what is the target?

I remember the exact moment I decided I was OK with paying more.  Prices at Payless had slowly crept up.  $29.99 became $34.99, until eventually it became $44.99.  It was the same day I found a pair of Alfred Sung heels on sale for $46.99.  Sure they’re a licensed line meant exactly for me, a mall shopper willing to pay up to $100 for a pair of shoes, but more likely to purchase them if they’re under $50.  And suddenly the smell of pleather and glue had lost its luster.  If you’re wondering how I could be talking about prices increasing at Payless, remember the all encompassing raison d’etre, ‘because Canada.’ 

After years of anticipation, Payless had finally made a run at the border.  Our, now seemingly innocent, dreams of having fun, inexpensive, trendy shoes was about to be realized.  Remember this is before Winners, the Canadian version of TJ Maxx had really impacted the market.  Department stores were slowly dying off and H&M wasn’t even a thought.  We loved it.  In fact I still have some of those early purchases.  The quality was OK, not practically paper and prone to dry rot, as it would later become; and picking up a fun pair of shoes you knew would only last a season for under $30 was acceptable.

Fast forward through the Americanization of the local mall, to Target; another destination Canadians make an effort to visit when we’re in the ol’ US of A.  A wide variety of offerings of the low level mixed merchandise retailer, but I personally love to see what they might offer in fun accessories and make up we can’t get here at home.  Coupled with the closing of Zellers, the Canadian version of Wal-mart before, and for awhile, after, we had Wal-mart, and it seemed like the opportunity was golden. 

Before I start sounding off on what I think went wrong, and what I read went wrong, let me be clear that I am not really in this type of store’s target audience.  First and foremost because they lack urban locations, and short of the rare occasion, such as moving, I don’t really need enough of this type of merchandise to merit what is generally about a 90 minute round trip on the bus to visit these stores.  I rarely go to Wal-mart.  I hadn’t been in Zeller’s for years, and once Joe Fresh started selling what I tried to find inexpensively, i.e. pajama’s and workout gear, I really never went back.  I buy my vitamins at the drugstore and my cleaning stuffs at the grocery store, and I can’t think of any other items I might need a mixed merchandise merchant. 

But Target.  A friend and I went to a soft opening.  And it wasn’t great. 

Yes, the expectation was that the store would not be at full capacity.  That ‘things’ needed to be worked out, but racks and racks were empty.  Very little variation in both stock offerings and floor layout from Zeller’s, the former occupant.  And the worst bits, pricing not all that competitive when compared to other Canadian retailers and no online shopping. 

They claimed they were just starting out.  They hadn’t figure out inventory supply chains.  They were ironing out the wrinkles.  It would get better.

That was more than a year ago.

We’ve all seen the news.  ‘Lower success and financials than expected’. ‘Did not go a hoped’.  ‘Net losses overall, because Canada’.  And yet the issues of areas of the stores still without stock, another big one, the lack of items available in the US, not brought into Canada, for reasons unknown and not explained, the pricing still not competitive and still no online shopping.

Incidentally, while away recently in the US I was able to find both an urban Target, City Target, as well as preview my potential purchases, wait for it, online.  

The City Target on State Street in Chicago - where I mostly went to use the bathroom, and to go through THAT doorway.

Does Target have a chance in our home and native land?  Probably.  There’s a lot of money to invest and a lot of money already spent to pull up the stakes and admit defeat.  But attention needs to be paid to the consumer and their expectations.  Which, arguably, are now lowered, so how hard can it be to correct this misstep?  First off, if your main competition is Wal-mart, and you aren’t going to try to beat them on price, then you better offer something better, of more quality, or not available elsewhere.  

And if they want me as a customer?  Well City Target is a good step.  And so is online shopping.

revlon we have a problem: or how the great lip gloss embargo of 2011 failed

A self professed make up junkie since I ‘borrowed’ some lilac eyeshadow from my Barbie head box and added some purloined Great Lash mascara.  Fortunately some level headed adults helped and so my I never really did go crazy, unless you consider continued use of blue sparkly eyeliner, crazy.  Considering it was the 80’s and I was known as the girl in the bright pink lipstick, I think I fared decently.  And since there’s really no photographic evidence, you’ll just have to believe me.

Around 2011 I was lip gloss shamed, and to a certain degree, my shamer wasn’t too far off.  I did have a purse full of very similar variations of a light brown, somewhat lavender gloss, along with several varieties of rosy pink and the occasional darker copper.  And so I decided that maybe it was time to finish up a few of those before adding to the collection.  A sort of conscious consumerism.  Apologies to the anti-Goopers in the crowd.

And for awhile it worked. 

All was well until the makeup companies came up with what, for me, was a dangerous combination.  Make up, in a box. 

Spring 2014 Box from SDM line Quo

Not new you say, well no, but something about the highly stylistic boxes, and myriad of colours, caught me, and I fell hard for that particular marketing scheme.

