No Fake Pricing, No Fake Discounts

Open letter sent to The Arizona Republic, December 27, 2002

We read that, despite huge pricing discounts, this was the worst retail season since 1970. As third generation merchants, and with 80 years experience between the two of us, we offer a word of advice to our colleagues in retail: Give up your suicidal ways of fake pricing and fake discounts.

You've dug your own graves by offering your merchandise for exorbitant "normal" prices and then creating the expectation in your customers that "incredible blow-out sales" are just around the corner. Your customers know you are running a scam and they feel like fools because they have no choice but to play into your charade. Your business model is dishonest and it degrades your value in the community (not to mention shooting yourself in the foot).

In our business, we don't fret over what our competition is doing because we've used the same highly successful pricing philosophy for all these years: always offer fantastic prices and never -- not even once -- run those fake day-after-the-last-holiday sales. Our customers love us for it and, even more important, trust us. They know they can come in any time and get great prices, period.