Posted on 06/26/2012 6:45:24 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
Each year, 24/7 Wall St. identifies 10 important American brands that we predict are going to disappear within a year. This year’s list reflects the brutally competitive nature of certain industries and the reason why companies cannot afford to fall behind in efficiency, innovation or financing...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Too bad Useless Airways isn’t on that list.
Too bad about Talbots. I like their clothes, classic and well made. Actually I am surprized to see them on the list, the store where I shop always has a good number of shoppers whenever I am in there.
AA will be bought up by someone. Wonder if its possible a non-US airline could buy them? I’d watch LAN, Chile and LAN’s President is a smart and unfearing airline businessman.
If the new owners clean house on the f_ _k you customer service attitude, they will do well.
Salon started with a lot of fanfare and borrowed money and quickly went into the tank. I look forward to the day they are shuttered.
Funny you should mention that. I think the current product they have is one of the best products on the market (I like the mens deoderant too).
They now have a couple of bug repelents that work great and smell good. One of them also is a sun screen. A couple of weekends ago, I took the kids camping, fishing and hiking. We didn't come back with a single bug bite or tick. I used it on the dog too. She ran in the weeds and swam in the river all weekend and had no flees or ticks afterwards (she did get a good bath when we got home and I was surprised to not find anything on her).
I think the product must have improved. My wife sells a lot of it. It's kind of expensive compared to other products. But I do swear by it now.
I’ve been a Talbot’s shopper most of my adult life. About 4 years ago, they got a new creative director who “updated the look.” Their stuff looks too much like everyone else’s. I used to find 7 or 8 outfits a year and save money for 2 or 3 plus I loved their shoes.
They finally had a cute pair or sandals for the first time in a long time and it sold out in March.
Their suiting is no where close to what it used to be and they focus way to much on casual wear. They also went for the boob belt look in the catalog.
Talbots doesn’t surprise me.
They have been on a self destruct mode for about 3 years.
They close successful stores and open discount stores in the same area without the current selections.
Their on line sales and computer system is a joke. We have not been able to complete an order for two years. My wife has had to use the phone to complete the order. Half the time, they can’t find my wife’s acct. inspite of several orders.
On a recent visit to our grandkids, I got an email about a across the board 30 % discount, and we stopped by the one where our family lives.
As usual no one was in the store besides the mgr and a clerk. The mgr had lost her sense of humor, and when I asked how business was, she semi snarled, “Okay”!
My wife bought a couple of items, and while she was in the changing room, I heard the manager ask the clerk if she sold anything the day before. The clerk said yes after the Mgr had gone home. The Mgr checked and said, “A $40 item on sale?” The clerk said yes.
This store is in a new shopping center where the average age of the women near by is probably less than 40. Their concept of dressing up is Hollister or Old Navy without built in holes in the pants. Most of the other stores did a good pre marketing job and cater what my wife calls faddy cheap with high mark up.
Avon still does business with my wife the same way as 30-40 years ago. My wife gets a catalog mailed by the rep. My wife phones in an order to the rep. The rep orders it from where ever. A couple of weeks my wife may get what she ordered if the product hasn’t been discontinued. I will tell her to heavy up on the orders of the products she likes.
American was a terrible airline when I quit flying after TSA started mugging passengers after 9/11.
Suzuki........... While I was in Europe I saw many Suzuki 2 door jeep type vehicles. They made 2 door GM Trackers/Suzuki Vitaras in Canada and then the 2 door model disappeared after 2002 (Here). Now they are at a premium (The little ones), and difficult to find as most owners don’t want to give them up. They didn’t stop making them, newer models were all over the place in Europe. I’d buy one if they still made them. Some of the sedan cars they made were sub contracted to Daewoo I think that may have killed it.
Salon falls into the how to cut your throat in business, po the conservative customers and drive them away.
George 76 and I identified that losing liberal marketing strategy a long time ago.
Those, who use the PO and turn away the Conservatives business model are falling rapidly into the liberal cesspool of history.
You are talking about Skin So Soft. I didn’t find the smell objectionable at all. Put a little in the bath water and soak awhile and it was a great moisterizer. I only learned of its mosquito repellent abilities many years later.
My mother-in-law sold it in a small Louisisna community and did quite well.
Uh, I gotta agree on this one without hesitation. What kind of crappy list would even include currant tv as important? Wish they could put algore on the list to disappear as well but as huge as he’s gotten it’ll probably be impossible for him to disappear. Too bad for us. Don’t think I’d really miss him very much.
Helping keep mankind warm for 65 years.
Didn’t this guy write in 2010 that Sears would be defunct by the end of 2011?
Now he includes U.S. Suzuki (automotive) on the list. Suzuki does fine in the Pacific NW and I expect will continue to do so. It may become a geographic niche brand. Yes, I’ve owned two Suzuki SUVs in a row and would buy a third. U.S. Suzuki (motorcycles) will continue in any case.
There are thousands on eBay for next to nothing.
Avon isn't going away as a brand. New owners and new management, probably.
But it has a cult-like following, both customers and sales people. My wife is one of them. She makes a pittance for what she does. There is seldom a campaign in which she doesn't produce more than $200 in sales. By the time she buys the bags, deals with the returns and all the other crap, I'd be surprised if she nets more than about $25 or $30. But she enjoys the socialization and the circle of friends she makes doing it, so I don't begrudge her. There are far worse hobbies and it gets her exercise.
I'm sure there are thousands more like her. You don't just abandon a brand which gives you that type of following and revenue stream unless the new management and owners are really, really stupid.
The RM-Z450 (offroad/MX) and Hayabusa (200 mph onroad), among others, continue to sound good but they go past really quick..
Ditto on all accounts. We should form a husband support group. lol.
Do you have an "office" or "room" in your house cluttered with her "business" stuff? Or am I the only one? :o)
I loved Talbots when I was practicing law. It was classic clothing for women, not over-age girls.
I don’t do eBay................
The new one calls her at least once a month and sent her a $25 gas card to express appreciation for consistency in making sales. I'm not sure if that is just local or is something which is indicative of company wide change in policy. Cult recruits aren't easy to find, LOL!
Now, I'd like to get a district manager which drives by the homes of every Avon sales person in their district at least once every three months, collects their returns and processes their credits.
What about the “Groupon” sham? It’s not an important or relevant business, but it was hyped up to be worth a whole bunch of money and it has been relegated to the shadows of commerce.
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