Home Center Merchant

Bill Fishman & Affiliates

11650 lberia Place

San Diego, Ca.92128 Memoirs," would also be a smash. I made a commitment to mYself to see that movie immediatelY.

HIS PAST weekend some friends and I were reminiscing about the Radio City Music Hall in New York. This was and still is a magnificent showplace. Not only are outstanding films and fantastic stage shows presented but the theater, with its expanse and art deco, has been a show in itself for more than 50 years.

The scene changes. lt's a few days later and I find myself thumbing through a month-old copy of Time Magazine at the barber shop near mY home. Neil Simon was on the front cover. The story on the inside talked about his New York upbringing, his BroadwaY plays and his films. The magazine gave rave reviews to his newest PlaY "Broadway Bound" and predicted that his new movie, "Brighton Beach

The following afternoon I was looking through the theater section in the San Diego newspapers. lt was evident that local movie houses did not feel as strongly about the film as Time Magazine. The only theater showing "Brighton Beach Memoirs" was the Plaza Twin in Escondido. featuring it as half of a double feature.

I remember the Plaza when it was a single theater. Being in the suburbs. it occasionally featured new releases that were still "showing exclusively" in metropolitan San Diego. But times have changed. The theater is now subdivided into two auditoriums and plays second run double features at the sale price of 990.

I'm far from a spendthrift and I don't mind a bargain, but the thought of spending two hours at the Plaza

Twin was almost more than I could stand. My choice was either to see "Brighton Beach Memoirs" there or wait six months until it appeared in the local video rental stores.

I bit the bullet! That evening Donna and I made the early show at the Plaza. Regretfull.v", the film didn't live up to mr- expectations and, also regretfully. the theater did. For a 990 admission we expected little service. We got little. The ticket booth at the exterior of the theater had a hand painted sign that said "Purchase your ticket at the candy counter." We bought the tickets but decided against the obviously stale popcorn with its rancid smelling butter flavoring.

As I expected. we had to examine the seats in the theater before we sat down. lt was a good thing that I had worn laced shoes that night: loafers would have left my feet as they stuck to the floor.

I've learned to hate that theater and will try to avoid it if I can.

Unfortunately. I've watched retail stores turn to the same "bargain basement" mentality with equally disastrous results. Uncle Bill's. one of the original mass merchandisers in the Cleveland. Oh.. market. was an exciting place to shop in the '60s. By the time I left Cleveland in the late '70s, the chain had changed its image radically. From a position of selling medium range quality at discount prices, it began offering shoddy merchandise at low prices. The value wasn't there anymore, and the clientele was from a lower income level. The shopping experience there changed from "exciting" to "no longer acceptable." By the '80s it was "Goodbye to Uncle Bill's." The parent company changed the name of the store and filed Chapter 1 1.

There are similar declines going on now in the home center/building material industry. I believe that warehouse chains such as Homecrafter's Warehouse lailed because. although their prices were low, their shoppers felt uncomfortable in the store's surroundings. I have also been watching some independent building material dealers change their service level, quality of merchandise and stan- dard ol housekeeping in an effort to beat the competition.

There is a danger! These radical changes may result in a short volume boost but the long term result could be the eradication of an established customer base. Retailers tempted to cut what they consider "frills" should realize that low prices alone may not be the motivating lactor for an established customer base. In fact, there are a good many customers who are not willing to trade merchandise quality, service and cleanliness lor lower prices.

PS: Between the time that this column was written and printed, the Plaza Twin closed its doors.

Moulding ls A Hot Preference

Decorative moulding rated as a "hot button" (high preference) item in a survey of 2,706 home shoppers by Fulton Research Inc., Fairfax, Va. Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Texas and California were among the 11 states surveyed.