150 Suncoast, Sam Goody stores closing in 2004

[Dolemite]

Dolemite how was California?

You know Santa Monica's basically my backyard.

No shit? I knew I should have made that 'going to cali' thread sooner...turns out there's a lot of TNLers there that I could have met up with.

Anyway, I had a great time. One thing, though- Santa Monica has a shitload of homeless people wandering around. At night, they're the only thinmg on the streets- no cars, no regular people, just the homeless wandering about like in Night of the Living Dead or something. I'll post more about my trip in my cali thread, thanks for asking.

[bloodyarts]

You need to get off that Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton/Lewis Farrakahn soapbox you're standing on and use your common sense. When I worked for Media Play the only areas of the music section that were allowed to house unsecured merchendise were the Clasical, New Age, and Country CD sections. Why? Because those stood less of a chance of walking out the door. We had limited resources and we couldn't afford to buy security cases for all of the CDs in the store (then go off and buy replacements for the ones that were broken by theives.) We had to choose to take the hit on loosing perhaps 2 Mozart and one Travis Tritt CD over the possibility of loosing a combined 40 Tupac and Pink CDs. It's simple math. You place the extra security measures on the product that needs it. I'm sorry a bunch of kids are walking into stores and stealing Eminem CDs but that's what they're doing, and all your talk of racism isn't going to change that. I'll admit that putting them behind a counter where no one can see them is a little extreme, as SG has a histry of going to outlandish extremes, but it's their store and it's their loss when some kid steals product, so they're allowed to go to that extreme if they deem it neccessary.

It's common sense being able to figure out what kind of message a vendor is sending to a particular group of people when they place certain "urban" items behind a counter where customers are denied access. Oh wait, you agreed with that. So what are you going on about?

I swore off Sam Goody because the rap CDs were behind a counter and I or anyone else interested in that genre couldn't pick and choose freely as with the other genres.

Since no Best Buy, Circuit City, Virgin or Tower Records store I've ever been in practices this, I have to assume it's just Sam Goody's policy, whether or not theft of those particular items actually happened or not. Media Play can do what they want. I've no issue with them since I've never been to one. But now that you mention it, since they treat a particular group of people in a similar manner to Sam Goody, then I don't want to shop there either.

[ChaoofNee]

Right the fuck on. The Sam Goody in my mall closed and I did little happy dance. Their CDs were $10 more than anywhere else, at least. I never shopped there.

And Suncoast is pretty bad too.

You mean the Sunrise store? I hated that one.
I completely agree with all the price bitching. Rediculous. If Best Buy had a better selection, though, I wouldn't be worried about this.

kabuki: Where do you order from?

[Diff-chan]

It's common sense being able to figure out what kind of message a vendor is sending to a particular group of people when they place certain "urban" items behind a counter where customers are denied access. Oh wait, you agreed with that. So what are you going on about?

Yea, its sending the message that a lot of "urban" albums are being lifted, by who? Who the fuck knows, who the fuck cares. But the store gotta protect its assets and if a lot of urban albums are being lifted then precautions need to be taken.

Now, if someone at Sam Goody sent an email saying "you know, black people love rap albums, and black people love to steal, so we gotta secure those albums before they start stealing that shit!"... then we'd have a problem. A big problem. But if the store was getting a LOT of shrink from the rap section, what the fuck do you want them to do? Keep them out and let them keep getting stolen in the name of politicial correctness? Fuck that shit.

[bloodyarts]

Yea, its sending the message that a lot of "urban" albums are being lifted, by who? Who the fuck knows, who the fuck cares. But the store gotta protect its assets and if a lot of urban albums are being lifted then precautions need to be taken.

I don't have a problem with precautions being taken, that's just common sense. Maybe employees need to be more wary when people are hanging out in that area too long. Maybe an extra security camera can be placed in that area.

Placing the merchandise out of the reach of the customer is extreme. If they're getting robbed to such a degree that they have to damned near hide the fucking discs, then maybe they oughtta question their security in general. Check everybody's bags on the way out. Place (working) sensors at the store exits. Simply speaking, there are other options which don't alienate the customer in such a way, and those options seem to work fine at Best Buy and other large retail chains.

