Yesterday April 24, 2008 between 3:15 PM and 5:45 PM I visited six Stereo and Home Theater stores on Woodward Ave in the Royal Oak area.
So, okay everyone was at work and the stores are in between old and new stock.............still it was sad and scary.
Two of the stores had one client just leaving as I was walking in, the others were all empty except for the life sucked out of them lonely and depressed sales people.
Some explanation was given as; the walk-in's just don't happen much anymore, people hardly have time to push the on-button on their systems let alone go shopping door to door, plus the public at large perceive they are going to get a better value at a Big-Box store.
Most H.T. places said the bulk of their business was installation in people's homes and you could tell little from one's "storefront" business or their lack of.
The single "two channel only" store had ton's of used equipment on consignment littering their store, I had never seen it like that before - ever.
On May 4th, if you see me at the Karma show (see Regional Get Togethers), tap me on the shoulder if I start depressing everyone with talk about the Michigan economy.
So, okay everyone was at work and the stores are in between old and new stock.............still it was sad and scary.
Two of the stores had one client just leaving as I was walking in, the others were all empty except for the life sucked out of them lonely and depressed sales people.
Some explanation was given as; the walk-in's just don't happen much anymore, people hardly have time to push the on-button on their systems let alone go shopping door to door, plus the public at large perceive they are going to get a better value at a Big-Box store.
Most H.T. places said the bulk of their business was installation in people's homes and you could tell little from one's "storefront" business or their lack of.
The single "two channel only" store had ton's of used equipment on consignment littering their store, I had never seen it like that before - ever.
On May 4th, if you see me at the Karma show (see Regional Get Togethers), tap me on the shoulder if I start depressing everyone with talk about the Michigan economy.
