SHOPPING

You’ve paid for that warehouse club membership but find yourself lost in an overwhelming assemblage of sale items. It’s hard to believe everything is really on sale. The truth is, sometimes those warehouse deals aren’t all there cracked up to be, even if you buy in bulk. Take it from an experienced warehouse shopper; there are a few do’s and don’ts that might help you make the most of that membership.

1. Don’t Buy Too Much
Sure you can stock up on toothpaste until it’s piled to the rafters, but you might want to keep your acquisitive nature under control when purchasing perishable items. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans toss about 34 million tons of food every year and the average family throws out 880 pounds a year. That’s roughly the weight of an adult cow!

2. Do Resist That Impulse
Just like traditional stores, warehouses create displays designed to entice you into making impulse purchases. Make a list before you leave home and stick to it, with the exception of truly special deals.

3. Don’t Assume
We tend to make the assumption that paper products, diapers and the like are cheaper at warehouse stores. The fact is you can actually find reasonable or better prices at your local supermarket by using coupons. It helps to keep a notebook comparing prices on the major products you usually buy. Even for online warehouse purchases, compare deals with other e-Retailers using sites like PriceGrabber and review discounts applied with online coupons to Sears or other retailers to see if there are any other better deals available.

4. Do Identify the Final Markdown Location
Most warehouses shove all final-markdown items into one shelving unit or area of the store. Before you start shopping, head over there to scope out any exceptional deals. The same is true for meat, poultry and fish.

5. Don’t Assume They Don’t Take Coupons
Many of these warehouse club distribute store-wide coupons like BJs and Costoc. In fact, BJs accepts manufacturers coupons along with store-issued vouchers for deeper discounts. Look for coupon policies online before heading to the store.

6. Do Weigh Bulk Produce
Federal law requires each bag of oranges, potatoes and other produce must contain at least the advertised weight. What most people don’t know is that, to avoid underweight errors, grocers sometimes toss in extra food, making bulk purchases an even better deal. Weigh the bags and pick the heaviest.

By Andrea Woroch

Throughout life, we all experience revelations. While these revelations typically stem from major life events or from inspirational books, people or even movies, they can also be sparked by smaller, seemingly insignificant moments. I’d wager that the last time you headed into the store with a return, you simply went about your business without experiencing any mind-blowing epiphanies. I, on the other hand, did experience one the last time I returned a purchased good.

Product in hand, I realized that our return habits say a lot about us as a society. Let me explain.

If you are fortunate enough to have traveled the Earth extensively, you may know that returning purchased goods is a lot easier — and far more commonplace — in America than it is in many other countries. (Feel free to dive into the discussion if you’ve had experiences returning products in other corners of the world). Obviously, this is a direct reflection of our country’s excellent customer service. However, it’s also a reflection of a society that allows one to make, and amend, mistakes.

How does that apply to more real world experiences? How about celebrities or public figures who have made huge mistakes — sometimes even embarrassing themselves extensively — only to stage a comeback. My goal here isn’t to turn this into a gossip column, so I’ll refrain from naming any names. Still, some of these people come back far stronger than they were before. In other words, a large number of fans forgive or forget (sometimes both), allowing these people to reignite their careers.

On a more personal note, I’d like to confess that I’ve had a difficult time turning 50 (you may have been able to tell from recent outfits I’ve sported). While perusing the pictures of these outfits myself, I’ve had a hard time trying to imagine an event where I could have gotten away with wearing them and cannot come up with any such event. Well, with the exception of Halloween where I may have gone as a ghost of my disco years… Perhaps I’m too hard on myself. I think we’re all often too hard on ourselves. We’re certainly harder on ourselves than we are on other people.

So, the next time you head to the store with a return, ponder the ways in which your friends, family, business partners or even society have given you a second chance for any past transgressions and mistakes. And try not to be so hard on yourself in other areas of your life.

By Mirela Gluck

Consumers tend to make straightforward New Year resolutions: Spend less, save more and pay down debt. This year, it appears retailers want to change just one thing…their bottom line. The tried-and-true methods aren’t working anymore as consumers learn to resist the urge to buy, so merchants are starting their own trends. According to Bloomberg, consumer spending stalled in December, with a rise of just 0.1 percent, as Americans took advantage of last year’s slight jump in income to restore depleted savings. So what are retailers doing to change this trend? Here are a few examples.

1. JCPenney Ditches Sales
Shoppers have caught onto false savings, in which stores boost prices just before dropping them again for supposed sales. In an announcement last month, JCPenney basically admitted to this practice and said they were launching an everyday-low-prices campaign. For example, jeans that used to retail for $25 — but typically ended up selling for $15 — will just start off at $15.
continue reading – Retailers Make Bottom-Line Resolutions

Investors demonstrated just how pleased they were with J.C. Penney’s new vision when the store’s shares skyrocketed 18.8 percent on the New York Stock Exchange to $40.72 on Thursday. According to WWD, the increase in stock price was “the highest for Penney’s in at least 30 years.”

Want to know why investors are so excited — and why you should be equally thrilled? Check out the dramatic changes in store for Penney’s below.

New Promo Plans

Instead of the 590 annual promotions J.C. Penney currently does, they’ll narrow their focus down to 12, or one per month. For example, February will focus on Valentine’s Day, August will highlight back-to-school goods and beachwear will be May’s focus.

“Every month, every store will go through a radical transformation,” said Michael Francis, Penney’s president. He explained that people tend to organize their lives by month and that Penney’s wants to get in sync with their shoppers’ lives.

No More Antiquated Merchandise Jargon

Terms like “missy,” and “pant” are no more with Penney’s new vision. Instead, they’ll focus on shoppers’ lifestyles and how they shop today.

New Accessories/Cosmetics “Town Square”

Instead of the random accessories and cosmetics islands currently scattered throughout the center of Penney’s, shoppers will enjoy a new “town square” shopping design. The new look will be revealed in 2013.

100 Concept Stores

Instead of the open racks shoved against the exterior walls of J.C. Penney stores, they’ll implement “100 individual shop concepts for private and national brands, including Izod, Arizona and Liz Claiborne.” To visualize it yourself, consider IKEA’s individual compartments that customers walk to along the shopping floors. J.C. Penney’s new look will be akin to that.

For example, the Martha Stewart “stores” within the J.C. Penney Walls will have their own look and feel. Johnson said they’ll have an Apple-meets-Martha Stewart vibe. The Arizona store will have a completely different look. It’ll basically be like a door-free mall.

The 100 new concept shops will be phased in at a rate of two or three per month over the course of four years. At the moment, 30 shops are under development. The 100-shop concept also means that Penney’s will phase out roughly 300 of its current brands.

Read more at WWD.

By Wendy Rose Gould