Shop Talk

Black Friday: Chase pursues a (very) direct marketing plan

You can spend millions of dollars on an advertising campaign if you have something to sell. Alternately, you can try some cheaper experiments and hope that downmarket charm trumps slickness.

Somebody liked the latter idea at the Chase bank branch on Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, as this picture, taken by one of our editors, Leslie Gevirtz, shows.

We can’t decide if this is a Black Friday coup of marketing genius or if one of the tellers was forced to use only materials in the branch’s broom closet. After all, this is the heart of Times Square, a place where every square millimeter is available for your ad, and at very high prices. Major corporations rarely spare expenses — or electricity — in presenting their best advertising campaigns in the heart of the U.S. financial capital. On the other hand, Chase *is* handing out $100 to everyone who starts an account. Maybe that’s the ad budget, already spent.

So goes Wall Street, so goes Fifth Avenue retailers

The fallout from the turmoil on Wall Street will be felt by retailers who have set up shop on one of Manhattan’s most prestigious avenues – Fifth Avenue.

In the past week, Lehman has failed, Merrill Lynch agreed to be acquired by Bank of America, and the government had to step in to keep giant insurer AIG from failing.

It has created chaos on Wall Street and expectations of thousands of impending job losses. In August alone, New York City’s securities companies axed 10,000 workers.

It is the exact opposite of what retailers needed headed into what is expected to be one of the worst holiday season in years.

In a research note, Goldman Sachs highlights which retailers may fare the worst.

Wall Street’s financial turmoil heading into the holiday season is likely to negatively impact key NY centric retailers with meaningful flagship presences.

Saks and Tiffany top the list with each of their flagships accounting for 20% and 10% of total sales, respectively. These key stores have been outperforming an already weakened store base as tourism has provided a bright spot. In light of a dampened worldwide wealth effect and strengthening dollar, more modest tourism gains should provide less of an offset to today’s worsening domestic demand.

….Luxury retailers and brands such as Coach, Nordstrom, and Ralph Lauren, are likely to also be pressured this season as waning Wall St bonuses and volatile equity markets erode confidence at the high end. While their NY flagships (Nordstrom is not in NYC) do not carry the same significance as those of Tiffany and Saks, we expect results to be impacted nonetheless

(Photo: Reuters)

The bodegas are coming! The bodegas are coming!

The drink cooler is lined with linens. The fridge is stocked with jeans. The soup cans don designer labels.

It’s Target‘s take on the local New York City bodega as the discount retailer prepares to open four “Bullseye Bodegas” in Manhattan. 

Bloggers got a preview of the bodega on 57th Street in Manhattan, and the four temporary stores, which are scattered throughout the borough, will open to the public for four days starting on Sept. 12 at 10 am.

The bodegas are stocked with merchandise made exclusively for Target by 22 designers, including maternity wear by Liz Lange, kitchen appliances by Michael Graves, and makeup by Jemma Kidd. The soup cans, featuring the names of the Target designers, are just for display, as are the Target paper towels that serve as a wall around the dressing rooms.

“New York is where you go to get noticed,” said Target spokesman Joshua Thomas of the retailer’s decision to open the pop-up stores. Target’s first Manhattan store is set to open in 2009, but the temporary bodegas will help it generate buzz, he said.

The bodegas will also help Target show that designer goods can be had at discount prices.

“It’s design, it’s quality, but it’s affordability,” Thomas said. The average selling price for a piece of bodega merchandise is $25. There are Sigerson Morrison high heels for $34.99, Anya Hindmarch clutches for $19.99, and Thomas O’Brien towels for $9.99.