Gracious and unique customer service can become commonplace and outmoded. Once-vital management techniques can fail to evolve with the times. Formerly attractive and appealing employee compensation can become uncompetitive and uninspiring. Admittedly essential advertising can slowly disappear. Store operations can remain constant while competition moves forward.
Customers can and do change.
You are what you sell When retailers visit other stores, either as consumers or competitors, they react mostly to the merchandise. No matter what segment of our industry, we're all in the same boat. A bad buy is a bad buy. No manner of advertising, display or selling skill can bail out the wrong merchandise. While there are no doubt examples of stores forced to shut down because of weak staff or uninspiring architecture, the majority of store closings relate directly to the skill of the buyer.