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BILL FISHMAN

Bill Fishman & Affiliates 11650 lberia Place San Diego, Ca.92128

QfOneS. like people. have personrEalities. And like people, stores are friendly or cold, helpful or standoffish, sincere or not-to-be believed. Like people, stores have the personality that makes folks feel glad that they came-or feel that the store couldn't care less.

Unlike people, however, a store's personality cannot be totally controlled by a single element. It's a combination of merchandise, location, pricing, services, displays and how that total package is presented in the advertising and promotion that makes up a store's personality. You can put stores with similar characteristics side-by-side, but a slight variation in attitude can be the difference between making a customer feel comfortable or unwanted.

NeimantMarcus, in spite of their exclusiveness, has the capacity to make their customers feel well attended. N-M's top management evidently mandates an employee attitude that lets every customer know that they are important. Their help is trained to be courteous and to sell value. My wife tells me she can find great bargains at Neiman with the assistance of their store help. (We've got the monthly statements to prove it.)

On the other hand, Saks Fifth Avenue, with a similar location, displays, merchandise mix and pricing, makes us feel that our shopping there is an interruption of their non-selling duties. Their snotty sales ladies with the chains hanging from their eyeglasses sure know how to blow off customers.

Home centers and building material retailers have personality problems too. The most obvious is the advertising.

Only a few major chains have developed a style that is easily recognizable and the repetition of the "item and price" format of presenting merchandise is boring. Some of these retailers present ads that look dirty compared to their attractively merchandised stores, and, conversely, some classic attractive ads invite customers into what turns out to be a schlock store with shoddy merchandise.

It's time home center retailers put a stop to just "filling space" in their ads. The repetition of sale merchandise just to fill those weekly full page or multiple page ads is just establishing new low selling prices for those items.

Most home center ads do nothing to create sales. Instead they play the numbers game presenting as many items on a page as they can fit. The theory here is that they may reach the customer seeking a specific item on the date it's advertised. It's like publishing a weekly price list or catalog.

I get a kick out of reading the ads from the few creative advertisers in our industry. They sell ideas. Hechingers, Handyman, Lowe's, Rickels, Dixieline, Knox, Lampert and a handful ofothers, produce some excellent advertising presentations. While often they, too, get caught up in filling space with item-andprice ads, the long range effect of their idea selling makes their customers think ofthem first even on those days when no ads are scheduled.

As a retail operator, think oi yourself as ajuggler spinning plates. You have to run from plate to plate to keep 'em from falling once you've got 'em started. It takes a constant vigil to keep all the elements up to your standards. The advertising, housekeeping, visual displays, signing, product knowledge training, sales training, store lighting and you know the rest of the list. One broken plate mars the personality of the store.

Have you dropped any plates recently?

Thol's How lt Goes!

BMA celebrates its 8fth anniversary this year as a strong and vital organization for the lumber and building material distribution industry in the Pacific Northwest.

The Inland Empire Retail Lumber Dealers Association established an office in Spokane in 1903. In l9(X the name was changed to Western Retail Lumbermens Association and in1967 it became the Western Building Material Association.

The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 increases the Federal tax on gasoline, diesel and special motor fuels to 90 per gallon (up from 4C) effective April I , 1983. Also effective April l, 1983, the law converts the current l09o manufacturer's excise tax on truck and trailer chassis, bodies and tractors to a l29o retail tax. Exempted from this tax are truck chassis bodies under 33,000lbs. and truck trailer and semitrailer chassis and bodies under 26,000 lbs. Both taxes will expire October l, 1988. The Act also amends the current Heavy Vehicle Use Tax by establishing a graduated tax scale effective July I, 1984. A new graduated tax is established on highway tires effective January l, 1984. The Act repealed, effective the day after the President's signature, the 890 manufacturer's excise tax on truck parts and accessories, and the 60 per gallon tax on lubricating oil. If you would like a more detailed summary of the major provisions of this Act, ask WBMA for acopy.

