# Arrogant clueless store owner meets brick wall of reality with face
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 13, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527 "2010-11-13T03:48:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/81 "2010-11-15T02:25:27Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> One saying with various degrees of accuracy is that the rich don’t spend money.
You don’t _get_ rich by spending.
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### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/82 "2010-11-15T03:09:49Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#):
>
> My town had one dumpy cafe open only for breakfast and lunch, very limited menu, no table service – get your Coke out of the fridge and pick up your meal from the kitchen counter. It stayed open for 40+ years.
>
> When the owner/cook retired, a local couple totally remodeled the place – looks great – but decided country-style food isn’t good for you, so the menu leaned toward salads and cold sandwiches, with an occasional “special”. They hired one person to cook and serve but who was more interested in talking on her phone and gossiping with the customers. Call-in orders from farmers weren’t ready on time and it took an hour for the lunch crowd to get their food.
>
> The only cafe in town, and it closed after four months. I wonder if the owners have a clue what went wrong.
We have a diner with a similar story. The building was originally a Hardee’s, but when the owner wanted to sell, the buyer remodeled it and turned it into a standard diner with big windows that face east. First mistake. (The rising sun shines right into the building. Not so good for the breakfast clientele, who would prefer to eat and read the paper without the glaring sun.)
The diner has since changed hands I don’t know how many times. Each owner has tried to make a go of it, but they keep making the same mistakes. They’re trying to cater to the senior housing complex across the street and to the car show crowd. The diner is too far from the fairgrounds to get that business, and the seniors at the housing complex typically don’t eat out. So each iteration of this diner has had the same shitty diner food because whoever the current set of owners happens to be won’t try anything new.
If it were me, I’d make it more of a student- and family-friendly coffeehouse-type of place. Lots of table space for gaming; healthier, locally-sourced and kid-friendly food; reasonable prices, that sort of thing. But it’s not me, so it’s just me talking.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/83 "2010-11-15T03:40:01Z")
And then, of course, the old folks from across the street complain about the atmosphere.
Not that they’re spending much money there, but it is still some small amount of business.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/84 "2010-11-15T12:56:58Z")
> [@zoid](#):
>
> You don’t _get_ rich by spending.
One of my business profs used to say "you want the rich and stupid market. Unfortunately, its a very small market and a lot of people go after it. But if you can be successful in “rich and stupid’ you’ve got it made.”
We had a place here that didn’t last long. It was a wine shop that sold maybe 60 different bottles of wine - grouped by “flavor” - so “Fruity and Bright” or “Tart and Light” - at prices approximately twice what the wine shop with 600 different bottles of wine half a mile away sold the same labels for. I’m not sure that even in a good economy there are that many people who go looking for “Rich and Deep” wines and don’t just go pick up a Cab for $12-20 with an animal on the bottle. People who knew wine went to a better organized place with better selection for less money. People who didn’t know wine didn’t spend much time in a place that screamed “wine snob.”
However, I don’t know that the owners made disparaging comments about their potential customers when they closed.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/85 "2010-11-15T13:21:32Z")
I have seen eggs for £8 each but to be fair, they were ostrich eggs.
I do try to support small local businesses and have spent slightly more for products on occasion to show that support, but “selling things I want to buy” is kind of the minimum criterion for my patronage.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/86 "2010-11-15T13:31:48Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> As for “free range” chickens-I doubt very much that having a chicken that eats bugs and carrion adds anything to the flavor-more important is having a chicken that hasn’t been killed and frozen and kept for several weeks.
I think you’re confusing chickens with vultures.
Free range vultures…mmmmm…
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/87 "2010-11-15T15:28:21Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> I do try to support small local businesses and have spent slightly more for products on occasion to show that support, but “selling things I want to buy” is kind of the minimum criterion for my patronage.
Fascist.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/88 "2010-11-15T15:30:52Z")
> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> Fascist.
Hey, I reserve the right to boycott any shop which does not offer anything I want or need.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/89 "2010-11-15T15:59:28Z")
We had an interesting, somewhat-related experience this weekend. We went to a new restaurant for dinner on Saturday which has a large market attached to it (Sunterra in the Keynote building for any Calgarians reading). The dinner was mediocre at best, in spite of having pretensions to high-end food, but the dark chocolate berry cheesecake was heavenly. We’ll be going far out of our way for that dessert again, but not for the food. That restaurant has now entered our minds as, “Go here for dessert.” Since we’ll be going there for dessert, we’ll give them at least one more try to make a decent meal, but at least they’ll have us back in the door. If it had all been mediocre, not only would we have not come back as it is a long way for us to drive, but we would give it a bad review to everyone who asks.
The bottom line for us and a whole lot of people is “value.” If you have high prices, you better be delivering something to justify that price. I’ll pay $6.99 for an incredible piece of cheesecake; I won’t pay $10.99 for a barely edible bison burger.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/90 "2010-11-15T16:06:00Z")
From [L.A. Story.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102250/quotes)
Mr. Perdue, Maitre D’ at L’Idiot: "You think with a financial statement like this you can have the duck?
You may have the chick-en."
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/91 "2010-11-15T16:14:45Z")
> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> Fascist.
