This news shouldn’t be a surprise due to the lingering economic malaise driving people to live more frugally and the acquisition of small community drug stores by huge chains to capture the baby boomer market. It was only a matter of time and painful attrition.

A report on mainstreet.com by Colliers International shows that the four largest national chains – Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar  and 99 Cents Only stores currently operate a combined 21,500 locations throughout the country. That is more stores than that of the nation’s three biggest drugstore chains of Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid who collectively operate 19,700 locations.

It’s no secret that shifting demographics and market forces have been eroding the local drug mart for many years. Finding one owned and operated by a family is getting as rare as finding a small downtown hardware store.

And, with every supermarket chain having a pharmacy inside filling your prescription while you shop, it’s no wonder this trend has come to fruition. Sadly, the days of personally knowing your pharmacist and shopping at his family’s store have faded and are not likely to reappear anytime soon.

However, if you need to buy cheap stuff for a buck…now were talking!

Vintage Photo of a Meijer Store

Our team has worked with Meijer for many years — back when they were called “Meijer Thrifty Acres” — on a wide range of projects ranging from new store setups to simple product resets. It has been our pleasure to meet Fred at the new store openings and to experience his easy, approachable manner. You could tell that he really cared about his customers, employees and vendors.

Meijer’s has played a significant role in the evolution of our company having worked with them for over two decades. We will remember him as a true innovator in the retail merchandising industry who pioneered the superstore concept and now employs over 60,000 of people in communities throughout the Midwest. He was one of a kind and will greatly be missed.

If you ever visit Grand Rapids, be sure to visit the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park and see the legacy he has left all of us.

To learn more about this merchandising genius, read this article in Progressive Grocer magazine.

Scan this code now!

No doubt you have seen them – those crazy, broken squares patterns that are showing up on everything from magazines, ads, product packaging, POP signs and even tattoos – the QR Code or Quick Response Code.

According to a ComScore survey, about 6.2% of 14 million mobile phone users have scanned a quick response on their mobile device during the month of June.

From 14,452 users surveyed, 58% of them scanned a code at home, while 39.4% and 24.5% of respondents have scanned codes at a retail store or grocery store, respectively. As far as what they scanned, 49.4% said they scanned a QR or bar code found in a newspaper or magazine, while 35.3% scanned product packaging.

The bottom line is that a consumer’s research behavior is now a on-demand event. It’s not hard to find QR Codes all over the retail merchandising environment. More clever ways and new technology are sure to follow this growing trend that will have an impact on the shopping experience.

Engaging a consumer at point of purchase and turning them into a shopper of your product is the ultimate goal no matter where they are on the path to purchase. Simple, well place QR Codes are an easy, and inexpensive, choice as an in-store merchandising that gives the customer what they want.

See more QR Code study details here

According to a report from Forrester Research, 42% of all in-store retail sales are influenced by consumer’s activity online. Kanter Media’s Online Shopper Intelligence Study found that 79% of consumers research products on the web a majority of the time before shopping in the store.

Google has even anointed this phenomenon with new moniker: The Zero Moment of Truth. This is an evolutionary addition from Proctor and Gamble’s doctrine of the First Moment of Truth which is defined as the moment a shopper decides to purchase a product at the store shelf. With the rapid adoption of personal digital technology, the line between when a person transforms from consumer to a shopper is even more blurred. Is it in the store or in front of their computer?

Continue to the article here

Our top fixture install team began a new store setup for one of the three major office supply chains. (shoot us a comment and we’ll tell you which one) The nine man team will install over 30 pallets of racks, fixtures, tables and counters in less than four days. When completed, the store can be fully merchandised and ready for customers in a few weeks.

Not all new store setup or store remodels are alike. There are always unseen circumstances and the occasional missing parts. So having a team that can think on their feet and respond to issues as they arise is critical to meet the demands of tight deadlines and exacting design specifications.

When it comes to hiring a merchandising services team, don’t compromise on the quality of the team who will execute the project. There is always a company that has a low bid; but can they provide quality and experience people. Inferior execution is an expensive compromise in retail merchandising that always comes back to bite you in an unpleasant place.

Check back soon to see the slideshow of the entire fixture install project.