Yes, a store, IN A MALL, can be a "mom and pop" store. Mom and pop store merely refers to a store which is not part of a franchise or owned by a corporation. Two Hindus owning a store qualify as "mom and pop".

Have you ever been to California? There is nothing resembling mom and pop here. Bad economy, has forced most of the smaller stores, and companies, at least in NorCal, out of business. And 99% of all the stores, in all the malls here, ARE chain stores. If not nationally, then at least in the state.

The logic in your music analogy is completely erroneous.
Music preferences and sports team affiliations are completely different. People who buy music don't generally have the sense of affiliation fans of sports teams have, so they don't stick to buying cds from only one artist from one particular city. I don't doubt there may be exceptions out there, but generally speaking, no one walks into a music store, picks up a cd, and says "I'm buying this CD because the artist is from Atlanta" or "I'm not buying this CD because this group is from Tampa Bay".

That is not true. Fans of all teams, are all over the place these days. There is a bar in San Francisco, called the Voodoo lounge, that holds about fourty, to fifty Saints fans everytime they play. Another in Sacramento, called Players. Not to mention, California, is i would guess, at least 50 percent transplants, not natives, so buying things to remind them of their homes, is a very frequent occurence.

And I'm sorry, but if you don't believe that people in areas, don't prefer and buy, their hometown music over others, then you must have never heard of Tupac (west coast), and Biggie (east coast). Those two artists alone defined seperation of areas, plus loyalty to certain music, from specific coasts. To the death.

So your "Ciara" would sell as well in Dallas as it would sell in Philadelphia.

Personally I hate Ciara, just using it as an example. I'm not talking about regional, local, or anything else, i am talking about customer service here. i don't care what kind of business you run, if you put any customer in a position, where they feel unimportant to you, you are destined to fail. Period.

As for the store calling itself an NFL store, well, I don't know what they call themselves, but as you said, they DO have Saints merchandise. It's just that, because your team is 10-0 today, you expect a full inventory of Saints merchandise in every store across the country, but that is not how the business model works.

Two hats, and a beanie.... that was it. Not even a Bush jersey, and he's from here for gods sake.

... and not only you expect it, you feel "disrespected" or feel the team is being "disrespected" if not every store across the country is right now carrying a full line of Saints merchandise.

Never said every store, never said full line of anything.

There are other things I could explain to you about business models as well, as in sales forecasts and inventory costs and stuff, but those may go over your head a bit.

Never, at any point did I say, that I was expecting a full store, of Saints gear. Did you read my post? I said, they didn't have a saints key chain... Go back and read it. A key chain, not an autographed football, but a key chain.... They had the browns, the lions, and the bucs, but no Saints, keychains.... A key chain bro... What do those cost retail? And I didn't say every store, everywhere either, I said THIS ONE. Ok?

I remember a time, when "the customer was always right", now, it's "the owner knows best." The guy was a douche, and didn't even want to discuss it with me, AT ALL. What are you guys not understanding about this? Go back and read the posts again.

You know, I think its crap that you can go somewhere and buy Browns stuff and UNSOLD Texans stuff in places you dont even have anything Saints. When are we gonna get respect?

In January.

So, specifically not having a key chain is the ULTIMATE disrespect? Because they had some key chains for other teams that are losing now, that for all you know they could've been dangling over the counter for years?


.. and I remember a time when the window that now says "Customer Service" said "Returns and Complaints". "The customer is always right" is a motto that Macy's came up with many, many, many years ago.. sort of retail political correctness... but no one is always right. Certainly walking into a store doesn't make you automatically be right on everything.

And I can see why the owner (if he indeed was the owner) didn't want to discuss with you why he didn't have a Saints key chain.

When I saw the title of the thread, I expected something like "someone spat on my face and called my mama names". But to call "the ULTIMATE disrespect" the fact that this particular store in California - which BTW is a few miles away from 2 NFL teams - didn't have a Saints key chain but had Lions and Browns key chains, that is throwing a tantrum.