In my area, there is a upscale-discount department store (an oxymoron?!) called Century 21. They sell all sorts of name brand merchandise at very low prices compared to reg. or even discounted retail.
They buy manufacturer overages and seconds.
I found the following brands of ophthalmic merchandise there at prices that were either at or very below our regular cost, such as:
Calvin Klein sunglasses for $7.99!
Alain Mikli frames & sunglasses for $19.99!
Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Dior, Polo sunglasses for $14.99!
Corinne mcCormack chains & cases 25% below our cost!
Versace sunglasses for $59.99!
I have confronted all the above vendors for an explanation, and have rec'd the following repsonses:
1. We know, and you'll have to accept it!
2. What do you want us to do, eat the poorer selling items? We can't afford to do that!
3. Our "other" sunglass divsion is responsible for this, not the three "O" divison.
I think we should call it optical bulimia:
For a long time, the combination of long profit dollars on frames and the ability to dispose of poor selling inventory this way has created a situation where the companies do not make intelligent product decisions. The simply gorge themselves on countless new product intros and then throw up later through dumping so that they can continue to binge on new product intros.
I think it is disgusting, and I object to helping them do it by buying the product at the full price to begin with.
What do you all think?
Barry Santini
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