Service Merchandise: The Death of the Showroom - Post-Mortar

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Service Merchandise was the most successful chain to use the "catalog showroom" retail model. Outliving all market competitors, including Best Products, they survived until 2002. Raymond Zimmerman, son of the founders, headed the company until the bitter end and even founded an online incarnation of the chain: servicemerchandise.com
I would like to thank Mr. Zimmerman for reviewing the script before this video's release, and I wish the best of luck to him, his family, and Service!
Main Theme:
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0:00 - Intro
0:30 - Shainberg and Zimmerman Co.
2:02 - Service Merchandise, Inc.
2:58 - The Prosperous 70s and The Growth of a Giant
6:11 - Imposing Growth and New Challengers
8:00 - Turbulence and Internal Distress
10:44 - IRS Troubles and the 1990 Recession
15:06 - Bankruptcy in The New Millennium
17:30 - Final Words
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Charlie Dean Archives, EPVideoClips, augustv123, jacky9br, TheClassicSports, Jerry, The Second World War, ChampionFx, The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV), After These Messages, SHOP TOUR CANAL OFICIAL, HRTV, Retro Man, CNNRotatingSquare, HRTVFan2, Analog Memories, Internet Lurker, PhakeNam, Televisonarchives, Janel Toal, Ken Owen Video Vault, jlehmann, Rick Wiley, gordonrobbins, Hamilton Watch, DOCUMENTARY TUBE, ThamesTV, Computer History Museum, Edward Betts, TW, Commercial Break Room, Sean Mc, Danny Sigelman, VHSafterlife, Auto-Generated, Deal Genius
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Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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justpaste.it/servicem
Videos and images used in this episode belong to their respective owners.
#servicemerchandise #showroom #80s
Alex Nuelle 2021

Опубликовано:

25 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 145

@PostMortar 3 года назад

Want more Post-Mortar?? Here's the series playlist: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8whzI9wyj-A.html Thanks for watching! Consider Liking, Subscribing, and Sharing the video!

@jenniferboyd8538 2 года назад

Omaha Steaks

@JSchaye 4 месяца назад

Amazon

@kevincosma7945 2 года назад

As a former employee for almost 5 years, I found it to be a great place to work. It was ahead of its time, using computers and allowing consumers to see the inventory of any given store. As years go by, not many remember Service Merchandise and I count it a privilege to have worked there and to be part of a unique time in retail history.

@wisheduknew294 Месяц назад

I am 54 and I remember it distinctly. As a customer I remember going there is a teenager. In my 20s I think it was around 1999. I bought a little wooden clock there and I still have it. I loved service merchandise. I wish it was still around.

@debarker1 2 года назад

Where else, in the 1980s, could you buy a diamond ring, a snowblower, a toaster oven, a rifle, and a camera all in one store? Service Merchandise!

@glennso47 2 года назад

Ardan jewelers and distributors had all those things. So did K’s Merchandise. At least you could if you lived near Rockford Illinois.

@matthewg4556 4 месяца назад

You can still do that at a pawn shop.

@1114860 3 года назад

Excellent documentary. I miss Service Merchandise. I always liked how you'd wait for the product you purchased to come down the conveyer at the pick up counter. We still have an electric can opener from them.

@ksavage681 2 года назад

I got a stereo set from them one Christmas, and a portable battery operated shaver. ( I was 15). lol

@grizzlycountry1030 Год назад

Same here. It was exciting waiting for your item to appear.

@jrwheeler81 3 года назад

This is definitely a long lost store from my youth! We had a Service Merchandise where we live when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s and my parents shopped there ALL the time! I swear, just about every single time they needed something, it was off to Service Merchandise! I remember as a little kid being so fascinated by the items coming down the conveyer belt. They are now long since gone. I believe ours closed in 1999 and then Best Buy opened in its place in 2000, which is still there to this day. I will always have such fond memories of this store!

@User0000000000000004 2 года назад

As teenagers, my brother and I would make christmas lists out of the Service Merchandise catalogues. I used to love that. I also got a kick out of going to the store and checking out the awesome boomboxes and mini shelf systems of the early to mid 90s. That was an awesome time to be alive!