Fall 2013 Box from SDM Line Quo

So here’s where I admit a certain proclivity for boxes as well. And apparently eyeshadow.

Urban Decay Electric Palette - but can you blame me!

And now, we have an entirely different problem.  More eye shadow than one person can reasonably use in a certain span of time.  Say the next 10 years.  And so now, again, I try to make a conscious attempt to control myself.

Apparently I already announced this in January, so even a public declaration wasn’t enough to stop me.  But now, especially after a trip to the US where I was able to purchase a few items I cannot here, I have decided to be sterner with myself.  Since the truth of the matter is, really, at the end of the day, there’s no real need for a self imposed embargo - I probably already have whatever it is they’re offering.

the better way?

Sometimes when you follow the same routine everyday you only see the flaws.

Having just returned from Chicago where I opted to take the L into the city from the airport, mostly to save a few dollars on cab fare, I found a lot of familiarity and a few differences but mostly a comfort in knowing the all transit systems (or at least the few I’ve encountered) suffer from the same issues.

The truth about the modern transit system is that it isn't.  And now its summer, - the most volatile season there is - inside. 

Hopefully as people opt out of cars systems will change but for now it a mash of antiquated practices, outdated or nonexistent technology and bureaucratic choices that seem nonsensical.

Let me start by stating that I do not believe that a transit system executive who does not use the system routinely will ever get 'it'. Trying to 'envision' issues from an ivory tower is where so many bad decisions get made.

During summer in Ontario, if you’re lucky it's a sunny but pleasant day.  You relish getting to be in your shirt sleeves and sandals.  Alternatively it’s muggy and humid and the temperature is over 40 Celsius, or it’s raining maniacally.  Then you get on the bus and are stunned by the A/C into the worst thing ever - the summer cold.

I have asked many times over the years if there is a policy for A/C use on the TTC.

I have never received a straight answer.

And if you take transit, you know, there seem to be two settings on a TTC bus.  Off.  And stun.

And here I am thinking a standard setting of 25 Celsius would be great.  Instead I'm carrying a sweater around all summer because it's uncomfortable sitting in a refrigerator.

Why not open a window you ask.  And while that's a splendid idea the new low floor bus designs only have windows that open at the very top, out of reach to me at 5'4" but also mostly only capable of blowing a breeze across the ceiling of the bus.

The alternative is that the A/C isn’t on at all, and now you’re sitting in a human torture device for 45 minutes.

I’m somewhat convinced that not having the A/C on at all, and on a bus with no access to windows, somehow contradicts my basic human rights.

This is the same for the subway as it is for the bus, and the streetcar.  Although on the streetcar there is no A/C, but then again the windows open at face level so at least you can catch a good stiff 40 C breeze if the car is moving.

Don’t think another form of travel will be better.  The plane I took to Chicago was set so cool that when the back of my legs hit the vinyl seat, I jumped.  However it must have been a slightly better quality vinyl than the Greyhound because I wasn’t completely damp from sticking to the seat.  But on that Greyhound bus trip I had to wear my ever present summer sweater because the A/C was set so cold, but was uncomfortably hot when any part of my body touched the seat so the point that I wondered if my clothes were wet when I stood up.  My friend meeting me assured me it wasn’t the case.  Having said that, why vinyl Greyhound?  There must be a better way.

is it a 'video killed the radio star' thing?

Retail is a finicky thing.  Betting the farm on the whims of a fickle buyer and the ever fluctuating trend.  Very few models are bulletproof, and building a reputation is that magic elixir of well planned marketing, a lot of good old work and a generous pinch of magic fairy dust.  So why is it when the now dusty or dysfunctional giants of the past shutter their doors are we so nostalgic about it?

I expect the answer includes some left over bit of fairy dust.  But are we putting too much emphasis on what once was and not evaluating what is?  Or do we only create nostalgia when we no longer shop there?

Over the past few months Toronto lost both the majority of the urban Sear's stores, the legendary Honest Ed's and very shortly mall staple, Jacob.

At first blush it seems like old institutions had had their day. But if this is my argument then why are we watching HBC resurrect itself, arguably, again.

Before Jacob, there was Cotton Ginny, or as we called it at the end, Polyester Ginny, both radically changing a well liked brand to their eventual decline.  Cotton Ginny tried to reach out beyond the basics and cotton, and it wasn’t what their customer wanted.  Jacob closed their casual store front, upped their prices and eradicated that pesky size XL from their offerings.  The quality also significantly deteriorated.  The shop was less and less full; those of us who enjoyed the casual line or needed that XL size had been abandoned.  All the while the sale section got bigger and was the first place many customers headed whenever I was in the store, myself included.  After not shopping there for several season’s I happened in recently and noted that the pricing was still more than I wanted to pay and the store wasn’t full for a weekend day.  Two days later the company announced its bankruptcy. 

