Tedium Highlight in Retail quirks: The weirdness of the bin store. 

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Tag results: Retail quirks

The Bargain Bin Evolves

Thoughts on modern commerce from going to a bin store. It’s a place where e-commerce returns go to die.

Self-Checkout Game Theory

There have been a lot of takes in recent years slagging on self-checkout as a failed experiment or an expensive waste. I may lose my cool-kid card for saying this, but: I’m actually a fan.

Phar Too Ambitious

The story of Phar-Mor, the pharmacy chain that decided that just being a pharmacy chain wasn’t interesting enough and tried to beat Walmart.

The Halloween-Industrial Complex

After the 2008 recession, commercial real estate firms had a ton of empty buildings. Fortunately, Halloween stores were ready to fill the gap—for a month.

Network Effects

For more than a decade, it's been a common sight in U.S. airports to see newsstand-style shops named for cable news networks. Why, of all things, this idea?

Switching Labels

Hey, shoplifters: Trying to pull a fast one on a retail outlet by changing the price tags or barcodes is serious business, even when Legos are involved.

We Were Selling Computers All Wrong

Big-box stores have never really been a great fit for selling computers, and a big reason for that is that retailers didn't initially know how to sell them.

A Little off the Top

The average barber shop or hair salon for some reason has a major aversion to credit cards despite their wide use. Blame the economics of being a barber.

I'd Buy That for a Dollar

Don't be fooled by the names of chains like Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, or Five Below. These companies, like all dollar stores, are big business.

Everything Must Go

When a retailer fails—whether at a single location or company-wide—their first instinct is often to discount the crap nobody wanted to buy. Here's why.
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