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Beachcomber posted:I only eat there in Florida, but I have a weakness for their pizza-dough brownies. I haven't been there in years, but their cheesy bread was always really tasty.
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Aug 3, 2017 04:51
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Doggles posted:And down it goes. They wasted no time taking the lettering off the sides of the mall.  Citadel Mall-58 by Will King, on FlickrHow does one get to investing in sign removal companies? I can see that being a lucrative business in the next few years.
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Aug 3, 2017 05:03
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Regarding shady possibly organized crime front restaurants... There used to be a Chinese buffet near where I work. There was only ever one girl working the register that I saw, no matter what time you went in. The place was huge. Big dining room and three long buffet steam bar things but only one of them ever had any food in it. Usually your dozen or so Chinese takeout standards. The only reason I went in there was because they sold take out by weight and it was cheap as hell. I could fill a styrofoam take out box for five bucks and the lo main and sesame chicken was loving awesome. That place was open for years and with the lack of customers, I can't imagine that the place wasn't a Yakuza or whatever the Chinese equivalent is. Only reason I stopped going there was because I found some weird heart looking organ in my food one day. Biting into a tough, chewy chunk of meat with tubular poo poo coming out of it will put you off of a place to be sure.
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Aug 3, 2017 06:29
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Grumbletron 4000 posted:Only reason I stopped going there was because I found some weird heart looking organ in my food one day. Biting into a tough, chewy chunk of meat with tubular poo poo coming out of it will put you off of a place to be sure. Probably just a kidney---they sometimes don't get removed during prep of chicken thighs
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Aug 3, 2017 06:36
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Sounds like with front businesses a lot are technically functional and open, but do the bare minimum to just seem poorly run at worst. Probably because a full business that never opens is suspicious and a target for burglary and/or vandalism, and running one properly takes money and effort (though some fronts may do that anyway) but they probably let people slack off because it doesn't matter, and it's a bad idea to mistreat your employees if you're doing anything illegal. (and they aren't)
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Aug 3, 2017 11:41
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this is coming at it from the outside but it seems to me like having a front that is actually profitable/close to break-even would get waaaay less attention than the poo poo y'all have been describing.
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Aug 3, 2017 12:18
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I live near a dirtmall, adjacent to a nice shopping strip. It's a total zoo, just full to the brim with fake designer shoes and stuff. Don't know what the rents are like, almost no one goes into the stores, apart from the disgusting food court and whichever store has the best fake Yeezy sneakers. What's really confusing is that there's at least one of the equivalent fast food places, cleaner, in a much nicer spot within 200 metres. As well as an H&M, River Island, Zara etc. nearby. Who is paying for these malls to stay open? I almost suspect they're propped up with government money at this point.
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Aug 3, 2017 12:28
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Inescapable Duck posted:Sounds like with front businesses a lot are technically functional and open, but do the bare minimum to just seem poorly run at worst. Probably because a full business that never opens is suspicious and a target for burglary and/or vandalism, and running one properly takes money and effort (though some fronts may do that anyway) but they probably let people slack off because it doesn't matter, and it's a bad idea to mistreat your employees if you're doing anything illegal. (and they aren't) I remember people suspecting Amy's Baking Company of Kitchen Nightmares fame of being a front. It was just too terribly run and the husband apparently had suspicious business ties. So now you can see what happens when you set up a mob front, but your wife wants to make it a real business. It's not pretty.
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Aug 3, 2017 13:35
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Krispy Kareem posted:I remember people suspecting Amy's Baking Company of Kitchen Nightmares fame of being a front. It was just too terribly run and the husband apparently had suspicious business ties. Seemed to me when a bored-to-insanity mob housewife decides she wants to play baker.
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Aug 3, 2017 13:51
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Jastiger posted:Well wasn't Sears poised to be the Amazon of the 90's but balked at insurance and internet services, thus losing out on that explosive growth in the 2000s? Basically yes. For people younger then 30 I can't described how big Sears was for being able to buy anything and everything through the mail with the yearly Sears Catalog since 1883. From the cheapest toy to a full on house everything was in the Sear Catalog and all it took was a check in the mail and waiting 4 to 6 weeks. Sears had the infrastructure, the payroll system, and instead focused on the physical instead of going digital.
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Aug 3, 2017 14:09
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BexGu posted:Basically yes. For people younger then 30 I can't described how big Sears was for being able to buy anything and everything through the mail with the yearly Sears Catalog since 1883. From the cheapest toy to a full on house everything was in the Sear Catalog and all it took was a check in the mail and waiting 4 to 6 weeks. Sears had the infrastructure, the payroll system, and instead focused on the physical instead of going digital. The refusal to switch to digital has been the downfall of many a company in the 90's and 00's. I can understand the reluctance to go into online though as the Dot Com Bubble was really bad at the time.
