Home of Economy News

Thursday, December 31, 2009

It’s the Home of Economy New Years Sale

Save 15% on nearly everything on New Years Eve and New Years Day.  Even off of sale prices.  We opened a bit late today because on New Years Eve and New Years Day we’re running 15% off of nearly everything in the store. 

We started doing this a few years ago.  What we were finding that it wasn’t worth being here on these days unless we gave the customers a very good reason to come in.  While we might be losing some money, any sale is better than none.

We do have some exclusions that we more or less stick with during percent off sales.  Those exceptions are:

Ammunition
National Brand Oil
DeWalt and Makita power tools
Gift Cards
Power Ice Drills
T-Posts
Salt
Gun Safes
Electronic Fishing Aids (Depth Finders)
Honda Generators
Trailers

No Prior Sales Limited to Stock on Hand. No Special Orders. No transfers.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Our 2004 Carhartt Anchor Ad

Yesterday I posted our great new Carhartt ad.  Back in 2004 we started a news anchor campaign to advertise Carhartt.

That ad campaign was very successful.  Before that our sales were very strong.  Now our sales are about 4 times what they were then.

We’ve worked hard to link the Home of Economy brand with the Carhartt Brand.  I think these ads were quite successful.  I’ve heard of people around town asking people in other businesses where “the Carhartt Store” is when they wanted us. 

Music to my ears.

Here’s the first (or close to the first) of our anchor ads just to let you know why we’re running ads like this.  Of course this ad is very old and the prices and offer aren’t in effect. 

Aaron there did a great job.  Unfortunately he moved out of the area so we can’t use him anymore.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

New Carhartt Ad!

Here’s our new Carhartt Video.  We had a lot of fun with this one. 

A few years ago we ran some distinctive “anchor” ads.  Those seemed to really work well for us.  Since the guy that was our anchor has left the advertising agency we needed to do something different. 

This was our idea for now.  I think that it’s an ad that will get noticed.  If you don’t get noticed the ad isn’t worth a darn. 

I thought the gimmick that we’re all wearing Carhartt in the board room was a neat gag to show how fired up we are about Carhartt products.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Grand Forks Snow Pictures

Here’s some pictures of the Grand Forks Store this morning.  Our snow removal guys still haven’t got everything cleaned up.  You can see that it was quite a job. 

But don’t let the snow piles scare you.  We were 100% open as of yesterday at the opening of business.  I think the team did great doing what they could on Saturday to get what they could open open as soon as possible. 

My Great-Uncle Dwayne had a picture in his office in the old store of the 1966 blizzard from the highway.  That picture was taken apparently from the highway of the front of the store.  If memory serves the snow in that blizzard was as high as the highest snow in these pictures although it seems that the snow in ‘66 was that high all the way across the parking lot.  Of course that picture was destroyed in the 1987 fire. 

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Grand Forks, Devils Lake Stores Are Open

I don’t like to bump people’s elbow’s when they’re doing their best.  I haven’t talked to the store managers lately but we’re showing sales in all of the stores except for Minot.

Grand Forks to Open Up at Noon

I just heard from our associate store manager that we will be able to open up in Grand Forks at noon.  He’s been struggling to open the lot. 

Right now we don’t have anyone in there to answer the phone, but we have two cashiers coming around then. 

The Grafton manager is in the store.  He opened a bit late as he had 3 feet of snow around his pickup.  Not many people are out.

The Great Christmas Snow Storm

We take it very seriously to be open on snow days because we sell so much emergency gear.  But when our crew can’t make it in then the customers can’t make it in either.

As of right now we have some people trying to clear out enough snow in the Grand Forks store so that we can open sometime today.  As of right now we’re not open, but we will later if we can.

The Minot streets are pretty much shut down and we aren’t open there but we’ll try around noon. 

The Jamestown store is open for now with the manager and one other.  Our Williston store is open.  I couldn’t get through to anyone in Devils Lake or Grafton.

I’ll update this as I find more information. 

We certainly don’t want anyone stranded (or getting stuck making the problem worse) trying to get to work.  On the other hand we have to balance that out with doing the best we can for our customers. 

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Cut Your Dog’s Nails Safely

Now you can cut your dog’s nails safely without worrying about cutting them too short.  I bought one of these clippers because twice in my life I’ve cut the dog’s nails too short.  It’s awful.  It takes forever them to stop bleeding and I felt terrible that I did something to hurt them.

I’d gotten where I was going way to long and cutting them way too long to avoid any danger.

With this clipper you get a red light if you’re going to cut into where there’s blood. 

We’ve only got these in Grand Forks for now to see how they sell.  They are a bit expensive. 

You can learn more about them at their website:  http://deluxe.quickfinderclipper.com/

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Save Your Life With a Pie-Plate Candle

The Winter Storm Season is here!  This 14 wick candle in a tin foil pie plate can save your life.  Keep one or two in your car so that if you get stranded in a winter storm you will have one reliable source of heat.  These make a great Christmas Gift for all of your kith and kin.  They’ll appreciate it right away as they put it in their trunk.  If they get stranded they really appreciate it.

I’m offering a H of E News Special Price on it.  Regularly it’s $14.99, but if you print this out and bring it in we’ll sell them for $12.99. 