@ksavage681 2 года назад

It was awesome to handle a display item (stereos were powered on) and see the little paper slips in the shelf that told how many were in stock. Grab a slip, take it to checkout, the item came down that conveyor belt, it was exciting.

@dancue599 Год назад

The Christmas lists out of the catalogs! I miss it.

@madlyn792 2 года назад

Wow, I worked at Service Merchandise in the early 90s, even met my son's father there (he passed away in 2021) it was probably on of my favorite jobs! I was just reminiscing about the working there, I was the PBX operator! Gosh it was such a long time ago.

@kingmiller1982 2 месяца назад

That's awesome! And my deepest condolences.

@dougclark7077 2 года назад

There was a Service Merchandise about 20 miles from my house. My family shopped there frequently. We bought small appliances, a printing calculator, a children's bible, toys and even a Texas Instruments computer! We loved this store chain and wish it was still around.

@DisHappah 2 года назад

OMG! I worked at Service Merchandise right after Mcdonald's and thought I was moving up in the world, lol. Memories of my teen years, sigh!

@Kreb99 2 года назад

I actually moved to Nashville in 1983 to work for Service as a Systems Analyst. I became acquainted with Raymond Zimmerman during my employment and assisted with the implementation of many new systems. In many ways, Service was a technology leader with things like Silent Sam, our merchandise replenishment systems, and our seasonal push calculations. I was involved in the move from Foster Creighton in Nashville to the Brentwood TN site. There was some controversy at the new site with a piece of sculpture that Raymond wanted to put at the headquarters, and the city eventually won the dispute. My son actually appeared in one of the catalogues.

@matthewg4556 4 месяца назад

Come on man. Tell me about the sculpture!

@Kreb99 4 месяца назад

@@matthewg4556It was made up of old appliances welded together into a piece of art. I don't recall if it was a bull or a bear or what, but I know it had to be taken down immediately at the request of the City of Brentwood.

@matthewg4556 4 месяца назад

@@Kreb99 it sounds pretty neat, wasn't really that bad that it had to come down?

@Kreb99 4 месяца назад

@@matthewg4556 Brentwood was and still is a highbrow community. A lot of the country music stars and healthcare executives live there. Truth be told, they found the piece to be ‘too common’ for their standards. Raymond Zimmerman didn’t appeal to the right people. He just did it without permissions.

@WorldReserveCurrency Год назад

I loved Service Merchandise. I remember when I first heard about this new technology to reheat food in a metal box we had to have it. It was a life changer. We bought our first Emerson Microwave at Service Merchandise. It last over 30 years.

@danejurus69 3 года назад

Wal-Mart killed this chain off. I remember the one in Cincinnati on Colerain Avenue was always busy. My mother and/or father used to take me there dozens and dozens of times. But once Wal-Mart came along, right down the road, we and many others stopped going there. Sad too. I loved that place and it's laid back feel.

@AJKPenguin 2 года назад

I never had been to that location. I did go to the Toys R Us in Bevis though. As for my Service Merchandise, it was Tri County adjacent to Kemper Road. Oddly enough, a Toys R Us was there too.

@Statuskuo75 2 года назад

do you remember Steinbergs? trying to remember where they were. Loveland?

@themechanicman3865 Год назад

The store had a lot more quantity and quality than Walmart you could get quality stuff from here like a JCPenney almost jewelry all kinds of stuff I remember going in there when I was young and seeing canoes and they had a hunting section it was huge the store we had here in Michigan was huge

@Tornado1994 Месяц назад

@@AJKPenguin Service Merchandise was already dying by the time Montgomery Ward went belly up. What ultimately did Service Merchandise in was Costo and Sam's. I went to Service Merchandise multiple times during the Early 90s when my family was stationed in Virigina. I remember seeing Super NES BRAND New there in '91, it was up on a high shelf.

@nathanielbolden5053 2 года назад

Man I miss Service Merchandise as well as malls and showroom shopping period!...dont get me wrong I love ebay but I miss my Service Merchandise and its layaway!...RIP SE!!!...New Orleans East misses ya!