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Aug 3, 2017 14:13
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Sears had an online presence with Prodigy 5 or 6 years before Amazon even existed. I think they divested themselves of that before the Bubble burst so they can't even blame that for their decision. They got rid of their catalog business and then bought Lands End, which was a catalog business. Then they got rid of Lands End. Nothing Sears does makes sense. It's 'Radio-Shack buying SuperBowl ads a year from bankruptcy stupid'.
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Aug 3, 2017 15:26
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Lop i remember that Radio shack thing. It was so..meta? Is that the word? Watching this ad, which i think was pretty funny, but knowing it wasn't going to get a single person to go to Radio shack. Just...why would you buy the most expensive ad time ever if you're going down like that.
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Aug 4, 2017 12:56
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Krispy Kareem posted:Nothing Sears does makes sense. It's 'Radio-Shack buying SuperBowl ads a year from bankruptcy stupid'. I worked at RS during this ad campaign and we had several suits for corporate letting every store know that every store was getting upgrades in fixtures, computers, etc. When time came around to start the upgrade our store received several cans of paint and was told to repaint certain areas of our store. That was our upgrade. My manager said gently caress that, threw the paint away and said we never received it.
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Aug 4, 2017 15:33
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Companies do the super bowl ad thing all the time and basically, unless you sell luxury goods or absolute bottom denominator food stuffs its a waste of dosh. Another dumbass thing is like sports authority blowing 1/2 of their yearly ad budget on a stadium sponsorship, every year.
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Aug 4, 2017 15:46
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Is that what killed Sports Authority? You'd figure they would have been good since athletes are so easy to bilk out of money.
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Aug 4, 2017 16:31
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Detective No. 27 posted:Is that what killed Sports Authority? You'd figure they would have been good since athletes are so easy to bilk out of money. Its not the core driver, no, which is heavy competition in the market physically as well as online sales and shifting consumer interests but it is a reason. To put into better context why its really dumb understand that naming the stadium just means your name goes on it and it has to be referenced as such. If you as a business want to do anything else with your newly bought relationship with the team you have to spend more of your own money. And remember, this only supports that one markets local sports team, the people of New York dont give a gently caress youre advertising your connection with the Broncos which means all the additional money you spend on capatilizing on it is pretty much limited to one market. So in effect, by signing the contract Sports Authority agreed that 1/2 to 3/4 of its total budget should be only in the Denver market which is why their ad presence for all their other stores died. I actually had the "pleasure" of a call with the guy who wanted to sell us the sloppy seconds naming rights and a) laughed him off the line when he eventually revealed the price and b) he is a slimy son of a bitch who talks a big game about being self made when hes never worked a job his dad didnt appoint him to. Barudak has a new favorite as of 16:43 on Aug 4, 2017 |
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Aug 4, 2017 16:39
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Jastiger posted:Lop i remember that Radio shack thing. It was so..meta? Is that the word? Watching this ad, which i think was pretty funny, but knowing it wasn't going to get a single person to go to Radio shack. Just...why would you buy the most expensive ad time ever if you're going down like that. Possibly so they at least go down memorably. Who knows what the internals of a dying company is like, acceptance, frantic struggling, or full on delusion.
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Aug 4, 2017 16:46
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Inescapable Duck posted:Possibly so they at least go down memorably. Who knows what the internals of a dying company is like, acceptance, frantic struggling, or full on delusion. Its hilarious, actually. Tippy top people, especially boards of directors, just disengage/leave so it gets run by the dumb motherfuckers who think they can be the one to turn it around either due to loyalty, desperation, or a belief itll pad their resume. Due to the complete breakdown in the chain of command, idiot ideas run unchecked from each department, hastening the demise. Things like well pivot our whole business model or a personal favorite "we will purposefully gently caress up our customers shopping experience as like a nod to our name". None of these work since none of them are well thought out or adress whatever core issue is killing the business. Everyone is fired then as incompetently as possible.
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Aug 4, 2017 16:54
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Barudak posted:Its not the core driver, no, which is heavy competition in the market physically as well as online sales and shifting consumer interests but it is a reason. Yeah, but if you name a winning team's stadium you do get nationwide advertising come playoffs. Even if it's just announcers reminding everyone they're at the Staples Center or some poo poo. I don't know what Mercedes spent to name the Falcon's stadium, but overall sponsorship deals totaled over 800 million. So they probably committed many hundreds of millions. Which is stupid if all you're sponsoring is 8 football games a year, but there's Superbowls, monster truck rallies, NCAA bowl games, and possibly a World Cup. In the case of Mercedes and Phillips, their American HQ's are in Atlanta so I'm sure naming rights at their two venues come with premium skyboxes and other perks for executives and clients. It's still a bad deal for a lot of companies, but not as bad a deal if the team is competitive or the stadium gets high profile events.
