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Bill Fishman & Affiliates

11650 lberia Place

San Diego, Ca.92128

f HIS PAST weekend some friends I 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 hlms 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. It'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 Memoirs," would also be a smash. I made a commitment to myself to see that movie immediately.

The following afternoon I was looking through the theater section in the San Diego newspapers. It was evident that local movie houses did not feel as strongfy 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. Regretfully, the film didn't live up to my 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. It 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

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0CBO #3656, Stole Fire Morsholl #C-100-1, LR CitV Rpprovol #94303) 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 ofthe store and filed Chapter I l.

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There are similar declines going on now in the home center/building material industry. I believe that warehouse chains such as Homecrafter's Warehouse failed because, although their prices were low, their shoppers felt uncomfortable in the store's surroundings. I have also been

AIDS and the Lumber Biz

Is there a connection between the lumber business and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) ? There is now. Or at least sort of.

All-Coast Forest Products. Inc.. the large Chino, Ca., based wholesale firm has diversified with an investment of $500,000 in a newly formed company that will make a computerized test kit to sample blood for the presence of AIDS, drugs or other substances, cholesterol, sugar, virus or other disease. The newly-invented device uses a self-contained computer to detect the presence ofsubstances or disease watching some independent building material dealers change their service level, quality of merchandise and standard of housekeeping in an effort to beat the competition. reading various colors in the blood. The concept is based on the old litmus paper test where special paper changes color when exposed to various samples.

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 factor for an established customer base. In fact, there are a good many customers who are not willing to trade merchandise quality, service and cleanliness for lower prices.

The new company, Chromologic, Inc., Newport Beach, Ca., says the kits will sell for approximately $5,000 and will be a small in-office device. Present testing machines are said to range in price up to $75,000. Chromologic is projecting that domestic and foreign sales will reach $!5 million by 1989. It anticipates making and selling other products relating to space and sports medicine, genetic engineering and virus testing.

All-Coast personnel will not be active in the operation of Chromologic, although All-Coast president Daryl Bond and his CPA will sit on the board ofdirectors ofthe closelvheld company.

Sun Belt Multiplies Fast

More than half of the population growth in the United States for the remainder of this century will be concentrated in five states. The National Planning Association targets Arizona, California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas as prime growth areas.

Wood Window, Door Hot Line

Retailers with questions about wood windows and doors can call the National Wood Window & Door Association's new 24 hours a day hot line, l-(800) 223-2301.

WAYNE GARDNER executive vice president

HE WESTERN States Lumber-

TI men's Council, or the "Cowboys" as they are known, met Feb. 9-10 in Seattle, Wa., under the guidance of Clayton Smith, Western Building Material Association president, and Chuck Link, WBMA executive director.

This was the annual meeting of the presidents, vice presidents and managing officers of the western associations. This year's attendees, in addition to the two mentioned above, were Phil Butterfield, LASC president and president of International Forest Products, Chino, Ca.; R. E. Hawthorne, LASC vice president and president of Northridge Lumber Co., Northridge, Ca.; Embree Cross, Lumber Merchants Association of Northern California president; Dale Winslow, LMA vice president; Ray Lopp, Arizona Lumber and Builders Supply Association president; Ray Nunn, Lumber Association of Texas president, and managing oflicers Joe Butler, Jr., Texas; Fred Caruso, Mountain States; Wayne Gardner, LASCI E. J. Johnson, Arizona, and Gary Smith, LMA.

The purpose of these annual meetings is to give the group an opportunity to discuss programs that are working and those that are not working with the idea that through helping each other we may all do a betterjob ofserving our respec- tive memberships. The national organization is always discussed to determine how we can better utilize the services offered by NLBMDA and get better attendance at the meetings they hold.

Discussion centered on registration fees, speakers, insurance programs, officer and committee involvement. the new tax law, trips for members, educa- tional programs for members, newsletters, staff management and on and on into the myriad challenges and facets of association operation.

The meeting in past years has been only for the presidents and managing officers, but, since it was felt that the vice presidents could benefit from attending as well, this was the first year for them to be involved. The overall feeling was that the meeting was excellent. The Washington Athletic Club in Downtown Seattle offered very nice accommodations and the Seattle weather was virtually picture perfect.

Next year's meeting will be in Austin. Tx.

A PUENOMENON called "low /Fl temperature smoldering combustion" is the suspected cause ofa recent lumberyard fire in Helena, Mt. The entire yard burned. The fire reportedly started in a bundle of recently delivered waferboard. This material is produced at temperatures around 400', then "hot stacked" and bundled to finish the curing process. This problem does not appear to be manufacturer specific at this time. ln "low temperature smoldering