@bluedotdinosaur Год назад

I remember shopping at Service Merchandise in the Irving Mall in Texas when I was young-ish. A very different experience from other kinds of stores. In hindsight I think it was better. The showroom was intended for the customer to browse and be considerate - not be rushed pushing a loaded cart through aisles. Seeing the products out and in a natural setting made you more skeptical about purchasing - it removed the alluring mystery of a box with marketing images printed on the outside. Writing a list down before checking out with merch also kept you more aware of how much you were considering spending. Never forget that over time, the goal of retail was to find ways to trick people into spending more with less forethought.

@jessicah3450 Год назад

Haha yeah Service Merchandise did use pencils if I remember correctly, so you could change your mind easily. Plus their items were so reliable and durable. I had a curling iron that was my mom's that lasted about 25 years. Never see that quality anymore.

@lindas.3791 3 года назад

My wedding rings are from Service Merchandise, Later traded them up for larger carat size. Received full credit on the original set.

@glennso47 2 года назад

K’s Merchandise was another catalog showroom that we shopped. We still have a kitchen cabinet that we bought from them.

@Hubjeep Год назад

Our local one was in East Meadow, NY, Clearmeadow Mall. Got my Swiss Army knife there when I was 15 in the mid-90's! Now it's a Wal-Mart.

@honxiu 2 года назад

Damn Walmart, Target and Kmart are like the thanos for these businesses

@PostMortar 2 года назад

Lol it’s so true

@appalachianwoman561 2 года назад

Service Merchandise was one of my favorite stores to shop in because of the ordering process and seeing your order come out on a conveyor belt system. It was far more interesting to shop in and even browse in because it looked more up scale than any walmart, kmart or target and still to this day does. I remember my mom having the catalogs and looking through them and in fact on my mantle is a large musical mantle clock that came from Service Merchandise that still to this day works and I also have a little flashlight stamped from there. I miss this store, thank you for the video!

@PostMortar 2 года назад

Agreed! Very cool store. Thanks for watching!

@AdorzAaliyahSince94 2 года назад

My Mom (RIP) truly loved shopping at this store, especially for Christmas. I even remember how she used to let us look in the catalogs with her. I think we had three locations here and one was attached to the Mall of Memphis, which closed on 12/24/03. I think I remember it being closed a little while before the mall was closed.

@MISSBROOKE911 2 года назад

You are absolutely right about a location being at the Mall of Memphis and closing years before the entire mall finally closed down. It was a location in Whitehaven as well at the corner of Elvis Presley and Shelby Dr. Where the Kroger is located right now that use to be Service Merchandise way back in the day. It was another location in Hickory Hill on Winchester. Right where New Direction Christian Church is on that corner of Winchester and Ridgeway. Wow you brought back some great memories with your comment. Thank you for that. BACK DOWN MEMORY LANE!!!

@AdorzAaliyahSince94 2 года назад

@@MISSBROOKE911 you're quite welcome! I forgot about the one in Whitehaven! We mostly went to the Winchester location and TMOM. I got another oldie for you: Fred P. Gattas on Summer Ave, down the street from KMart. Memphis has lost so many unique stores! I'll forever believe that Walmart purposely played "big fish, little fish" with lots of Mom & Pop stores. We're now down to a handful of retailers.

@Charmedone9805 3 года назад

my mom loved this store we had one in the Jefferson valley mall in NY that closed in 1999

@Cjga1114 3 года назад

I was in that store!!

@Iggythemovieman 2 месяца назад

So glad to see a video on service merchandise to conveyor belt was the best part of going there.

@TonySalazar933 3 года назад

I liked Service Merchandise. We had one in our local mall and I got my Walkmans there when I was a teenager.

@triggerMB 10 месяцев назад

Great video. Thanks! As a teenager, Service Merchandise was the place for everything I was looking for. Loved that catalog.

@bobalky3638 Год назад

I loved Service Merchandise. I shopped at one on the SE side of Chicago during the 80's mostly. You'd go into the store take an order pad/pencil and walk around writing down the item number of whatever you wanted. It was nice because you didn't have to carry anything around with you or push a cart. When finished you took your list to the cashier, paid and then waited for your items to come down from an upper floor on a conveyor belt. They had good quality merchandise. I still have items in my house that I bought there 40 years ago.

@Tornado1994 Месяц назад

I recall Mom buying Hitachi Stereo Set from them back during '85 in Philly.