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Aug 4, 2017 16:58
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Naming the Denver stadium was a particularly weird choice because the place the Broncos play has been "Mile High" for 50 years and is above average organic branding. pangstrom has a new favorite as of 17:31 on Aug 4, 2017 |
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Aug 4, 2017 17:25
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pangstrom posted:Naming the Denver stadium was a particularly weird choice because the place the Broncos play has been "Mile High" for 50 years and is above average organic branding. Everyone over 35 who isn't actually calling games on TV or the radio is probably still calling it Mile High and mildly resentful of the people (Invesco and now Sports Authority, though the Sports Authority checks are now bouncing) who dumped millions helping pay for the new place. The Denver Post didn't stop calling it Mile High for years. One time I was driving through Denver with my wife who's never lived in Colorado and gives zero shits about football, and as we were driving past downtown she looked at the giant SPORTS AUTHORITY FIELD lettered on the back of the stadium and said "Oh, that must be Mile High Stadium over there." Money well spent!
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Aug 4, 2017 17:32
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You can also use that to your advantage. IBM built a beautiful skyscraper in Atlanta and then almost immediately sold most of it. People were still calling it the IBM Tower long after Big Blue left the building. Kind of like the Sears Tower and the Chrysler building.
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Aug 4, 2017 17:40
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Krispy Kareem posted:Yeah, but if you name a winning team's stadium you do get nationwide advertising come playoffs. Even if it's just announcers reminding everyone they're at the Staples Center or some poo poo. Sports Authorities yearly advertising budget wasnt even close to 800 million, it was in the realm of 15-20 million. It really doesnt matter how good the team is in that light, especially when they play 8-10 games a year there max, anf the final big national game need make no mention of the stadium.
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Aug 4, 2017 17:44
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Barudak posted:Its hilarious, actually. Tippy top people, especially boards of directors, just disengage/leave so it gets run by the dumb motherfuckers who think they can be the one to turn it around either due to loyalty, desperation, or a belief itll pad their resume. That explains a lot. Krispy Kareem posted:You can also use that to your advantage. IBM built a beautiful skyscraper in Atlanta and then almost immediately sold most of it. People were still calling it the IBM Tower long after Big Blue left the building. It certainly doesn't work the other way around. Pretty sure people still call 'AAMI Stadium' Footy Park to this day.
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Aug 4, 2017 17:55
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Inescapable Duck posted:It certainly doesn't work the other way around. Pretty sure people still call 'AAMI Stadium' Footy Park to this day.
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Aug 4, 2017 18:46
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I'm sure this has been suggested by a billion people already and the NFL would be pissed but if the Broncos get desperate enough: Some weed dispensary should try to thread the needle with their own name and Mile High and give the stadium a few bucks. Well okay unsurprisingly upon googling: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2629677-marijuana-dispensary-interested-in-buying-denver-broncos-stadium-naming-rights Straight White Shark posted:One time I was driving through Denver with my wife who's never lived in Colorado and gives zero shits about football, and as we were driving past downtown she looked at the giant SPORTS AUTHORITY FIELD lettered on the back of the stadium and said "Oh, that must be Mile High Stadium over there." Money well spent!
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Aug 4, 2017 18:53
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I feel a personal deep connection with Guaranteed Rate Field.
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Aug 4, 2017 18:58
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Irradiation posted:I feel a personal deep connection with Guaranteed Rate Field. If youre my employee who took the day off you need to be doing something other posing on SA during your off time, Thats a work only habit
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Aug 4, 2017 19:02
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Century Link spent a lot of money buying the naming rights for the seahawks stadium and everyone just calls it the clink
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Aug 4, 2017 22:02
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pangstrom posted:Naming the Denver stadium was a particularly weird choice because the place the Broncos play has been "Mile High" for 50 years and is above average organic branding. It's technically the Willis Tower now, but nobody calls it that. The one time I did a tour thing in there, half the souvenirs were still Sears Tower branded too. Hope the naming righs were worth it.
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Aug 4, 2017 22:13
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quote:personal favorite "we will purposefully gently caress up our customers shopping experience as like a nod to our name". What does this refer to?
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Aug 4, 2017 22:26
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Detective No. 27 posted:Is that what killed Sports Authority? You'd figure they would have been good since athletes are so easy to bilk out of money. I worked at Sports Authority for a few years, and their downfall began when they decided to stop selling handguns. I can't say this for sure about all the stores, but in our district, guns and ammo made up to 75% of sales at non holiday times. Sometime after Columbine, corporate decided to drop handgun sales. For awhile, they continued to carry long guns and shotguns and ammo, but by 2007 or so they stopped selling those as well. People in at least the Phoenix market came to SA for guns and a little bit of golf, and sometimes left with other poo poo. But when they stopped selling guns, the core of repeat customers we had took their business elsewhere. Why would Joe Hunter come in to buy his camo and other hunting stuff when he could go to Walmart or somewhere else and get it plus the ammo and firearms he wanted as well.