Service stations supplied by major oil companies were among the first retail establishments to offer discounts to customers who pay in cash rather than by credit card, but they're not likely to be the last. If you are thinking about following their lead, you should be aware of an important ground rule laid down by the Federal Trade Commission regardingdiscounts for cash: the practice cannot be discriminatory; the discounts must be offered to all customers. So, a retailer can't quietly inform only those who present credit cards that a discount is available. Nor can prices be marked up for those who pay with plastic; that would be a surcharge, which is not allowed. Must the discount be limited to the extra costs that credit card billings bring? No, says the FTC, you give any discount you wish.

FRANK DAVIS executive vice president

lrf OUSE BLLL2t7t, the cleanup bill I lon the mechanics and materialmen's lien law written by our association and the Arizona General Contractors passed the Commerce Committee by a unanimous vote with complete unity of the Home Builders Association from Phoenix, Tucson, AGC and ALBSA.

Expected to pass, it is strictly a bill to make it easier to file the 20 day preliminary notice by a requirement of legal description or best known address. The legal description is only necessary when an actual lien is filed. It also requires the estimated material cost within 2090 which cuts down hling the preliminary notice more than once if that 200/o requirement is met. It also requires a notice of completion to be mailed by the owner to the general contractor and all who filed the preliminary notice. security and retirement welfare of the American public. Home ownership is a major source of retirement security and the MRA promotes home ownership and makes it economically attractive. of creating

Other legislation concerning dealers includes HB 2077 which tightens regulations on insurance companies regarding workmen's compensation.

Our annual convention dates are May 5-7 at the Doubletree Inn in Tucson. Jack Sombrio and his committee are putting together a hne program using the theme "New Directions."

Jim Barlow, chairman of the wood promotion committee, will announce soon a progr€rm for dealers to work with home builders to encourage more wood frame construction.

President Jim Stewart, Dean Drake, v.p. of Region 5, NLBMDA, and I attended the Western States Lumbermen's Council meeting in Austin, Tx.

Mortgage

Retirement v uu uu

Accounts similar to the Individual ReFRED CARUSO tirement Account program has been executive secretary

FIENVER area retail lumber and Ebuilding material dealers are being urged to join a national campaign to gain congressional approval of a program designed to bring billions of dollars of capital into the home mortgage market.

Dave Stookesberry, v.p. of Economy Lumber and Hardware, Denver, and manager of their Greeley operation as well as Colorado v.p. and president-elect of our association, told a meeting of WOOD, Inc., that the proposed Mortgage Retirement Account program is the most promising long-term solution to the nation's growing housing problem to be presented in modern history. The measure is expected to be introduced soon in Congress by Senator John Tower, (R. Tx.).

We have been building support for the MRA since our convention last September. The response by industry organizations and citizen's groups to the concept trbmendous.

As Stookesberry explains, the MRA concept offers tremendous advantages to the private citizen while attracting billions of dollars into the depressed construction industry.

MRAs would allow savers to "buY down" existing home mortgages with tax deferred dollars. This would allow them to pay off loans faster, thus freeing up funds for new mortgages, and increasing cash available for consumer spending.

The MRA would be a great incentive for young couples to begin saving for retirement very early in their working careers. They could start IRAS and then roll these retirement funds over into a mortgage on their first home. When they sold that home, they could either roll the funds back into the standard IRA or put the money into another mortgage on a larger home.

He emphasizes that the MRA program is not a housing industry hand-out, but rather a program designed to promote the

An estimated ll5 million Americans are eligible to establish IRA accounts' Wage earners can invest up to $2,000 in an IRA, tax deferred, up to lfi)90 of their earned income. Working couples can set aside up to $4,000 a year in IRA accounts. Those funds could be put into an MRA if the bill becomes law. The present IRA law allows people to invest in stocks, bonds, and even real estate partnerships. The MRA concept is an expansion of the already established program. "

The incredible part of the whole program is that it would cost the treasury virtually nothing, since the basic program is already in place. Jobs would be created and tax revenues would be increased as mortgages were paid off early. The benefits of this proposal would be enormous to all segments of the thrift, housing, and building material supply industries' Funds attracted by MRAs would provide a tremendous pool of capital for reinvestment in new home construction."

The best part of the MRA Program is that it will benefit millions of Americans now and in their retirement. With the future ofour social security system uncertain. the MRA is one more mechanism for the private citizen in helping insure his own retirement.