Home of Economy News

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Fire of 1987

I’m sure a lot of our customers have a vivid memory when the Grand Forks store burned on December 3, 1987.  The fire started soon after we closed and by the next morning the store was all but gone. 

The state fire marshal and a investigator hired by the insurance company came to the same conclusion that the fire was caused by a cigarette being thrown in a trash can.  When you look at the pictures you find it hard to believe that they could narrow it down like that.  The insurance guy explained it out to me and he did make a compelling case.  They knew what part of the store the fire started.  They combed that area and found the remains of a plastic trash can that was folded in upon itself.  He said that when a fire burns outside of a plastic trash can it falls over.  But when the fire starts inside of it, the can curls in and folds up. 

I’m proud to say that we were open up in the same location by September 19th of the next year.  We had temporary locations all over town almost right away.

I was showing our buyer from the deep South pictures of the aftermath and thought that while many won’t care, it would be interesting for those that were around back then. 

That’s the front of the store.  As you can see it’s pretty well gone.  What’s interesting in that is that under that rubble was a picture of my Grandfather and a plaque he received from the buying group he founded.  Those survived in good shape, somehow, and hang in our conference room today.

Another picture of the front of the store.  As you can see, the Pepsi machine almost survived.

This picture was taken about the same spot as the one above it.  The only thing is the cameraman was facing the other direction.  You can see the shop doors in the back of the picture. 

We had a very large presence by the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks fire departments.  Since we didn’t have a fire alarm in the old building it was too late to do much by the time they got here.

Here’s a picture of the North Entrance.  This entrance opened up in the sporting goods department in the old store.  We had plenty of parking there but the entrance wasn’t real popular with the customers.  When we rebuilt we shifted the building site and had the other entrance on the South Side opening into the Farm and Auto department.  This works much better for the customers.  Our traffic is very nearly split between the two doors except during the Christmas season. 

Here’s a picture of the back of the old store, where we had furniture.  As a reference in the background on the right you can see the two story warehouse that we still have.  The wall to the right was a block wall for the old warehouse behind the store.  That warehouse was heavily damaged.  We had it tore down because it didn’t fit in our plans for a modern store.

A complete loss.  The night of December 3rd was very cold that year.  I think it was the first night that winter where the temperature was below zero. 

The flag still flies over the rubble.  We saved that flag and had it cleaned.  We’ve got it in storage, although I don’t expect we’ll fly it again.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Stars and Stripes Flyer

You can also see it, in larger form on our regular website.

Home of Economy’s Stars and Stripes flyer has officially hit the streets today.  I say officially because there are a couple exceptions to a certain date of execution.

The first thing that constrains us is that not all of the publications that we want to be in are daily newspapers.  Some of the towns were in have a shopper that is stronger for advertising than the newspaper itself.  When that happens you have to change your insertion date. 

So in some markets, like Devils Lake, we are out on Monday.  Since that’s the case we have to be ready in all stores for the flyer.  That leads us to the second exception is that we’ve decided since we should spread the flyer around before it goes out in the newspaper.

That leads to the question of why we’ve picked Wednesday to be the day we release the flyer.  Traditionally this was a very strong day for the newspaper as the grocery stores advertised on Wednesdays.  They seem to have changed that but we haven’t. 

Our biggest publication, the Grand Forks Herald, is stronger on the weekends.  We haven’t switched to that because we have so many rural customers.  We’re afraid that if we drop our ad on a Saturday people from out of town might not get it before they make their own trip to town.  We figure that we should give the customer a couple days to plan.

Of course newspapers aren’t what they used to be.  We are adjusting by telling the customers that we have a flyer out in radio and TV advertising and that we have plenty of in store copies for them to look over.

It’s a challenging advertising environment.  Of course we’re lucky that we can even advertise on television.  Most of our peers are in markets that are too expensive to buy television ads.  You can advertise your image and some large categories in television advertising but nothing sells like a flyer. 

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Questions and Comments

The Home of Economy News site has been up since early in the year.  It’s taken a while but I think I’ve gotten used to posting everyday.  My adviser in these things says that is what it takes to get people to come to a site like this.  I’d like to get a couple more people here at H of E to help post here as well, but nobody’s volunteered.

I think the site is doing well, although the traffic hasn’t built as much as I’d like.  My adviser says to give it time.  I am putting it in some of our advertising because I think we do have a site that’s worth reading.  I’m trying to promote the business of course, but I’m also trying to discuss why we do things and what we’ve learned.