@nyastclair8174 3 года назад

I've been to the one in Wyomissing PA as a kid probably 100+ times. I used to LOVE going there. They had EVERYTHING. From impressive swiss army knives to computers, game consoles, exercise equipment. Always tons of interesting things too look at/play with.

@freedom1439 2 года назад

I worked at the warehouse in Dallas, huge, warehouse, two of them, management was all, 100% about favors, didn’t matter on your ability, it was just how much brown nosed a person was, I left the company after seeing way too much of it. My boss told me, he doubted it would last more than a year, I didn’t give them that long, I’ve seen new hires with no forklift experience run forks into pallets and pallets of items, it got to the point where our trash compactors were picked up 3 and 4 time a week, it was becoming a very dangerous place to work, starting pay was very good, if you knew someone who worked there, you could use there name and you was hired. They did it to themselves, old man Zimmerman came to visit once, there were changes, but it changed right back again, the warehouse in garland texas, burned down, the two new ones in Dallas were the largest ones in the city, the mayor came to cut the ribbon, it really went downhill, about a year after that….

@jessicah3450 Год назад

You oughta see a backroom at a Target. My ETL (equivalent of an assistant manager) can't drive the forklift and destroys so many pallets. You just know to stay far away because one could very well fall on your head. They give about 1 hour of training to become "certified" and give you your own set of keys. I've also worked at Walmart. Definitely can't say retail has gotten any safer for the workers or less brown nosing required to get promoted. We don't even have a system for reporting workplace injuries, you tell your boss you got injured, and they just send you home for the day.

@IggyAndroid 4 месяца назад

I loved this store when I was a kid in the late 80s and early 90s.

@anchorpoint3631 2 месяца назад

Same, I like going because I just enjoyed the interior looked like. It's like you were inside a rich man's mansion. I also vaguely remember the multitude of tvs they had, all were playing the movie Species at the same time. This was located at the local mall in Mcallen Tx. Montgomery Wards brings back memories as well. That one was at a smaller mall at the other side of town. Cheers.

@Tornado1994 Месяц назад

@@anchorpoint3631 My Stepdad got my SNES from there Brand New in Christmas 1991. I also remember Mom buying Comforter Sets and Multiple Tyco Toy sets from Service Merchandise for me and my Baby Brother. 3 Years later, I remember seeing the locations dwindle. When the Internet went Mainstream in '95, Service Merchandise felt like an old Bird Fighting to stay afloat, by then, Sams and Costo had entered the fray and MAJORITY of SM's Sales and Profit was devoured by them. It didn't surprise me that Service Merchandise followed suit after Montgomery Ward's 2001 complete Collapse and Liquidation.

@thetinysideoftiny7625 Год назад

My first retail job in 1985 at age 16. I worked in electronics. I asked for a longterm job but had no understanding of "Christmas help". I was shocked when they terminated me January 1 lol...

@geoffhunt3278 2 года назад

I worked full-time at the SMC store in Richland Mall, Waco, Texas, in the 80's and 90's. This store had the best selection of housewares and sporting goods, etc..., in town until Walmart came. The store existed here from about 1986 until around 2000. I could have never predicted how retail has developed since then.

@qkwjz Год назад

Service, Best, and Wilson's...all long gone.

@AJKPenguin 2 года назад

The conveyer belts beckoned Childhood Me. They looked like a massive playground with a slide coming through the ceiling. I enjoyed the toy section and remember seeing _Hook_ on the TV display. PS: please do an episode, 1 for each, on Dick Smith and RadioShack.

@ChadQuick270W 2 месяца назад

Great video. I just discovered your channel and am enjoying it. I shopped at our Service Merchandise Showroom quite a bit in the 80s and 90s. It was opened in the mid 1970s and stayed the same until the end (which I thought was cool). They had some ancient computer terminals that you could key in the item number from the catalog and see if it was in stock at that showroom. I can still remember doing that like it was yesterday. I still have a nice Onyx and Diamond gold ring I purchased in 1988. They were a good store but like so many I guess they just didn’t keep up with the times.

@LGKids Год назад

Their catalog was the jump! This was a very very cool store! Peace!

@gtc1961 3 года назад

Very well done... I remember buying 100 round boxes of .22 caliber bullets for seventy nine cents....

