German town issues own coins to lure shoppers away from big chain stores

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...859440,00.html

On 21 Jan 2006 06:54:23 -0800, "stonej"
stated:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...859440,00.html

Those are pretty cool. I was amazed at how insanely packed the malls
were in Germany. It made the crows at the Mall of America durng
Christmas season look quaint.

Meanwhile here in trhe frozen North they are building outdoor
"California" style malls.

Jorg Lueke wrote:

On 21 Jan 2006 06:54:23 -0800, "stonej"
stated:


http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...859440,00.html


Those are pretty cool. I was amazed at how insanely packed the malls
were in Germany. It made the crows at the Mall of America durng
Christmas season look quaint.

Denser populations, less space to shop. I don't think those coins will
do any good. The city I once lived in tried it and it failed miserably.
People flock to malls because of parking, close proximity of all the
shops they wish to visit and often lower prices.

Meanwhile here in trhe frozen North they are building outdoor
"California" style malls.

There's many malls out here in California, which style are they talking
about? The Del Monte Shopping center is a nuisance.

stonej wrote:

Meanwhile here in trhe frozen North they are building outdoor
"California" style malls.


The traditional enclosed mall is losing
favor in the US.

The trend in retailing is now the outdoor
mall with more trendy and upscale shops,
parking and landscaping in the middle
area with stores and restaurants around the perimeter and a limited
number of stores in the center area.


Yeah. I hate em. I'll take the enclosed mall, thanks.

Meanwhile here in trhe frozen North they are building outdoor
"California" style malls.

The traditional enclosed mall is losing
favor in the US.

The trend in retailing is now the outdoor
mall with more trendy and upscale shops,
parking and landscaping in the middle
area with stores and restaurants around the perimeter and a limited
number of stores in the center area.

People flock to malls because of parking, close proximity of all the
shops they wish to visit and often lower prices.

None of the malls I have been to have "often lower prices." The rent
in those places can bankrupt an ordinary business. That's why you
never see coin dealers in malls (one exception - Jack Beymer).

Regards,
Tom

winwin wrote:

People flock to malls because of parking, close proximity of all the
shops they wish to visit and often lower prices.

None of the malls I have been to have "often lower prices." The rent
in those places can bankrupt an ordinary business. That's why you
never see coin dealers in malls (one exception - Jack Beymer).

Regards,
Tom


Anchor stores, like Target, Sears and Penneys often beat the Mom & Pop
local shops in old downtowns. I'll agree with you on Boutique's, which
typically specialize in spendy trendy fashions. What makes a store work
in a mall, though is usually volume.

The way it usually works at your average enclosed mall (and probably
the outdoor ones as well) is they charge a rent and the stores also
have to give a percentage of the store profits to the mall owner as
well as part of the arrangement. The stores have to meet these %
requirements of the store profits which fall into a certain dollar
range. If they fail to meet the requirements the store can close if
the mall owner loses patience or decides another
store will do better. This is one reason that there seems to be such
a high turnover of stores at your average mall - they fail to meet the
percentage requirements of the store profits equaling X amount of money
demanded by the mall owner.

Jorg Lueke wrote:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...859440,00.html

Those are pretty cool. I was amazed at how insanely packed the malls
were in Germany. It made the crows at the Mall of America durng
Christmas season look quaint.

Keep in mind that in Germany you cannot do "wekend shopping" like you
can in most parts of the US. Most stores here in DE have to close at 20h
(8 pm) Mon-Sat by law, and stay closed all day on Sundays. Smaller
stores, or those in small towns, will often close much earlier.

(Which is why many gas stations in Germany look like small supermarkets,
and why train stations and airports are frequented by "passengers" that
have no intention to take a train or get a flight g.)

As for the "Barni" tokens, well, they are nice. But the idea of local
money has been tried out many times before, and has more or less failed
so far. Here in Düsseldorf we have a local "currency" called Rheingold -
all paper, but the "notes" are designed quite nicely.
http://www.rheingoldregio.de/index.php?seite=infos

The concept of the Barni is a slightly different one (they are used as
"rewards" for downtown shoppers) but still, the problem is that, if you
have a shopping center/mall outside the inner city, with free parking,
low prices and one store next to the other, people may rather go there.

Christian

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 12:59:08 +0100, lid (Christian
Feldhaus) wrote:

Jorg Lueke wrote:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...859440,00.html

Those are pretty cool. I was amazed at how insanely packed the malls
were in Germany. It made the crows at the Mall of America durng
Christmas season look quaint.

Keep in mind that in Germany you cannot do "wekend shopping" like you
can in most parts of the US. Most stores here in DE have to close at 20h
(8 pm) Mon-Sat by law, and stay closed all day on Sundays. Smaller
stores, or those in small towns, will often close much earlier.

(Which is why many gas stations in Germany look like small supermarkets,
and why train stations and airports are frequented by "passengers" that
have no intention to take a train or get a flight g.)

As for the "Barni" tokens, well, they are nice. But the idea of local
money has been tried out many times before, and has more or less failed
so far. Here in Düsseldorf we have a local "currency" called Rheingold -
all paper, but the "notes" are designed quite nicely.
http://www.rheingoldregio.de/index.php?seite=infos

The concept of the Barni is a slightly different one (they are used as
"rewards" for downtown shoppers) but still, the problem is that, if you
have a shopping center/mall outside the inner city, with free parking,
low prices and one store next to the other, people may rather go there.

Now those are pretty cool! I like the 10R best. Did I understand right
that it's 2R = 1€?

The idea of the Barni is not so bad -- coupons tend to bring in
business, and that's basically what these seem to be. Except they're a
lot nicer than the small bits of slick newsprint US coupons are
printed on. :/

As far as malls go, free parking and low prices aren't everything. If
you have to wander around the parking lot looking for a space and end
up wading through jammed store only to find what you really came for
is sold out and now you have to wait a half hour to pay for a load of
cheap Chinese garbage that would be a bargain at half the price -- the
Mom-n-Pop shops start looking a lot better! Many places in the US have
free parking even in the center of town. The "low" prices touted
above really aren't so low as all that. You get what you pay for!

Padraic.

Christian

la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu
ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.