It Has Nothing to Do with the Shoes

[vwvortexer]

Comments

[ssullivan]

I just looked at their US site - there's not a lot there, but it does have a very clean, simple, but functional, design. I think that's very much the point. It looks very much like the basic, uncluttered site I would have expected after seeing their SoHo store and merchandise.

[vwvortexer]

Not at all. The issue was one simply of sales volume and unrealistic expectations. In the early 80s, Oldsmobile (along with Buick) was a sales juggernaut, selling almost 1.1 million cars in 1985 alone--with the eponymous Cutlass being the best-selling car in the land. Of course, that was with a line-up of vehicles that were redundant across Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac, from the atrocious J-car-based Firenza (dodecatuplet of the Chevrolet Cavalier) to full-size Ninety-Eight. By the late 90s, the line-up had been trimmed to a much more reasonable four models. More importantly, the Japanese had finally--and seriously--entered territory that had been 15 years earlier the exclusive province of the domestics, so sales volumes of 250,000 cars per year meant that, while Oldsmobile was still selling a lot of vehicles, it wasn't selling enough to maintain its dealership network, so GM shuttered it.

Ultimately, this is a major reason why GM must also close Pontiac, GMC, Saab, HUMMER, possibly Saturn, and Buick in the US to

[jazzfanatic]

How the mighty have fallen.

[ssullivan]

You neglected to mention the t-shirts that were folded 20 zillion times into a tiny cube that's about 4" square, and then shrink wrapped so they'd stack on a shelf in the store.

And the tote bags that were folded into a similarly small package.

[jazzfanatic]

Very interesting about Muji. Being the simple bohemian that I am, and living in a city that is as unassumingly unbranded as Muji, I had not heard of this brand before. I've always detested the concept of designer logos plastered all over clothing and accessories, enabling their buyers to hit others over the head with their oppulence. Muji's concept appeals to me in every way. So I guess I should become a Mujirer. Perhaps that also explains why Phoenix seems to fit me well as a place to live.