@b_tang 3 года назад

This video was way better than I was ever expecting to find on Service Merchandise.

@supermommyfromtn8823 7 месяцев назад

Awwwwwww I so miss this store at the mall 😔 I looked forward to the Christmas catalog every yr! Not to mention, it's where I got my first pink and purple 3 wheeler 😊 If only we could go back for just 1 day.

@thebatterymill 2 года назад

This could certainly work in the online days of today

@jessicah3450 Год назад

Exactly, some items you need to see in person. Plus, as a person who works in retail stores, this format doesn't allow the items to get messed up on the salesfloor. I probably could spend half my shifts straightening and cleaning. At SM, it was all in the backroom.

@AllThingsArchitecture Год назад

Your documentaries are so well made. I’ve been binge watching them all day. Can’t wait to see your next video.

@daveybelladonna9295 3 года назад

Glad to see a new Post Mortar! I've watched them all and you do a great job with these.

@PostMortar 3 года назад

Thanks so much!!

@katieepad 3 месяца назад

I really love your videos! Always nice to find new channels making videos I'm genuinely interested in:) I also grew up not even five minutes from the location in the thumbnail on Long Island, so that's a fun little quirk too! def gained a new subscriber!

@Bella_Mar Год назад

I must have caught the tail-end of Service Merchandise retail stores back in the early 90s. I vaguely remember going into the stores with my parents and poking around the sound systems with big speakers. I just happened to catch a game show tonight (Concentration) from the late 80s on tv and they mentioned SM and I thought....oh yea, what happened to them? I had no idea the Big Box stores of today (Walmart, Kmart once upon a time) were instrumental in pushing SM out of service, no pun intended. Great video, very interesting history. Seems like...and perhaps is...a lifetime ago today!

@PostMortar Год назад

Yeah, you must’ve come in right at the end of many different chains. They just couldn’t compete. Time really moves fast.

@Tornado1994 Месяц назад

@@PostMortar My Stepdad got my SNES from there Brand New in Christmas 1991. I also remember Mom buying Comforter Sets and Multiple Tyco Toy sets from Service Merchandise for me and my Baby Brother. 3 Years later, I remember seeing the locations dwindle. When the Internet went Mainstream in '95, Service Merchandise felt like an old Bird Fighting to stay afloat, by then, Sams and Costo had entered the fray and MAJORITY of SM's Sales and Profit was devoured by them. It didn't surprise me that Service Merchandise followed suit after Montgomery Ward's 2001 complete Collapse and Liquidation. I'm 41. I have vague memories of Service Merchandise during the 80s. I recall there being a Few Locations in Northern California(back when we lived there) but my bigger memories of SM is when we lived in Virginia during the early 90s. Especially the Portsmouth Store.

@loreleiofthemist 2 года назад

franklin, tennessee (just south of brentwood and connected through cool springs) is my hometown. ive remembered service merchandise ever since i was a kid, but i had no idea it was based here in my hometown.

@waynemontpetit8181 Год назад

I worked at Service Merchandise in Cicero NY and Fayetteville NY from 1981-1986

@ksavage681 2 года назад

I loved Service Merchandise. But when online catalogs and ordering started, it was all over for retailers that didn't offer it. Walmart, Sam's Club and Amazon popped up about this time also.

@Theprccollector 3 года назад

My mom worked at the Miami location. I remember running around the store while she worked.

@undergroundretail 2 года назад

Awesome video! I use to shop at the one in Macon, GA. It was demolished in 2003 for an Academy Sports.

@Evasius 3 года назад

I remember getting an 80’s swatch watch here, as well as a kids telescope, a Sony Walkman and a few Nintendo games.

@bobbillings Год назад

I used to get so excited seeing the item I purchased coming down the conveyor to me after I paid at checkout.

@PostMortar Год назад

The ultimate presentation!

@mattbyrnes8890 3 года назад

As always... really great job. So interesting!

@PostMortar 3 года назад

Thanks, Matt!! That means a lot to me! Glad you liked it!

@toomanybears_ Год назад

I still have a bunch of stuff I got at Service Merchandise including a watch of course. They sold quality products that were built to last not the crap you get these days that's doing good to last a month.