No no no. He’s not a Fascist. He’s a Narcissist. It’s all about HIM, and what HE WANTS. Never a thought for what the poor shopkeeper needs to sell.
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### Author:  [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/92 "2010-11-15T16:29:49Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#):
>
> The manager is a grade A jackass.
From the comments in this thread, it seems the grade A jackass of a manager was trying to market himself at the price of a grade AA jumbo jackass.
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### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/93 "2010-11-15T16:40:45Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> It was bland beyond measure. WHY NO ONIONS OR GARLIC!?!
Surely everybody knows that onions and garlic are the basis for any civilised cooking?
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/94 "2010-11-15T23:17:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> True, but as you said the store manager here didn’t understand how this works. She seemed to feel she could just charge a lot of money and that would create prestige for the product. It doesn’t work like that. You have to establish the prestige of your product first and then you can charge a premium price for it. But she skipped that step. Her customers and the general public had no reason to think her products were more prestigous than the products at other stores. Nobody was going to be impressed because you bought your eggs at her store.
Sure. I was just picking nits and showing off. Isn’t that what we do here? 😉
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/95 "2010-11-16T12:39:46Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> Do small groceries have a high infant mortality rate, or is that more a property of small restaurants? (Or am I off in the weeds and it’s a property of all small businesses, regardless of what they’re selling?)
Small retail businesses which survive infancy often get branches, the first half-year of a store or bar sees a lot of deaths.
I do believe in all that “do local” stuff, but this year I did need two beds and a sofa. The bed I got from a large supermarket chain took a week to arrive, and part of the delay was because it was more convenient for me to receive on Friday afternoon than at another time. The other bed and the sofa? Ordered from a local store on July 6th, got them the last week of September. Going to IKEA? I would have had them all the next day 😛 Supporting local businesses is all warm-fuzzy and stuff, but they need to be able to sell me what I need at prices that don’t feel like I’m trading a kidney for that item, and deliver it before I start shaving.
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/96 "2010-11-16T13:12:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> True, but as you said the store manager here didn’t understand how this works. She seemed to feel she could just charge a lot of money and that would create prestige for the product. It doesn’t work like that.
It’s been a long time since I studied economics, but I dimly recall something about “Veblen Goods”, which are things which are prestigious _because_ they’re expensive, not necessarily because they’re actually any good (although usually they are).
I see an element of it at work sometimes: We have a particular laptop that’s about $200 overpriced considering its specifications (and we have other laptops for less money with better specifications) but a disturbing number of customers honestly seem to believe that the expensive laptop is “better” in some unquantifiable way (it isn’t) because it’s more expensive.
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### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/97 "2010-11-16T13:21:50Z")
> [@Chimera](#):
>
> And then, of course, the old folks from across the street complain about the atmosphere.
> Not that they’re spending much money there, but it is still some small amount of business.
That small amount of business isn’t enough to sustain it.
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### Author:  [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/98 "2010-11-16T13:22:28Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> On a more sensible note, and I’ve said this before, I want to support small local businesses. There’s a butcher’s shop near me. I like to buy my meat there - it’s more expensive but better quality and it’s an independent store in a world of chains. But he closes his store at 5.30 every evening! I work until 5.30 at the very earliest, sometimes later than that. I’m doing my best to shop there, but meet me halfway, Mr Butcher. I admire your traditionalism, but the world has changed. I’d like to help you survive in this new world, but you really need to acknowledge that not everyone these days has maid or is a housewife, and nobody works 9-5 anymore. If his store goes under, I’ll be wistful but unsurprised.
I have this same complaint about the local mechanic and my favorite cleaners. I don’t begrudge them for wanting to go home @ 5 like everyone else, but perhaps keeping a lackey there until 7 so I can pick up my damn car instead of leaving my cc#. And I had to stop going to the cleaners because I work every day he’s open, which his hours are my hours, not including travel time.
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/99 "2010-11-16T13:28:55Z")
> [@Shecky](#):
>
> I have this same complaint about the local mechanic and my favorite cleaners. I don’t begrudge them for wanting to go home @ 5 like everyone else, but perhaps keeping a lackey there until 7 so I can pick up my damn car instead of leaving my cc#. And I had to stop going to the cleaners because I work every day he’s open, which his hours are my hours, not including travel time.
I’ve long wondered (and never really been able to understand) how businesses continue to function during 9-5 hours only when most of their customers are also working 9-5 and thus unable to come to the business to do their shopping. And I really wonder how they managed Back In The Day when “Shift Work” and “Flex Time” and the like was far less common…
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrogant-clueless-store-owner-meets-brick-wall-of-reality-with-face/560527/100 "2010-11-16T13:50:48Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#):
>
> I’ve long wondered (and never really been able to understand) how businesses continue to function during 9-5 hours only when most of their customers are also working 9-5 and thus unable to come to the business to do their shopping. And I really wonder how they managed Back In The Day when “Shift Work” and “Flex Time” and the like was far less common…
Go far enough Back in the Day and many households were single-income, which usually meant that the lady of the house did the food shopping while hubby was at work. If there are still enough of these in the neighbourhood then they don’t worry about the people trying to shop post-work on the assumption that the costs of staying open (hiring more staff, paying overtime, whatever) outweigh the added revenue.
But it is bloody annoying, yes.
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