I’ve not used one in a car before but I have had reason to use it.  In 1997 I was going to move into my house on the 5th of April.  Those of us that were around back then will remember that as the viscious Blizzard Hannah.  I didn’t get moved in.  When I got to the house my large upstairs bathroom was frozen up.  I put two of these candles on a board and let them go to work.  Within 90 minutes the two had warmed the room up to 50 degrees.  The pipes melted with no damage.

You do have to be careful as they do get pretty hot.  Don’t leave them unattended.  We had one customer upset back in 1997 who was upset as they put a candle on their coffee table and the heat ruined the finish.  All I can say to that is that common sense isn’t that common.

That was the year of the blizzards and we sold a ton of them.  What really set it off was a lady in South Dakota got stranded in her car and it took days and days for the authorities to find her as he cell phone battery got weaker and weaker.  I think we sold about ten times what we normally sell in a year.  I don’t see that.  If you’re driving in North Dakota you need to have one of these before the storms hit. 

These products are made in Williston North Dakota so you’re helping your neighbor as well. 

They’re 14.99 regularly

  Make sure you get them before the storms.  Oops, I don’t know what I was thinking.  They aren’t on sale right now, but I made them an H of E News special.  Print this page out and we’ll sell them to you for $12.99 until the end of the year.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Fiestaware Sales Up 50% in 4th Quarter 2009

Our Fiestaware sales are running 50% up for the 2009 fourth quarter.  I had a strategy meeting over the summer with the buyer and we decided that this was a line that we could take leadership on in the market.  It has worked out real well. 

What we decided to do was to make the commitment to have it in every store.  Of course we can’t yet have the full selection in every store.  That gives us the opportunity to give Fiestaware a prominent place in our advertising.  Since it’s not one of our top lines overall we have to advertise it in our flyers rather than run electronic advertising on it. 

We’ve been doing that and keeping it stocked up in the stores.  We’ve identified it as a priority in our housewares department for display.  It seems to have worked. 

Fiestaware has been around a long time.  My grandmother had a nice collection that she passed on to my sister. 

The history of Fiestaware is interesting. The Fiesta Red made in the 30’s and 40’s had a small amount of radioactive uranium added to it as a pigment.  After World War Two the US government confiscated all of the manufacturers stock of pigment. 

Friday, December 18, 2009

Ice Fishing Ad

Ice Fishing Season is HERE!  Make sure you buy your supplies from Home of Economy.

We do a good business in ice fishing.  The problem with it is it comes all at once.  All of the lakes seem to get strong enough at about the same time and everyone’s buying all of their gear at the same time. 

The one thing people come back for time after time is bait.  We do a great job with bait in our Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Minot stores.  It’s not the most profitable line for us but it does bring in people.  I guess we could get cheap and count out the minnows but that’d take our sales people away from more important thing and we’d probably sell less bait.  I don’t see much profit in doing it that way.

Home of Economy’s Salvation Army Day

Yesterday was the Salvation Army Day at Home of Economy.  The Home of Economy Team rang the bell all day.  (The best was my 10 year old daughter who sang carols as well.)  Maybe I’m biased.

Anyway I just spoke to Major Wilson and we raised $863 for them.  I think last year it was just over $500.  Home of Economy, the corporation, is matching that up to the $500 so it was a good day for the Army.

Next Monday WDAZ is coming here to have their Salvation Army event.  They’ll be doing their evening news broadcast from here even.  That’s pretty exciting. 

We have a group of Team Members that put on an auction for everyone here.  This year they raised over $600.  The Home of Economy Team is matching what WDAZ raises up to that $600. 

The Salvation Army is a great organization that does what needs to be done.  I’m proud of everyone that helped them raise so much needed money.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The BAG SALE IS ON

From now until Christmas you can save 16% off of everything regular priced that fits into our big bag.  This is a great opportunity to make your own sale.

Some things like ammunition are excepted to this sale.  Other items include national brand oil, power tools, gift cards, salt, electronic fish aids.  No prior sales are allowed on this promotion.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Uber Deerhide Gloves

One of the hottest lines we have is Uber Deerskin Gloves.  We’re getting their made in Minnesota gloves rather than the made in China ones our competition is getting.  We think the made in Minnesota ones are better quality.

Last year we had a terrific increase in sales over 2007.  That was because we were doing a better job AND the 2008 winter started a lot earlier.  This year we’re four percent ahead even though November was much milder than last year.

Stock on hand is getting thin.  We’ve got more ordered but if you want to get these premium deerskin gloves at a great price for Christmas you want to get them soon. 

Friday, December 11, 2009

Great Gifts Flyer!

Our Great Gifts Flyer came out this week.  You can see the entire thing in a largish PDF here. 

Or you can use the link at the top of the page to go to our main website and get it yourself.  You might want to do that because we have another flyer running right now as well.  That flyer has a double wide page of gifts under $10, another double wide page of gifts under $20 and yet another of gift ideas under $50. 

We don’t go for the fancy foo foo gifts here at Home of Economy.  Well that might not be exactly true, we do have a great Fighting Sioux purse that costs almost $200.  Still our strength is stuff you need at the Guaranteed Lowest Price!