@anchorpoint3631 2 месяца назад

Damn, I miss this store

@gobbletegook Год назад

God...catalogs used to be such a big part of AMERICA. Sears would not have become the largest store back then if you couldn't open up your mail box, pick out an item, and then use your phone to have it delivered to your door or picked up in at those catalog centers with 10-15 colored phones and desk catalogs! And when the use of them started to wain, even though they had on line capabilities to order from, they failed ...while AMAZON took off with the same concept. In WISCONSIN, We had SMITH supply, and GENERAL MERCHANDISE COMPANY (which later became TREASURE ISLAND--Under the squiggly roof--& owned by PENNEYS)

@User0000000000000004 2 года назад

Half of the footage in this video is from a Circuit City ad. I miss that place. Always had higher end merch than Best Buy.

@phqutub Год назад

They had the best catalog hands down for electronics and kids toys. JCPenny was nothing but clothes.

@RichKennedyIII 2 месяца назад

Another one that lasted in Arlington heights Illinois into the 90s that I remember

@GuitarAnthony 3 года назад

As a Long Island, NY boy, we also had Consumers Distributing, usually relegated to small shopping centers with small square footage compared to SM and not having much in merchandise on the floor but line up with your order form, wait for it to be brought to the front, pay and head for home.

@emckinney8816 3 года назад

SM used to be the store where you got your exercise items,toys jewelry, and entertainment systems Back in the 1980s SM had two locations at Eastwood Mall in Birmingham AL, and Hoover AL, shopped the Eastwood location several times into the 90s until the mall and the store shut down for good.

@GameShowMike 2 года назад

You missed the fact that Service Merchandise was a prominent sponsor of game shows such as Wheel of Fortune.

@PostMortar 2 года назад

I came real close to mentioning that, but the video is already far too long LOL

@SynchroSk8 Год назад

Fond memories shopping here. My mother bought me my first electric razor at a Service Merchandise.

@aaronreinsmith6136 2 года назад

Well done. Similar style to Company Man. You earned this sub. Looking forward to more.

@yaBoyRome Год назад

Growing up we had one in queens me and my friends would window shop...our parents were poor so we never bought anything from there 😂

@liquidsatan666 2 года назад

Growing up in Toms River, NJ in the 90s, we didn't have Service Merchandise, but we did have another catalog showroom store: BEST Products. They also had a conveyor belt system, but at the front of the store, and the showroom was actually aestheically closer to modern stores inside. It was so cool for 6 year old me!

@zerocooler7 2 года назад

Very informative. This is one store I never shopped at, instead my family shopped at their competitor Best. Will you be covering Best Products?

@PostMortar 2 года назад

That might be a future episode, but Bright Sun Films did a great video on it: m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cYS9fXhpQd8.html

@sayitaintso7544 3 года назад

WoW! Havent heard that name in a long time. If you have Lionel Play World I could be a kid again.

@PostMortar 2 года назад

Expect it in the future!

@malocchia Год назад

I loved going there as a kid. I still have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures from there :)

@dustintravis8791 Год назад

Nothing was more exciting as a kid than seeing whatever your parents ordered sliding down the rollers. edit: everyone in the comments is saying conveyor belt but I swear I remember the noise of rollers...wonder if it's a false memory? I was pretty young, maybe like 8-10.

@PostMortar Год назад

I’m sure some locations had rolling belts. Sounds about right.

@kitchenskills5427 11 месяцев назад

Service Merchandise cashier was a summer job for me as 16 year old. It wasn't a bad place to work.

@thezenitsufan1249 Год назад

Service Merchandise actually supplied prizes for the game shows The Price is Right and Shop til You Drop

@BM-wh5qk 3 года назад

I used to go to the location in the Largo Mall in Pinellas County, Florida. Anyone know what year it closed?

@charlesmagids4038 3 года назад

My grandaunt was Mary Zimmerman, married to Harry Zimmerman. My father met them, and he said to me that they would let him get anything from the store so he got a 60 inch TV, and a Rolex.

@PostMortar 3 года назад

That's pretty awesome!

@hamateurradio82 2 года назад

@@PostMortar Unfortunately Service Merchandise never sold 60" TVs or the Rolex brand.

@hamateurradio82 2 года назад

Unfortunately Service Merchandise never sold 60" TVs or the Rolex brand.