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Aug 4, 2017 23:52
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uli2000 posted:I worked at Sports Authority for a few years, and their downfall began when they decided to stop selling handguns. I can't say this for sure about all the stores, but in our district, guns and ammo made up to 75% of sales at non holiday times. Sometime after Columbine, corporate decided to drop handgun sales. For awhile, they continued to carry long guns and shotguns and ammo, but by 2007 or so they stopped selling those as well. People in at least the Phoenix market came to SA for guns and a little bit of golf, and sometimes left with other poo poo. But when they stopped selling guns, the core of repeat customers we had took their business elsewhere. Why would Joe Hunter come in to buy his camo and other hunting stuff when he could go to Walmart or somewhere else and get it plus the ammo and firearms he wanted as well. They would have made a killing if they kept selling them during the Obama years. Did you work the PV or Metrocenter store?
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Aug 5, 2017 00:38
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Beachcomber posted:What does this refer to? I worked on the Friendly's business when they were in the midst of their bankruptcy and shutting down locations back in 2011. The people in charge at the time decided that they were going to be the happiest restaurant company. We, on the agency side, asked great, how are you going to do that? Raise wages? Provide benefits? College funds? Nope, sad Friendly's we're going to make it requried that they smile all the time. And then they went one further. See they decided that because the name was Friendly's the servers needed to go further than that. The servers would be required to tell you jokes, talk to you more, and again, smile non-stop 24/7. The way they would measure the friendliness of the server was in high fives and they set a goal of five million of them across the chain. Suddenly, the Friendly's servers at every location would constantly interrupt your meal to demand, and count, high-fives from everyone at the table. So now, instead of having a nice family sit down meal a rictus-grin employee interrupts you multiple times to talk to you and demand you high-five them over and over until you finally finish the meal and leave. When the venture capital group bought the name and started doing the debt and value shell game all the fuckers involved in this idea were let go overnight. uli2000 posted:I worked at Sports Authority for a few years, and their downfall began when they decided to stop selling handguns. Just jumping in on this, of the people who report as being "outdoorsy" or would fall into an outdoor product range/habits/etc about 50% of them hunt or fish and the other half don't. What happens is a hunter or fisher guy isn't going to waste their time going into a store that doesn't carry his ammo or fly-lines even if 90% of the rest of his purchases would be identical to a weekend camper's, so if you don't carry ammo you lose all his business while carrying ammo loses you almost no customers who aren't into that sort of thing. In addition, guns and ammo are perennial sellers, are high-profit items, and critically people who buy guns tend to buy lots of guns and shitloads of ammo so they are almost always your literal best customers. The guy who buys a $1,200 folding kayak doesn't need another Kayak ever again but the dude who drops $1,200 in ammo is going to burn through it sooner or later. Further, due to difficulty shipping a lot of these things across state lines and following regulations, it was for a long time far easier to go into a store and buy stuff than deal with the hassle of online, especially when buying in bulk. Barudak has a new favorite as of 03:06 on Aug 5, 2017 |
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Aug 5, 2017 03:04
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Sports Authorities were just sad on the inside. I know it’s an odd complaint, but it smelt and looked like a gym. Which might have been the image they were going for, but it also made everything look low rent. Also, the comedian Louie used to be a spokesperson for Sports Authority. I know what you’re thinking, Louie’s a little chubby, but he probably exercises. No, not C.K. This was Louie Anderson. Literally the least healthy looking person in the world.
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Aug 5, 2017 03:21
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Barudak posted:Further, due to difficulty shipping a lot of these things across state lines and following regulations, it was for a long time far easier to go into a store and buy stuff than deal with the hassle of online, especially when buying in bulk. Yeah, I've been looking into buying a rifle for sport and was surprised when the TFR thread told me it was easiest to just go to the local gun store
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Aug 5, 2017 12:01
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BexGu posted:Basically yes. For people younger then 30 I can't described how big Sears was for being able to buy anything and everything through the mail with the yearly Sears Catalog since 1883. From the cheapest toy to a full on house everything was in the Sear Catalog and all it took was a check in the mail and waiting 4 to 6 weeks. Sears had the infrastructure, the payroll system, and instead focused on the physical instead of going digital. I'm only 31 and I remember flipping through their giant catalog for hours every Christmas. Didn't necessarily shop at Sears, but so. many. toys!
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Aug 5, 2017 13:29
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You could buy houses from Sears. My FiL still has his grandfather’s Winchester bought out of a Sears catalogue in like 1908.
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Aug 5, 2017 13:48
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Krispy Kareem posted:You could buy houses from Sears. you said you could buy houses from sears but then said how someone bought a pub???? idgi
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Aug 5, 2017 14:33
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