SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
Who would have ever thought Circuit City would be closing 155 stores and filed Chapter 11/Bankruptcy and withdrawing from 55 markets while Tweeter is liquidating 104 stores? That possibility resonated with me and for good reason; my experience one Saturday morning this summer of walking into a noisy, sensory overloaded audio video store with so many selections I became dizzy; opting instead to find solitude in the ladies room. Only after a few deep Yoga breathes did I return to the sales floor, only to be approached by a teenager who looked like he just rolled out of bed without having his breakfast of champions.
Even if those employees who were smart enough to have eaten their
breakfast, the same ones who stand to lose their jobs very soon, only knew that the corporations who employed them relied on a passive approach to doing business. In fact, these companies were sleeping at the wheel. They failed to tackle new challenges while evolving to meet the needs and wants of their perspective markets.
In fact, the evolution of retail electronics has changed so dramatically over the years; custom showrooms are the wave of the future. Gone are the TV only stores, survived only by companies who choose to adopt a full service approach to retail by integrating numerous technologies and custom installation and design options to meet the lifestyle of individual customers. And it is this reason, that has keep Barrett’s Home Theater, Chicago the confident choice separating us from the competitors.
According to Brian Perreault, General Manager of Barrett’s Home Theater, “The customer coming to our stores wants to be educated in the latest technologies by an experienced and trained sales consultant. At Barrett’s Home Theater we pride ourselves as working within a team structure. The sales consultant works closely with the systems designers, custom installation team and project managers, while administration is constantly surveying the customers for feedback to give the best customer service in the market.
While the Chicago markets in the audio video world have lost Fretter, Highland, Silo, Video Concepts, United Audio, Douglass TV, Polk Brothers, Video King, Playback, Pacific Stereo, how can it be that a family run company business since 1966 has sustained themselves over 42 years, representing some of the best audio/video manufactures in the world including Bowers & Wilkins ? The answer is simple: We strive to make each and every customer happy.
By Dianne Barrett
