we'll give you $10."
McGuire trotted over to Phar-Mor at Towne Square, carrying evidence that Wal-Mart had sold her medication at a lower price. But she didn't get her $10; the ad excludes Wal-Mart, she learned.
If she had pushed the issue as far as the store manager, she probably would have gotten the 10 spot. A spokeswoman at Phar-Mor's headquarters in Pittsburgh said managers have the latitude to honor prices from places such as Wal-Mart if a customer has misunderstood the offer.
Considering that Phar-Mor is in bankruptcy reorganization, it certainly doesn't want to offend customers, said Carol Robinson.
"Our goal is to win customers back," she said.
However, she said Phar-Mor is "clearly positioning itself as a drugstore" and aims to compete with drugstores such as Revco, which is mentioned in its ad, and not general merchandise stores, such as Wal-Mart and Kmart, that aren't drugstores but happen to have pharmacies.
McGuire said she still got her prescription filled at Phar-Mor.
The other unhappy shopper finally got the money he felt he was due, but it wasn't easy.
Richard McKay bought a 1989 Ford Escort at Magic City Ford in Roanoke for $4,990. He was pleased with the deal.
But later that day, he saw the dealer's newspaper ad that offered his Ford Escort - same model number - for $4,490. He learned the car had been advertised several days at the lower price.
McKay contacted the salesman to ask why he hadn't been told his car was on sale and asked for the $500 difference.
"I was told I had made my deal at $4,990," McKay told the newspaper.
After he was asked about McKay's complaint, Magic City's general manager, Charlie Robinson, refunded the $500 difference to McKay. But he declined to comment on the matter.
The point here? Read advertising carefully. Speak to top managers about complaints. Ask salespeople to show their current advertising.
by CNB