It’s SOP for high-end sunglass stores to sell floor stock before under/back-stock. Apart from anything else, the really good stores may have as many as 1000 distinct items (ie., 300-500 models available in 1-3 colors each). The glasses that are on display are likely to constitute a third or more of the store’s entire stock.
However, perhaps 20 SKUs make up about 75% of sales- Oakley’s best-selling model for 2006 was the Half Jacket in black/black iridium, which outsells any other individual SKU by a factor of at least ten.
So, if you’re buying a hot seller, they probably have as many as 30 “fresh” ones in the back. If you’re buying a niche model (or color), chances are what you see is what they’ve got. If they discounted every “display” item they’d be discounting probably every third pair sold.
Anyway, a good store will require its sales associates to inspect the glasses at time of purchase, and hand them to you for your inspection. Then you initial a little blurb on your receipt which says, “these were nice and unscratched when I bought them, and I understand I can’t return them if they become scratched.”
If they don’t check for scratches, go somewhere else. But don’t be surprised when they sell you the floor model too.
That’s a joke, son. A flag waver. You’re built too low. The fast ones go over your head. Ya got a hole in your glove. I keep pitchin’ ‘em and you keep missin’ 'em. Ya gotta keep your eye on the ball. Eye. Ball. I almost had a gag, son. Joke, that is.
By the manufacturer, who presumably knows how to handle their product without damaging it. Some even fire several rounds and include the target. But based on the lack of scratching I’ve seen, it appears they don’t spin the cylinders and then flick them shut like you sometimes see done in the movies.
And I realize car dealers have to move the vehicles on and off trucks and trains and around the lot and etc.
I’ll still buy the gun (or car, or sunglasses) if that’s what I really want and they don’t have any “in the back”, providing there’s no obvious damage. But I’d rather have one that still has that “new gun” smell.
I’ve been extremely happy with prescription glasses and prescription sunglasses purchased from Zenni Optical. Their prices maybe aren’t Hut-level low, but they are low enough that I can afford to have prescription glasses and sunglasses in several different frame styles. If you can’t find a frame there you like, you may not find them as satisfactory, of course.
I’ve had ladies at the beauty supply try to sell me hairpieces that have been sitting out as display models. I always tell them I want a new one and they don’t give me any grief. That tells me that most people don’t care if they get a new one, since they automatically hand you that one. I’m definitely not putting anything in my hair that’s been sitting out in the store for every woman to try on. Ick.
