I frequently drive past a retail site from my childhood that was once a store called “Service Merchandise”. It had an odd concept where every item was on display and you pulled a tag (like how you bought a video game at Toys R Us back in the 1980s and 1990s). You would take this tag to the register, pay, and then go stand at a conveyer belt where your items came out (like getting luggage at the airport if memory serves). What was the perceived benefit of organizing a store this way? Were there other “catalog stores” (a term my mother uses to refer to Service Merchandise when I ask about it) or was this unique to Service Merchandise?
In: 24
[Consumers Express](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers_Distributing) was another one near me in New Jersey. All I remember is, the catalog always presented new rare and desirable toys (like a He-Man figure that didn’t even appear in commercials yet), but they were never actually in stock at the sales counter. The Wiki article actually says this was one of the biggest reasons for their downfall!
Latest Answers