Looking at this picture, it suddenly strikes me as slightly odd that Fred Meyer traditionally
didn't put books and magazines together with the electronics, since that department is always where their other media items (movies, music, etc.) are. Thinking about other stores, I believe Target typically puts all media types in roughly the same area, while Walmart doesn't, so there's no real consistency; still, I think I like this setup better, since it's closer to what a true bookstore/media store would have. Looking at this picture specifically, it appears that they kept the same shelves from before the remodel; recent Fred Meyer remodels typically replace them, even if the department isn't moving, so this is a bit surprising.
This does give me some memories of supermarkets back when they had movie rental departments. That said, Kroger tended to be a bit weaker in that area than Randall's (pre-Safeway) and Albertsons in that regard. The 1990s-built Krogers were a little bit better in that regard than the old Greenhouse stores and such.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can see that. I'm not sure what our local Kroger brands did for that, but locally, Albertsons' movie rental departments were way more impressive than Safeway's -- though Safeway kept theirs around much longer than Albertsons, all the way up to the merger I believe.
DeleteI think Walmart has been putting their books adjacent to electronics lately -- at least, I'm pretty sure that's the case in most of the stores I've been in. Not only does it make sense from a merchandising perspective (as you said), I imagine it helps them fill space from the dwindling selection of other media. But yeah, Walmart did historically used to keep their books separate (near or at the front), and that's still the case at a handful of stores...
ReplyDeleteInteresting -- I have seen some Walmarts like that, but I didn't realize it was a standard change they're making!
DeleteYup. And by "lately" too I mean like the last decade, lol.
DeleteWell... it's probably been at least that long since I shopped at Walmart on a regular basis!
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