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5&10 bucks trend |
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By Carolyn Thompson EAST AURORA - The hardwood floors are well-worn after decades of footsteps. A ride on "Sandy," the mechanical pony, is still a dime. That outlay will buy a bag of popcorn too. Vidler's 5&10 is rooted deeply in the past. But make no mistake about it, owner Ed Vidler knows his future lies squarely on the needs of his customers here and now. Nostalgia might bring people in, but it is a careful balancing act that keeps them from walking away with full hearts and empty hands. "In reality, you can't sell them buggy whips," said Vidler, 69, who with his red apron is every bit the old-time shopkeeper a visitor to his East Aurora store would expect. "You have to change with the times." Woolworth Corp.'s closing of its unprofitable five-and-dime stores consigned a venerable business to the memories of shoppers whose reliance on them had waned even if their fondness for them did not. For the remaining variety stores - with their very reason for being threatened by mega drug stores and supermarkets that stock everything from toothpaste to tube socks - the evermore trying battle against obsoleteness rages on. Vidler's ammunition is the old-time atmosphere, which has been a constant at the store his father built in 1930, and the merchandise, a carefully conceived blend of old and new. Things like the stencils now big with crafters have joined the displays of hair nets and checker games that have had a place for years. Bolts of fabric have evolved from velvet and satin to craft-friendly |
calicos. "Our customers don't make dresses anymore," Vidler said. On another Main Street, Michael Feiler is running a going-out-of-business sale underneath the high tin ceilings at his Atlas 5&10. "I surrendered" said Feiler, whose parents, Helmut and Hilde, bought the Fort Lee, N.J., store in 1952 after emigrating from Nazi Germany. Not only did Atlas have to contend with competition from other retailers, Feiler said, but a new generation of shoppers - ones who've never gotten in the habit of browsing along Main Street. "They grew up with shopping centers and malls," Feiler said. "We kept trying o come up with unique ideas and different things to draw people in, but it got to the point I just couldn't do it anymore. I had to stop thinking with my heart and start thinking with my head." There are fewer than 1,500 old-fashioned five-and-dime stores left since Woolworth closed 400 stores, estimated Rick Galagher, publisher of the National Retailer Federation's Stores Magazine. The number is down from about 25,000 as recently as the 1970s, he said. Consumers still need the light bulbs, cookie tins and flour dredges the stores carry. They are just not as willing to make an extra stop for them. "What's happened over time is other retail formats are fulfilling the needs," Galagher said. "They indeed may not be as homey, as comfortable, but people don't have a lot of time to shop. In and out, quick and easy, is the name of the game." |
"In reality, you can't sell them buggy whips. You have to change with the times." Ed Vidler With a single store to run, in a single community, Ed Vidler said, he has the advantage of knowing his customers, and he will stock even unprofitable, hard-to-get, merchandise to make sure his customers need him. "Mrs. Smith wants silver hairpins," Vidler said. "Well, they're not easy to find but we'll have some because a particular customer wants them." He's willing to tie up $24 in 12 packs of oddball hairpins, he said. A bigger discounter may not be. On a recent Monday, Lynn Wilkins helped herself to a fistful of boondoggle strips, which Vidler's sells from wooden spools. "It's only five cents a yard so I guess I can go crazy," she said, buying the craft materials for her daughter. For Ms. Wilkins, who lives in East Aurora and has shopped at the store since her childhood, Vidler's has achieved the right balance of nostalgia and practicality. She recently found a replacement top for here thermos, which saved her from shelling out for a whole new unit. "It's a great place," she said, recalling rides on Sandy and the famous popcorn. Variety stores aren't likely to fade from the landscape altogether, Gallagher said. More likely, he said, the format will continue to evolve. |