Mass Merchant Home Centers

Mass merchant home centers such as Home Depot have made life difficult for independent home furnishing retailers, but there are examples of smaller stores that are surviving.

In the lighting sector, independents have tried to avoid competing on price and looked for particular niches for which home centers are less suited, such as high-end items.

Increased competition has forced independents to become more efficient and more customer focused.

There’s one big advantage to being a little fish in a sea of big ones:

You Become A Strong Swimmer To Avoid Being Swallowed

Such is the case of the independent lighting showroom. As such massive home centers as Home Depot, Builders Square, Hechinger, Rickel and others move into town and compete for the consumer’s dollar, the specialized lighting experts must work harder to make it.

According to industry estimates, home centers’ share of the $1.06 billion market for lighting fixtures jumped to 41 percent in 1993, up from 29 percent in ’92, while the specialty stores’ share declined from 58 percent to 51 percent.

In number of units sold, home centers may have surpassed the specialty stores. To counteract this shift, showrooms are becoming more business savvy.

Realizing that they can’t match the buying or promotional power of their gigantic counterparts, the mom-and-pops have had to redefine themselves, often playing up the advantages of their small size and flexibility in order to effectively – and profitably – coexist with the volume retailers.

Successful independents have refocused their merchandise mix, learned to better manage their space and inventory, taken advantage of educational tools offered by vendors and industry associations, and concentrated on customer service.

A New York-based manufacturing executive, Murray Feiss, said he believes the small independents are stronger for … Read More

What Makes a Good Meat Grinder?

The meat grinder is an essential kitchen utensil to make your healthy and tasty preparations of meat recipes. Take care to follow our advice to buy a good meat grinder. Consider the three following characteristics before making your choice of meat grinder: the grills and accessories, flow and power for the electric models.

Buying Guide A Good Meat Grinder?

Grids And Accessories

Those who do not know how to buy a meat grinder of a better value must consider the grids and accessories available on the various models proposed.

Choose your future meat grinder according to the use that you will make. With that, a model comes with several grids of different diameters offers the possibility of various preparations: mash, stuffing, sausages, meats, hamburgers.

With a grid with very small holes, you can chop meats, grind the toughest ingredients. With a grid medium sized holes, you can shred softer ingredients to cook your burgers or meatballs. With a coarse grid holes, you can chop big things.

Before using a price comparison, evaluating also what additional accessories you want to get with your meat grinder. Depending on the model, manufacturers can provide an adapter in addition to kebabs, sausages a funnel, a tray or a grater. For storage of these accessories, some models are equipped with a compartment for this purpose.

The Device Speed

Expressed in mg / h or kg / h, the speed is a determining factor in choosing your future meat grinder. That is why we will explain its importance in our purchase of the best meat grinders guide. This rate determines the amount of meat or other chopped ingredients in an hour. Of the semi-professional electric models, it varies between 0.3 kg / h … Read More