Archive for May, 2009

Jeff Jenkins - Owner of Leonards New England & Cindy Hayes Interior Designer on the cover of SCT Magazine

Retail consultant and blogger Ted Hurlbut sees a world of opportunity coming for small retailers. And he says they can thank Best Buy, Costco and Wal-Mart for their good fortune.

“We are seeing a diverging retail sector,” said Hurlbut, whose firm, Hurlbut & Associates, is based in Foxboro, Mass. “We are seeing an increasingly smaller number of increasingly larger retailers providing core basics to customers. We are seeing an increasing commoditization of products in everything from flat-screen TVs to underwear. “

This concentration on cost-driven mass retailing creates big opportunities for small retailers that can satisfy consumers’ passions by selling unique products, he says. “It may be high-performance bicycles; it could be hunting and fishing stores that are outside the areas served by a superstore.”

Or it could be old beds. One of Hurlbut’s clients, Leonards New England, in

Jeff Jenkins (Right), Owner of Leonards New England, with Consultant Ted Hurlbut. Jenkins counts the Obama White House among his customers.

Seekonk, Mass., is tapping a lucrative niche by restoring and selling antique beds. “They take old, beaten-down antique beds, refinish and resize them, and retail them out,” he said. Prices range from $4,000 to $20,000; one recent customer is the Obama White House.

“There are opportunities, as there always are and always have been,” he said. “The opportunity is for retailers to take retailing back to a highly personal level, to engage the customer’s passions. It’s almost a revolutionary concept in a world where everything is cost-driven and commoditized.

“The race to the bottom in corporate retailing is only going to intensify. It’s the only thing they know. They don’t know how to return to a personal style of retailing. They only know how to compete on price.”

Hazelett, Curt. “In Praise of Mom – And – Pops: Local Stores Offer Vital Differentiation And Color To Malls.” SCT Shopping Centers Today May 2009.134