{"id":36,"date":"2016-02-24T19:49:35","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T19:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/137.148.11.35\/wordpress\/lets-go-shopping\/?post_type=front-matter&p=36"},"modified":"2018-02-28T09:28:01","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T14:28:01","slug":"introduction-2","status":"publish","type":"front-matter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/front-matter\/introduction-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n\r\nDiscount department stores, on-line shopping services, specialty shops and warehouse clubs dominate much of today\u2019s retail scene.\u00a0 They fill the void created by the closing of many locally-based downtown department stores over the past fifty years.\u00a0 National department store\u00a0chains such as Wal-Mart, Target, Macy\u2019s, Kohl\u2019s, Dillard\u2019s, Saks 5th Avenue, J.C. Penny\u2019s, Nordstrom\u2019s, Sears & Roebuck\u00a0and K-Mart\u00a0have survived the on-slot of those closings.\u00a0 Although some such as Sears and K-Mart are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain their retail niche.\u00a0 Their lack of significant capital outlays over the past twenty years to modernize and upgrade their stores generally has impacted sales.\u00a0 However, economic problems, of that magnitude, are nothing new to the U.S. retail scene.\r\n\r\nSome economists, beginning in the 1960s, predicted bad times ahead for traditional department stores\u00a0especially those who refused to change with the times.\u00a0 Problems first surfaced during the recession of 1957-58 when about fifty department stores closed their doors.\u00a0 If a minor recession like that forced so many stores to close imagine what a major economic depression might do to this industry.\u00a0 Many economists\u00a0believed that the future of U.S. retailing would be in the hands of a new breed of retailer.\u00a0 They would not only fulfill the needs of their customers today, but also, set the pace for future consumer spending.\r\n\r\nIf department store owners doubted their wisdom they had only to look around.\u00a0 Small suburban shopping strips, large-scale shopping centers and huge regional malls with their growing number of discount department stores\u00a0and specialty shops had begun to nudge out giant retailers.\u00a0 It would be only a matter of time before they dominated.\u00a0 Critics, at that time, considered these recent, and in many cases, dramatic shifts in the preferences and practices of customers to be a major wake-up call for traditionally-focused retailers.\u00a0 They warned department store owners to act quickly to combat this growing threat or they will find themselves out of business.\u00a0 Specific recommendations for change ranged from adopting more flexible layaway\u00a0plans and instituting better return policies to offering a greater variety of merchandise and initiating more lenient installment programs.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, few large-scale retailers paid much attention to these warnings.\u00a0 U.S. department stores, in the immediate post-war years, enjoyed unprecedented high profits.\u00a0 Rising wages for the U.S. workforce, promoted in large measure by an expanding national economy, accounted for much of it.\u00a0 The majority of department store owners saw no reason to worry about potential future financial downturns and they certainly were not about to change their highly successful business strategies.\r\n\r\nLocal retailers viewed these dire warnings as just that, unsubstantiated caveats with little basis in fact.\u00a0 Or so it seemed, then.\u00a0 Large-scale store owners believed that this latest round of competition would end quickly once their loyal customers realized that traditional department stores\u00a0still provided them the best quality merchandise and services at the lowest possible price.\u00a0 Of course, this scenario did not unfold like that.\u00a0 Instead of seeing less competition over the next several decades, it only intensified until it dominated local retailing.\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
\n

Discount department stores, on-line shopping services, specialty shops and warehouse clubs dominate much of today\u2019s retail scene.\u00a0 They fill the void created by the closing of many locally-based downtown department stores over the past fifty years.\u00a0 National department store\u00a0chains such as Wal-Mart, Target, Macy\u2019s, Kohl\u2019s, Dillard\u2019s, Saks 5th Avenue, J.C. Penny\u2019s, Nordstrom\u2019s, Sears & Roebuck\u00a0and K-Mart\u00a0have survived the on-slot of those closings.\u00a0 Although some such as Sears and K-Mart are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain their retail niche.\u00a0 Their lack of significant capital outlays over the past twenty years to modernize and upgrade their stores generally has impacted sales.\u00a0 However, economic problems, of that magnitude, are nothing new to the U.S. retail scene.<\/p>\n

Some economists, beginning in the 1960s, predicted bad times ahead for traditional department stores\u00a0especially those who refused to change with the times.\u00a0 Problems first surfaced during the recession of 1957-58 when about fifty department stores closed their doors.\u00a0 If a minor recession like that forced so many stores to close imagine what a major economic depression might do to this industry.\u00a0 Many economists\u00a0believed that the future of U.S. retailing would be in the hands of a new breed of retailer.\u00a0 They would not only fulfill the needs of their customers today, but also, set the pace for future consumer spending.<\/p>\n

If department store owners doubted their wisdom they had only to look around.\u00a0 Small suburban shopping strips, large-scale shopping centers and huge regional malls with their growing number of discount department stores\u00a0and specialty shops had begun to nudge out giant retailers.\u00a0 It would be only a matter of time before they dominated.\u00a0 Critics, at that time, considered these recent, and in many cases, dramatic shifts in the preferences and practices of customers to be a major wake-up call for traditionally-focused retailers.\u00a0 They warned department store owners to act quickly to combat this growing threat or they will find themselves out of business.\u00a0 Specific recommendations for change ranged from adopting more flexible layaway\u00a0plans and instituting better return policies to offering a greater variety of merchandise and initiating more lenient installment programs.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, few large-scale retailers paid much attention to these warnings.\u00a0 U.S. department stores, in the immediate post-war years, enjoyed unprecedented high profits.\u00a0 Rising wages for the U.S. workforce, promoted in large measure by an expanding national economy, accounted for much of it.\u00a0 The majority of department store owners saw no reason to worry about potential future financial downturns and they certainly were not about to change their highly successful business strategies.<\/p>\n

Local retailers viewed these dire warnings as just that, unsubstantiated caveats with little basis in fact.\u00a0 Or so it seemed, then.\u00a0 Large-scale store owners believed that this latest round of competition would end quickly once their loyal customers realized that traditional department stores\u00a0still provided them the best quality merchandise and services at the lowest possible price.\u00a0 Of course, this scenario did not unfold like that.\u00a0 Instead of seeing less competition over the next several decades, it only intensified until it dominated local retailing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Introduction","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"front-matter-type":[12],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-36","front-matter","type-front-matter","status-publish","hentry","front-matter-type-introduction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/front-matter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/36\/revisions\/37"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/36\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"front-matter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter-type?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/lets-go-shopping\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}