Blog #5

CVS in Greensboro on Spring Garden Street falls under the category of a retail site location. CVS has direct competition with Walgreen's -another convenience store that offers similar products. The parking for CVS is fine, but it is sometimes dangerous to turn into the parking lot when stuck in traffic because you have to cross a busy street. I think CVS has an okay location, however for some reason more students choose Walgreen's because of its more convenient and safe location which is located on the corner of Spring Garden directly across from UNCG, so therefore students may choose Walgreen's because they can walk to it easier. I personally choose CVS most of the time because it offers pretty much the same products as Walgreen's except one can find cheaper or more affordable prices at CVS. Maybe this price difference is due to the fact that Walgreen's offers more than CVS so it is some what more upscale when shopping for every day items. CVS has a lot more locations than Walgreen's, so maybe even though Walgreen's is advertised a lot as being an "affordable store that offers a more variety of products," the store locations are sometimes rare depending on the location or city one is shopping in.

Blog #4

Linens 'n things' has been losing money for a couple of years now, and just recently over these past months the company had difficulty keeping up with payments to its lenders and vendors. Linens 'n things' will have closed 120 stores by this year, will have left 470 stores that they sell their products in, 2,500 employees will lose their job. Before Linens 'n things' filed for bankruptcy they urged all their customers who had gift cards to use them immediately. However, having a gift card was a nice plus to those loyal customers, in addition to all of the store closing sales that occurred for about a month. Consumers having less money to spend was creating problems for the nation’s retailers. Linens 'n things' filing for bankruptcy is one of the first major retailers to go under during this slowing and weakening economy. In efforts to save the company, Linens 'n things' had reduced inventory purchases and store staffing to reduce its costs. However, the competition of other house good retailers, and the lack of money that consumers are willing to pay all contributed to the fall of the company. Linens 'n things' filing for bankruptcy is just one of many companies that have and will continue to struggle in this harsh economy.

two sources:
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/05/02/by-the-numbers-linens-n-things-bankruptcy-filing/
http://smartcanucks.ca/linens-n-things-to-file-for-bankruptcy-use-your-gift-cards-asap/