A NEW STORE DESIGN

Following up from my last post that mentioned I was working on decluttering my living space, recently visited the newly remodeled Bed Bath and Beyond flagship store in the Chelsea section of New York City (6th Ave. & 18th Street.) The layout has certainly been decluttered! The store is much cleaner including wider aisles, lower sight lines and with a number of large windows the main floor is much brighter. This format is part of the new CEO's three year turnaround plan. Overall the shopping experience was ok; nothing more and nothing less.

Along with the decluttering is of course less merchandise. Prominently displayed is the retailer's private label merchandise, including a line named "Our Table," the new kitchen and dining collection. It looked nice and cheerful, well sized and thoughtfully simple. Though when I picked up a bowl it seemed heavy. Yet if price is the reason to purchase, then for $5 this bowl and the entire dining set at a reasonable price might be a buy. (The price is less if you are a Beyond Member.) I wished there were more national labels available in the store but that goes against the strategy. The retailer is planning to have about eight private labels by early 2022. Based on my limited interaction with Our Table unsure if I'm going to pursue these other private labels.

My local Bed Bath and Beyond closed last year so I took my short shopping list to the Chelsea store. The checkout is a key memory in this shopping trip. There were lots of self checkout stations and only a few cashiers at those stations. Since I had coupons on my phone and paper coupons decided to have a cashier do the checking out. The self check out stations were not busy and I waited what seemed to be a long time to pay. I believe there were 2 cashiers at the check out. The cashier was pleasant and professional. But my thoughts were about the wait to pay!

Management will probably be making adjustments to this new format. In addition to recommending more cashiers be employed to assist customers with a speedy checkout experience, or have those assigned to assist the self checkouts with problems move over to being a cashier to work with those who'd like the cashier experience, recommend the restrooms also get some more attention. At the risk of TMI, the stall I was in did not have any tissue. Unlike Elaine in Seinfeld, there wasn't anyone there to ask if she could spare a square!

Have you shopped the remodeled Bed Bath and Beyond in Chelsea? What was your experience?

OUT WITH MY OLD AND...

Already feeling better!

Recently I took a few baby steps on my journey to declutter, clean and organize my living. This first step included working on tidying up a closet. Selected ThredUp the online consignment and thrift store as the helper here as it will end up doing the selling for me. I took about a dozen plus items, some with hangtags still on them and others slightly worn (and clean) from a closet and placed in this big bright bag on the left.

Went to the post office and dropped off the bag. No need to worry about selling these on my own which would include writing a description, taking photos, packaging and sending off to a buyer. My next step is exploring selling on platforms such as Poshmark and Mercari. Now on to learning, looking and listening to others who are experienced with these platforms.

The conversations in Clubhouse are a great source of guidance and encouragement. Thank you. Unsure sure if any of my items will sell on ThredUp. But a bigger point for me is that I've bought too much and going forward will need to be more selective with purchases.

Nailed It

There have been headlines and detailed news articles aplenty about the CPI increasing, a high inflation environment and in a nutshell higher costs for just about everything. According to the U.S. Labor Department, May 2021 showed the largest increase in the CPI since August 2008. (Bonus points for you if you fully understand the CPI.) I've been experiencing increased costs for a growing list of items in recent months.

Therefore today I was pleasantly surprised to see a price decrease. The nail salon I've been going to since salons reopened last spring in New York City had some changes to the price list. Missed going there last week. When it was time to pay I learned the price of a manicure fell from $18 to $15. The price drop puzzled me. In fact I felt I was cheating by paying less than usual so I had to ask if I was charged the right amount. The manicurist told me the lower price is the new price.

This $3 put back in my pocket isn't much. The fact the cost of the manicure dropped is something big. Well maybe not big, but something that stayed with me all day. Have you seen any price drops in recent days?