One of the things I’d like to be able to do is to answer questions and comments here.  We do have comments allowed on the site although they are moderated which means they have to be approved.  They’re moderated for a few reasons.  We do get a fair bit of spam already. 

Maybe you have something we do that bothers you and you don’t understand why?  Maybe I won’t understand why.  While nobody enjoys taking complaints it is an healthy thing to do (provided it’s a rational complaint.  Some people really do just complain to complain.)

I guess I’m not going to have abusive comments but I think I should publish and answer uncomfortable comments.  I also can take question via email which would be at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  (If you can’t link on it you can type (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) in your email program. 

Anyway we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Friday, June 05, 2009

The Friday Special!  Back To Jeans

For Friday’s special this week, I’m running our $5 off any pair of Jeans (one per customer.)

I know I ran this a couple weeks ago, but it seems like a very good offer.  Plus I didn’t want to have to wake up our advertising guy to make me another one.

The real reason is that I missed a day in the office when I ran to Jamestown on Wednesday.  Missing a day really seems to set me back on my office work.  As much as you enjoy making the trip I pay for it for a week or so. 

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Another Excellent Month

A lot of people are still asking how we’re doing in the current economic climate.  The short answer is that we’re doing very well.  We were up 7% in the month of May. 

I don’t have all of the detail I’d normally have since our main sales reporting module is still updating like I talked about earlier this week.  But we do know that five of our six stores are up.  The Williston store was down a bit because the oil activity is lower this year.  They do seem to be picking up again with the price of oil coming up. 

I hate to see the price of gas going up, but at least in North Dakota it’s good for some of our customers.  Even so I think rising gas prices are bad for H of E because so many more of our customers have less money to spend. 

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

A Giant Automatic Parts Washer

Here’s something you’d probably never guess that we sell.  This is a gigantic automatic parts washer.  It’s made by our pressure washer company Alkota.

So what you do is stick anything you want clean in that basket there up to and including an engine block and let it go to work.  It’s got a large reservoir full of cleaning solvent.  The machine heats up the solvent to make it clean better.  The factory guy that delivered it said you’ll let it go for a couple hours to get it really spic and span.

We’ve been an Alkota dealer for over 12 years.  They make a great hot water pressure washer and we sell a ton of them.  Well actually we have an expert, Donnie Johnson,  with years and years of experience selling them that does the work. 

We also repair and refurbish pressure washers.  Donnie will take in a trade of your old machine.

This is the first time he’s sold one of these parts washers.  I didn’t even know they had them. 

Here’s another picture with one of their stationary hot water pressure washers in the foreground.

Alkota is made and headquartered out of South Dakota.  It’s always nice to deal with neighbors. 

Our Internet Was Down Yesterday

Yesterday our internet was down for a good part of the day.  Not only that we were running statements for our charge accounts so we couldn’t use our “back office” computer system. 

Finally we started a purge of some old data from 2003 and 2004 on our sales reporting module on Friday.  That’s an enormous job and it’s still running. 

The most important thing is that all of our stores are operating without any glitches.  Some systems nowdays require a constant connection with your head office.  Ours doesn’t so as far as the customers could tell yesterday things were normal.

But with everything down yesterday our buyers pretty much had their hands tied.  They didn’t have anything they could do.  I came in late in the morning because of a family commitment.  I puttered around a bit but after a couple hours I was wondering why I was here if I couldn’t do anything. 

The systems today are fantastic.  We have information at our fingertips that would have taken hours and hours to get in the old days.  But that comes with a price.  We’ve become totally dependent on keeping the systems up. 

Friday, May 29, 2009

Friday’s Special

Today’s special is $5 off of any purchase of $25 or more.

This has a limit of one per person. 

Hope you have a great weekend.

Dewalt Wrap

Yesterday I highlighted the Farnam “wrap” that was included with our flyer that we inserted in most of the local publications on Wednesday.  This flyer was very unusual because it included not one but two wraps.

The second was a piece produced by Dewalt Power tools.  We’ve carried DeWalt since they introduced their line of high quality power tools.  We’ve always done ok with it, but we’ve found that giving a bit more attention to advertising and floor displays has really helped us sell their tools. 

We’ve improved how we’re doing with them quite a bit and we’re are seeing the results.  Our sales are up 25% over the first five months last year. 

Of course there’s still room for us to improve.  That’s the beauty of retail.  There’s always something you can do better on.  Everyday is a great day to come to work for that reason. 

