By Bill Scott Are you ready to solve a mystery? Come on now! You might get something out of it; but at the least, you’ll have some fun. This is a puzzle to actually make you question whether or not you really know what’s going on in your business, OR, are you just falling for…
Manage Your Inventory
By Bill Scott All of the things I’ve talked about so far are important. But none of them matter—unless you can get control of your inventory. I will never be able to understand why any sane individual would invest $250,000 to $1 million in a convenience store that returns only 2% profit. Maybe I’m just…
May-June 2017 Comparisons
Top seven items continue their reign for second month. By Bill Scott I was somewhat shocked when I first loaded the results from my research for May and June. Looking at the table, I first thought I had mistakenly loaded the same file from May to accumulate the June figures, as there were no changes…
Retail is Changing Faster Than the Speed of Thought
By Bill Scott IT’S A FACT! Everyone does not need a university degree. In fact, pushing our kids into colleges could be a huge mistake. Not only that. In some cases, higher education can backfire on you. Sometimes I think education focuses too much on the past, and the past doesn’t last as long as…
I HAVE A PLAN!
By Bill Scott “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go first and then seek to win.” – Sun Tzu – The Art of War MY PLAN may not be as good as your plan. But at the least, it IS a plan. A plan established after four decades of…
Brick & Mortar Mentality In A Virtual World
By Bill Scott There’s a scene in the movie OPM with Danny DeVito that is one my favorite scenes among all the movies I have seen. In the movie, DeVito (Larry the Liquidator) makes a speech about getting an increasing share of a shrinking market and how it inevitably leads to a business “going down…
The Melee At Dickerson’s Stop & Go
By Bill Scott Joe and I stared in amazement as the drama played out right before our eyes. Normally, the little convenience store where Barrett Williams’ bought his daily pack of Marlboro’s was calm and serene; but Marcus Ledbetter had mentioned something about Barrett’s kids, and Barrett made disparaging remarks about Marcus’ hunting dogs, and the…
The Most Effective Way of Stopping Employee Theft
By Bill Scott I am in complete agreement with Karen Page’s excellent contribution, “Loss Prevention in Retail – What can you do about it?” In addition to Karen’s excellent points, I also would like to add that using the advantage of a liberal dose of paranoia can lessen employee theft even more, if they feel…
March/April 2016 Comparison Are In
By Bill Scott All I can say is WOW! Looks like a Black & Mild Special hit a home run with their recent addition of BLACK & MILD three packs. These cigarillos seem to have hit the convenience store market by storm, jumping up 563 positions to No. 94 on our Top 100 list. Black…
Are Convenience Stores The Next Retail Bonanza?
By Bill Scott Convenience stores make excellent investments, IF you choose a good location. They are immune to online marketing, they provide the consumer with instant gratification, and the average driver makes themselves available almost daily, because every driver needs gas and passes by the same convenience stores frequently. Sound interesting? Well not so fast.…