Leslie, The notion of a "positive customer base" is a bit troublesome. What is a positive customer, and what does he or she buy? I thought that customers who bought legal goods legally were positive customers, and others were not. What we may be getting at is the hope that a convenience store would have even a small and limited mix of fresh deli foods and household staples as well as convenience items that would make it attractive for folks who need to pick up a few things. That's mostly not Sandy's as I remember the last time I went there. One way to exert positive pressure on Sandy's might be for folks to go to Sandy's and buy things, and letting the person behind the counter know that they'd spend more money there if there were better things to buy. Maybe the businessman in Sandy might realize that as more affluent folks move on Mellon St. due to the redevelopment there, he might make more money on higher-margin food than beer. I'm not a marketing expert, though. Michael --On Wednesday, January 11, 2006 10:28 AM -0500 leslie setlock <Leslie@setlock.com> wrote:
Thanks for this helpful contribution. You mentioned market demands, which bring up a few questions for me. I wonder, is there currently any positive costumer base patronizing Sandy's? I have heard a few people say they have never shopped there bcs of the problems, and respect that. At the same time, a business' most natural points of leverage are their workers and their customers. If the workers are mainly family (as I believe is the case) and not likely to go against the owners, and the customers are solely the dealers and trouble-makers, then what is the point of leverage to force changes? What they care about is making money, not necessarily being good neighbors.
When goodwill itself isn't enough (as seems to be the case, here) there needs to be a threat and/or a promise. When writing a complaint to a company, I always state "I am a customer, and.." or "I was a loyal customer until..." The threat being "and I won't be a customer if you continue X" and the promise being "and I will stay/come back if you change X." If there is no one shopping at Sandy's for wholesome reasons, that is out as a leverage point. They can't be threatened with loss of income if they weren't getting any (from positive products), anyway. So what leverage points exist as neighbors? I can think of a few, like "I'm a neighbor, and I'm going to sit on my porch and call the police whenever X happens" or "I'm a neighbor, and I'm going to organize a publicized protest outside your door." But, from those involved in this action, if the liquor license can't be legally revoked and Sandy's must be dealt with as-is, what are the "neighbor but not customer" leverage points here?
Michael P. Johnson Associate Professor of Management Science and Urban Affairs H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management Carnegie Mellon University 2107C Hamburg Hall, 4800 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 t: 412-268-4270 f: 412-268-7036 e: johnson2@andrew.cmu.edu w: http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/researchers/faculty/johnson2.html