Of course Home of Economy offers the Guaranteed Lowest Price on DeWalt tools.  That’s making us more of a destination all the time even though you can buy DeWalt in a number of places. 

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Farnam Wrap Included in the Mid States Flyer

Yesterday we put out the Mid States Summer Flyer.  That flyer also contained this “wrap” produced and paid for by the Farnam company.  Farham makes a ton of animal care products. 

Horse care is the number one item we sell from Farnam.  We sell a lot of sprays to repel flies and mosquitoes from horses.  I started learning about horses 12 years ago when I met my wife who has pretty much always been around horses.  I was surprised to learn how much trouble horses have with common flies and even mosquitoes.  They can really make them miserable.

We’ve also got bio spot from Farnam which is a very affordable long lasting control for wood ticks on your dog and cats.  I would never go without having treated our dogs for ticks anymore.  It’s made the early summer a LOT more pleasant.

We also get our fly traps from Farnam.  If you live on a farm you’ve got to have these to control the dang things.

This is a coupon based sale.  Don’t worry you can pick up a flyer in the store to take advantage of them.  Just in case you can’t make them out the coupons cover.

Ivermectin paste. 
Fly masks.
Equisect fly repellent.
Just one bit mouse poison.
Weight builder for horses.
Endure Sweat resistant fly spray.
Bio Spot for Dogs and Cats.
D-Worm tablets for tapeworm.
Stable fly trap or ez trap.
Adams plus flea and tick collar.
Golden Malrim
And Fly Traps.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The “Mid States” Summer Flyer is Out and In the Stores

The “Mid States” Summer Flyer is out.  Most of our flyers and other advertising we produce in house.  However our buying group, Mid States Distributing do produce a few flyers that we’ve found very strong for us.  The benefit to us is that we don’t have to pay for the printing, just the insertion in the publications.

We don’t control where everything goes in the flyer but we can add in a limited number of items.  We find that to be a good thing because sometimes an item we’re forced to carry turns out to be a real winner for us.

We’ve got plenty of extra copies of the flyer in the store.  So if you don’t get it you can pick it up in the store.

Page one is focusing on animals and pets. 

Page two we have lawn and garden, grills and bird feeding.  We are doing great in all three categories.

Page three we have horse and animal food, dog food and some animal care products.

On Page four we have Jeans and boots, categories that all Mid States members (including ourselves I hope) excel in.

Page five is devoted to tools and home improvement items.  We’ve got some pumps and shopvacs in here.  Hopefully we don’t have any big summer rainstorms, but if we do we’re ready to help you with sale pricing on emergency goods. 

One page 6 we have a selection of ag items.  One category of note is the gasoline service pumps from Tuthill.  That’s become one of our top ten vendors.  We keep selling more and more of them every year. 

Page 7 has a very nice selection of Ertl farm toys.  Ertl is a great line.  We’re known far and wide for having the best selection of toy tractors in all of our markets.

Finally we’re to page 8.  Like most all of our flyers we’ve got tires and batteries covered here.  We’ve also got a nice selection of Science Diet dog and cat food on this page as well.  This is a good back page because Tires, Batteries, Science Diet, Wolverine Boots and DeWalt tools are all on our list of top 15 vendors by sales volume. 

Monday, May 25, 2009

We Are Number One In Weber Grills

Several times a month we sit around and brainstorm on lines that we aren’t doing as well as we should with.  One of these meetings got us thinking about our grill business.  We’ve always sold them but I’ve never been happy with how we’ve done it.  I haven’t been happy with our sales either.

We sell the best, most known grill in the market, Weber Grills.  We’ve sold them since forever.  But we weren’t doing it right.  Weber is stronger than ever for us because the big box stores are having their own grills made over in China for them.  They’ve dropped the name brand in order to boost their margins.  I suppose that works for a lot of people, but there’s plenty of customers that want the quality they know they get with Weber.

Since then we’ve really upgraded our displays.  We’ve got the point of sale signage to make it work.  The picture above is Grand Forks but we should have the same basic set up in all of the stores (except we’re working on Jamestown maybe even getting it done this week.)

We’re also working on having the grill accessories including sauces that you want on hand. 

So far our new focus on grills seems to be working.  For the year we’re up 130%.  I think if the spring hadn’t been so poor we’d be a lot further than this. 

One interesting thing the old timers told me.  Back before propane grills grew to dominate we used to be running down to Kingsford’s charcoal factory with two trucks at a time. 

