Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Grocery Store Artifact: Mr & Mrs Smith DVD display instructions


Here are the instructions to assemble the disposable cardboard display stand for the Mr. & Mrs. Smith DVD our store is selling. A few weeks ago the word came down from corporate that the usual rolling racks that we have always used to sell product were going away for good. If a vendor wants to sell cookies or DVD's then they must supply a display stand for it.

The old racks were esthetically displeasing, but the cardboard stands sag after a day or two. The DVD's hold up well enough but a stand of aresol air fresheners can't handle the weight.

On the subjects of racks, wanna bet it's only because of the anticipated box office draw of the one carried by Angelina Jolie that Mr. & Mrs. Smith got made? Wow, was that a dull film. It definately won the Meh of the Week award. I can imagine the pitch meeting for it:

"Okay, it's like Fun With Dick and Jane meets the War of the Roses."
"No."
"Uh...Angelina Jolie wears a latex hooker outfit and tight sweaters. And Brad Pitt looks scruffy and unwashed, too."
"
SOLD!"
If only the plot was not as rickety as a cardboard stand it would have been a better movie.

4 comments:

  1. They need an inflatable Angelina Jolie stand. That'd move some units, plot be damned.

    ReplyDelete
  2. bob violence said:
    "That'd move some units"

    Indeed

    ReplyDelete
  3. Years ago, when I used to manage a Waldenbooks, display stands like those could be a royal pain.

    It seemed every new, crappy paperback arrived that way, and there were only so many places they could be set up. When it was left to us to decide which ones would go up and which would just be put in the proper places in stock with the extras going in storage spaces under the tables. However, regional reps from the publishers would come along and "help us out" by setting the displays up, inevitably jockying for position and moving some other publishers' display.

    They all wanted to put them as near the front of the store as possible, and since this was a mall location they'd start placing them across and even outside the entrance. This would mean we'd have to move them before being able to close, and those things didn't move well with stock in them.

    I learned fairly quickly to not be in the least bit gentle with them, since the sooner one started to buckle the sooner we could just dump the stock out of it and trash the damned thing.

    Oh, jeez. I'm in Grandpa Simpson mode. Long stories that don't go anywhere...

    We wore onions on my belt, because that was the fashion at the time...

    ReplyDelete
  4. WHAT kind of air fresheners???

    ReplyDelete

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