Honest Ed's demise, looks from the outside to be the victim of the dollar store phenomenon and a bit of disinterest.  As in, the Mirvish's younger weren't all that interested and got an offer on the property they decided not to refuse.  Granted this is a very oversimplified answer.  But I'm not a customer of theirs, having last graced their door sometime in the mid 90's and being willing to pay just a little more for something of better quality I never went back.  I didn't get the appeal.

Sears Canada is an entirely different kettle of fish. An odd fit for downtown Toronto from the start, they set up shop in Eaton's old Toronto Eaton's Centre location shortly after Eaton's bit their own dust.  (Having worked at Eaton's TEC store in the early 90's I have some insight into what-the-what happened there, but back on point.)  Sears took up trade with modest renovations of Eaton's tired space, essentially used Eaton’s same merchandise floor plan and never really stepped it up.  It was handy if you needed a mattress or to look at vacuums, but the balance of the offerings didn't really appeal to an urban market.  As the mall upgraded their store mix and retail in general did well through the early 2000's Sears just sat there getting dusty and providing a handy hallway between the mall and the subway entrance.

If you're partial to analysis having the physical store be in competition with your catalogue was an odd choice, considering you could pick up your catalogue orders there.  And truthfully in a large centre the idea of paying for the order processing never sat well with me.  If you're partial to rumour there's a lot of accusations of using the division as a corporate type of ATM thereby devaluing the entire thing.  Oh and that stuff about an 'Ayn Rand' business philosophy used by people with 'C's' in their title.  An idea that is so farfetched I'm going to leave it over there rather than to make any sort of sense of it.

Eaton's also failed to innovate & renovate, held an entirely too large management team (people working in the walls as we called them) and a huge shrinkage and theft problem.  Yes that’s my perception, but not all of it is unfounded.

So why are we so upset when these giants fall?  Are we harbouring a nostalgia, which by definition, is no longer the reality?  Did we really think they would pull their socks up and get it sorted out or are we stubbornly hoping things never change?

By way of placing myself into a particular part of the city's history I was a very little girl when I both went to the closing of the Eaton's College Street store and then visited their new TEC location.  Later, I did at first find it weird to go to my old work location and find it was a Sears, but I got over it.  And in both the case of Eaton’s and Sears, by the time they were ready to close I wasn't shopping at either of them.

Perhaps the potential of something new in their place placates our loss?  But the new entrant is another enterprise fraught with uncertainty.  I don't know a single person who was sad to see Zeller's go but then again Target hasn't quite been a direct hit either.  I'll write soon about the anticipation by Canadians of US retailers and how we sometimes have to be careful with our expectations.

So I guess it is nostalgia. I have fond memories of the small town Woolco of the 80's but if I went there now would I be impressed?  I still sorta wonder if Cotton Ginny would have lasted now that so many retailers have decided to carry expanded size lines.  Although we still have some work to do there, but another time, another blog post.  It seems time and exposure to more choices does temper out expectations.

And sometimes, it's just that, the times, they are a changin'.

The now famous Honest Ed Signs

not, never

I spend a great deal of time purposefully distracted. I try to live by (George) Carlin's word and not sweat the petty stuff - and also the reverse because that's important.  In doing that I try not to pay too much attention to politics.  But lately I've paid closer attention to my city and its lack of progress and, perhaps because individual opinion makes the news a lot lately I've been noticing a shift in NIMBY from Not to Never.

The first time I really noticed it was at a party talking about an over-the-weekend closure by the TTC to do work.  The argument was that closure was inconvenient, to which I agreed.  But when I suggested they had tried to inconvenience the fewest people as they could my acquaintance wasn't convinced.  The thing is, there's never a good time to shut down a major downtown subway line in a busy city. But there are less bad times.  And that was what the TTC was striving for.

Admittedly my defense was more appealing 6 months ago before the official motto of the TTC became 'We're Sorry'.  And as much as I still feel my points are valid a week of being late to work for no reason I can see makes me want hear less why and see more action.

The major issue with any sort of progress is that someone is inconvenienced.  This seems to be the modern way.  And unfortunately the result doesn't always work out for the majority.  It is, in as a very ambivalent kind of descriptor, the price or result of democratic decision by committee.

I do not have great examples to share.  But issues that come to mind are the discussion about wind power.  As a province we are taxing our power grid.  We need to make more but everyone wants some sort of 'clean' power.  Provided it's not unsightly, inconvenient, disruptive or nearby.  All elements which are unavoidable. And so we do nothing and the problem is not solved.  And so it goes ad nauseam.

I don't have to fabulous solution.  I have nothing stupendous to say.  Other then think. 

Yes, no one like it when development encroaches on our lives but what is the payoff?  Does the current system work?  Is a bit of pain worth it? 

I don't know.

I can only tell you what I see.  And sometimes the answer is that I can get behind the least bad choice.

Now, how does one make an appointment with Andy Byford?  I have some choice words about the state of my backyard.