Besides, it's not like Sam Goody had the "urban" CDs spread about in their own little section, then suddenly a rash of robberies hit the joint and they were forced to relocate the CDs. It's been that way since DAY ONE. So who the fuck was robbing their shit from behind the counter?

And, I don't equate "urban" with "Black".

[Darkweaver]

Damn, I was just trying to get a job at the Suncoast in the mall. Maybe that'll stay open, however.

I agree with their hefty prices. I went there to buy The Ring on VHS for a friend of mine only about two months or so ago and they charged me about $23.00 bucks for it - more than it costs then the DVD version at most places. Fortunately though, I found The Crucible - a movie I've been looking for there for $6.99.

This wasn't mentioned, but Suncoast is actually owned by Best Buy.

When I worked at BB, I actually did ask why Suncoast's prices are so ass high. I was told because BB sells alot of dvd's so cheap, they use Suncoast's high prices as a way to still make a profit.

I guess it's kicking them in the ass, though.

Interesting. I applied at both Best Buy and Suncoast and the two use completely different hiring applications. The Suncoast application said Sam Goody/Musicland/Suncoast and was a short paper application. The Best Buy one is online and has one of those annoyingly long apps with a 200 or so question personality test - the same one's Hollywood Video/Blockbuster uses.

In my experience, usually stores owned by the same company use the same kind of hiring application.

[BarryWeen]

See... Suncoast needs to get its act together now.. I worked for them, and the reason why there prices were higher than Best Buys was, for some reason, Best Buy kept them that way. Best Buy owned them, and wanted them to be a "specialty" store... but, it is ridiculous. Yes, the Replay club would be cool, if the DVD's were at Best Buy's prices... the only way Suncoast will last now is if they realize that they have to change there pricing...

Oh, and btw.. Best Buy sold Musicland cause Musicland didnt make money... only Suncoast out of all the Musicland stores (which I believe is whittled down to Sam Goody and Suncoast.. but there may be some On Cue's left...) Made any money.. the others kept loosing... Frankly... the company sucks.

[gamevet]

No shit? I knew I should have made that 'going to cali' thread sooner...turns out there's a lot of TNLers there that I could have met up with.

Anyway, I had a great time. One thing, though- Santa Monica has a shitload of homeless people wandering around. At night, they're the only thinmg on the streets- no cars, no regular people, just the homeless wandering about like in Night of the Living Dead or something. I'll post more about my trip in my cali thread, thanks for asking.

I lived in Phoenix for about 3 years. They had a shitload of homeless people. The rumor was, that LA used to give Greyhound tickets to vagrants, that would sent them to Pheonix. A great way to deal with thier problems, but I sure hated having to deal with them.

[Shine]

I don't have a problem with precautions being taken, that's just common sense. Maybe employees need to be more wary when people are hanging out in that area too long. Maybe an extra security camera can be placed in that area.

Placing the merchandise out of the reach of the customer is extreme. If they're getting robbed to such a degree that they have to damned near hide the fucking discs, then maybe they oughtta question their security in general. Check everybody's bags on the way out. Place (working) sensors at the store exits. Simply speaking, there are other options which don't alienate the customer in such a way, and those options seem to work fine at Best Buy and other large retail chains.

Besides, it's not like Sam Goody had the "urban" CDs spread about in their own little section, then suddenly a rash of robberies hit the joint and they were forced to relocate the CDs. It's been that way since DAY ONE. So who the fuck was robbing their shit from behind the counter?

And, I don't equate "urban" with "Black".

Obviously, from the ignorance displayed in your statements, you have never worked retail. Security cameras do shit, and you can't keep an eye on every section of the store or even one section all the time. Just accept that there is a good reason they are behind the counter and move on.

[bloodyarts]

Obviously, from the ignorance displayed in your statements, you have never worked retail. Security cameras do shit, and you can't keep an eye on every section of the store or even one section all the time. Just accept that there is a good reason they are behind the counter and move on.

Shows how much you know. I worked at Sears several summers ago, and the security cameras there picked up quite a few offenders, in almost EVERY section of the store. So it IS possible to keep an eye on every section of the store. That's the entire purpose of the security cameras. If a big-ass store like Sears can get it together, what the hell is Sam Goody's problem? Like I said earlier, their entire security initiative should be called into question.

Sam Goody's (at least that particular branch) policy regarding it's "urban" music is bullshit and that's that.