CVS

I chose CVS located on Spring Garden to do research on for this blog. I have been there many times and it always seems difficult. It is located on a fairly busy road with stiff competition located right across the street. A Walgreens was just opened on the corner of Spring Garden and Aycock.

Since this intersection is very busy, there are concrete islands near the turn lanes. This makes it difficult enter and exit CVS's parking lot because of these islands. It is somewhat of a good thing that this store is located in a busy area but with it being so close to the intersection,makes it hard to turn left to leave. It is located close enough to campus for students to walk so that is a definite plus.

I think CVS has a good location but I think the location may discourage some customers simply because it is hard to get there and be able to get out. Maybe they should have located the store a little bit further down the road to avoid all the traffic of the intersection. Plus the parking spaces are the kind that are facing diagonal and that adds difficulty for some people. I still shop at CVS though.

Failing Retailers

On The Huffington Post website, it talks about the store Linens' n Things having to file for bankruptcy recently. They have closed 120 underperforming stores around the U.S. with many of them located in California. The article reports that Ken Perkins, who is the president of research company RetailMetrics LLC, says the stores' reason for closing is because of the lagging economy and the stores' operating issues. This is said to be the worst retail recession the U.S. has seen in about 30 years.

Linens' n Things had 589 stores in 47 states but has now reduced their numbers dramatically. Burt Flickinger III, who is the managing director of the consumer industry consulting firm Strategic Resource Group says "The business will be smaller but it will be more stable." I agree with this statement but I don't know how much longer the retailer will last especially because of it's competition with Bed Bath and Beyond. This article says that there is a Bed Bath and Beyond located within almost 3 miles of 50% of the Linens' n Things stores. Bed Bath and Beyond tends to have more variety and up to date products so that puts a damper on Linens' n Things business.

An article on Times-Herald.com which was posted back in October of 2008 says that a Linens' n Things store located in Newman (which is the city where this article is from) passed the first round of store closings. The company had planned to restructure it to keep it from going under but that failed. They were then going to auction the company off to someone that could help it survive but that also failed. The Linens' n Things store in Newman finally closed its doors. The closing of all these stores is sadly adding to the increasing numbers of unemployment in the United States.

Websites used:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/02/linens-n-things-files-for_n_99867.html

http://www.times-herald.com/local/Linens-n-Things-closing-all-stores-571686

Target Audiences for Retail Stores and VALS Research

Each store clearly has a specific target audience that they are trying to sell to. Even stores that have things for everyone have target markets, such as Wal-Mart. Of course toy stores have target audiences mostly directed to kids. Stores have target audiences so they can focus on getting business from a specific group of people. They hope to get business from other target groups also.
Good advertising and having sales can bring in good customers. Kohls was the store my group presented on Tuesday. Our opinion of Kohl's target audience was mainly for families on a budget. Kohl's is sort of like a one stop shop for clothing for everyone in the family.
I think the information on the VALS website is very accurate. I agree with the information I found on the website because after taking the survey and getting the results, I thought the results were straight on. I think this information corresponds with Kohl's target audience also. VALS is a very informative website to visit.

History of Forever 21

Forever 21 began in L.A. on April 21, 1984. The store actually started out being called Fashion 21 and in 1989 changed its name to Forever 21. The founder realized that sales had increased from $35,000 to $700,000. His success came when he thought to open more stores and he did so every 6 months.

Forever 21 has expanded all across the United States and even has stores in 12 other countries worldwide! Some stores are called Forever 21 and some are called Forever XXI. Forever XXI stores are actually flagship stores of Forever 21. XXI stores average about 24,000 square feet per store which is huge!

21 has actually been named 3rd most shopped teen brands worldwide. That's a pretty big accomplishment for a store that started out so small and has now grown to be so many teen and young adult's favorite store.The Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer is Mr. Do Won Chang, the President is Won Chang, and the Co-Founder is Mr. Jin Sook Chang.

My Favorite Retailer

Most likely the same as many, my all time favorite store is Forever 21. Sadly there isn't a store in Charleston, which is where I'm from. So when I'm at school I shop there as much as i can. There is always the opportunity of buying online but some of their clothes fit differently so it's easier shopping in the store. I am guilty of buying online from home though. There are so many great things about 21! I can name more than just five reasons why I love shopping there. For starters, the store is almost the size of Wal-Mart! I could spend all day in there.

So many great things about Forever 21....where to start? Well, for every type of style I can think of, 21 has an outfit waiting for them. Styles including classy, casual, clothes for the office, gym clothes, perfect dresses for every occasion, skater clothes, and even back in the day fashion that is making it's returing debut. They have a style to fit anyone in my opinion. Some stores only get certain types of shoppers like people that stick with the same old style. Forever 21 gets all ages of shoppers with all different tastes and ideas on outfits.

21 is perfect for the typical college student most importanly in my opinion. With prices going up at gas stations, grocery stores, and all around the mall, 21 is one of few that still has cheap prices. College students can actually afford to shop there. There is so much to chose from in that store! The quality of the clothing isn't the best because of course you get what you pay for but right now, i'd rather have quantity rather than quality. Some people have an issue with Forver 21 having so called "sweatshops". I don't know personally whether or not its true. In an ethics class I took, I learned that many brands people buy everyday and don't think twice about, also have sweatshops. I don't see a problem with 21 so I will still keep shopping there!