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Home of Economy’s Guarenteed Lowest Price

If you happen to find a lower price at a competitor we’ll match their price.  We will match their price whether or not it’s advertised.  If available bring their ad in with you.

1. The item must be exactly the same item with the same features.  Some of our competitors sell a cut down item that looks just like our full-featured product.
2. The item must be in stock at the competitor.  Some retailers use an item as a loss leader but don’t stock enough to satisfy demand.
3. The competitor must be in our trade area. 
4. We will match Internet prices (including shipping).  In nearly all cases we’re already lower-priced than the “discount” on-line retailers.  In the case of an on-line price match print the ordering page with the shipping information, bring it in and leave with the product.  No wait and you get Home of Economy’s great service after the sale.
5. We reserve the right to limit quantities.
6. We do not match competitors’ gimmick sales, free goods, closeout prices, rebates, and financing options.

Home of Economy, your local store for Price, Service, Selection, and Quality.

The above is the rules that we put out explaining the our Guaranteed Lowest Price program.  Basically it’s a price match policy. 

We’ve found this to be enormously successful to regain our image as a low priced store.  Many don’t know that Home of Economy was one of the first discounters in the country.  In fact we are THE FIRST store to offer low prices direct to the farmer.  At the time “Fair Trade” laws prohibited a company from offering discount prices.  (Is that crazy or what?)  My grandfather figured out a way to offer fleet discounts to farmers and stay within the law.

Over time we didn’t protect our position in the public’s minds as being a low priced store.  We instituted this program about five years ago to regain it.

Occasionally in meetings we’ll discuss the rare instances where a customer asks for the lower price they can get elsewhere.  Often the customer is mistaken because the items aren’t the same or the competitor is advertising in an unethical manner.  One example of that is when they advertise an item at a very low price knowing they’ll run out of the product.  We all run out of sale items; but we do what we can to minimize that as much as possible. 

The other thing we find is that consumers are misled by other retailers asking manufacturers to cheapen their product.  We’ll be selling the product the customers want and look bad when the other guys are offering a similar but inferior product.  This gives us the chance to explain what the differences are in the product and justify the price differential.

The bottom line is that we are happy as heck to deliver the Guaranteed Lowest Price.  We sure don’t want to send OUR customers elsewhere to do their shopping. 

That doesn’t mean that we don’t have to check what’s going in the other stores when someone asks.  We have to make sure that we aren’t being taken advantage of. 

Friday, May 22, 2009

Introducing the Friday Super Saver!

I’m excited to introduce a new feature of Home of Economy News.  We are beginning to offer a GREAT deal on this site to reward our readers.

This weeks special is a $5 off any pair of jeans.  We do a great job at jeans with Carhartt, Wrangler, Lee, Levi and more.  They are all offered the Guaranteed Lowest Price.

It’s our intention to have a special (or specials) every week to build our traffic. 

Print out the coupon and bring it in and save big on the best selection of the best brands of jeans.  One per customer please. 

To print out use the print feature in your web browser.  I’d recommend you chose to print only page 1. 

Memorial Day Furniture Sale

I posted the Memorial Weekend Furniture Sale on Wednesday.  Today the flyer for the weekend came out in the Grand Forks Herald.

I’ve got all four pages blown up here so you can see it. 

As you can see it’s a pretty good sale.  We’re featuring the Amish made furniture like always.  This line has really taken off for us.  Right now it’s about 30% of our entire furniture business.  I’m thinking that it will be at least half of our business within a couple years.

On the back page we have Homecrest Furniture.  Unfortunately we’re sold out of that red checked piece and can’t get anymore.  Even though that’s been our best seller for the last two years Homecrest doesn’t have it available anymore.  We’re really unhappy with that because it really brightened up the department.

Also on the back page we have Restonic mattresses.  We’re having a very good year in mattresses this year because we’ve been a bit more aggressive about pointing out our advantages of price, quality and expertise in the store.

We’ve only got one upholstered recliner from Lane furniture in the flyer, but our entire department including all upholstered furniture is on sale for the weekend.  Lane is the top brand when it comes to reclining furniture for a reason.  They have very good quality and it’s priced right as well. 

I suppose some might wonder why we started advertising on TV two days before the flyer was dropped.  That’s because TV advertising takes a while to gain awareness with most people.  People don’t act the first time they see a commercial.  On the other hand a printed flyer is most effective the day a person sees it.  If they set it down until “next week” they might not do anything with it at all. 

And of course running the television creates some interest when a customer sees our flyer in the paper.