@glennso47 2 года назад

Ardans was another catalog showroom. Can you video them?

@mbcoll8154 3 месяца назад

I never liked showroom stores because I have to go around back and some jerks eventually schlep something to the door with a big smash in it. I like the product in hand at the point of purchase. And I like to open it first if I'm 100% sure I'm buying it. What are they going to do, make me buy it?

@allendobbs4154 7 месяцев назад

Loved SM as a kid. First place i went soon as are family hit the door was the Casio (and others) Keyboards and musical equipment section an then proceed to make horrible music for everyone to hear consisting of 80s keyboard demos, dogs barking jingle bells and the only part of a song I could play....somewhat😏 Lean on Me😬

@u686st7 3 года назад

That showroom at 5:55 looks like an former Topps

@PostMortar 3 года назад

Very good eye. Yes, that was a former Topps.

@briantye4609 Год назад

Love the background music. What is it?

@PostMortar Год назад

It’s “Intractible” by Kevin MacLeod. Definitely a classic.

@Cessna9417l 3 года назад

6:31 isn't that a circuit city commercial?

@PostMortar 3 года назад

Yes it is! Whenever I can't find commercials from the chain I'm covering, I'll use related ones to fill the time. While the video was being encoded, some frames were messed up and it showed the circuit city part. Haha! Good eye though.

@sidneypanek5516 2 года назад

The store in the first frame is Southgate Michigan I worked there when Ivanka Trump wanted to get into diamond trades. I had already met Ivanka decades earlier but service merchandise was the last time I would trust anyone ever again . The pee pee tape lol I gotcha beat

@mst3kanita 3 года назад

I will never understand the success back in the day of these catalog showrooms.

@PostMortar 3 года назад

Retail has definitely changed, that's for sure -- more so consumerism -- but at one time it was more convenient than what most of their competitors had.

@DisHappah 3 года назад

There was no internet back then.

@PremiumFuelOnly 3 года назад

Whats hard to understand? Its basically what Amazon was before the internet.

@I_like_turtles_67 2 года назад

Now with shoplifting at an all time high across major cities. This business model would thrive. 👌 Keeping everything of value behind display cases. Requiring you to pay before to recieve. Would drastically cut down thieft. Especially the stores insurance rates.

@mst3kanita 2 года назад

@@PremiumFuelOnly I mean, the going to service merchandise and best, seeing something in the showroom and the having to wait 20 minutes for them to give it to you at a pickup window. That seems odd to me.

@KatriceMetaluna Год назад

Ironic that this retail model might be looking good again thanks to the rampant shoplifting of late.

@PostMortar Год назад

True. Easier option would be to either minimize or eliminate self-checkout.

@harlowblackadder356 3 года назад

So many bad decisions by so many shit executives. There is always shit executives behind these downfalls.

@artistwithouttalent 4 месяца назад

TMW you find a new series that _will_ be your new microfixation *and they haven't uploaded in over a year* 😭 Wherever y'all are I hope you're doing well.

@PostMortar 4 месяца назад

Haha! Glad to hear you like it! I’m well. New video is coming very soon.

@undergroundretail 2 года назад

The dislikes are from the former employees who got fired 😂.

@smoothkaos7099 2 года назад

im the homosexual boy on the left with my sister at the 1 second mark omgggg

@chungkingcansuckit6345 Год назад

Man did Service Merchandise SUCK. You go in store, and have NO clue what they sell. You'd have to flip through a catalog. I wanna see and touch stuff with my hand. Not ask some employee to go get it and then what if I wanted to see something else? Gets pretty annoying if you're browsing the backs of NES (Nintendo) cartridges for descriptions and images. I'd probably look at 15 or 20 games before making a decision. The place in the next town over from me was small up front. I remember it mostly boring shit that I wouldn't be interested in like jewelry and watches.

@PostMortar Год назад

It was certainly a strange format.

@countmegabaron Год назад

LIke the video, but what's up with the frequent deep nasal breathing sound in the background every 30 seconds or so? Quite annoying and difficult to ignore after you notice it.

@PostMortar Год назад

I can’t hear what you mean, but it’s probably the mic picking up my breathing in a weird way. I had a different audio set up at the time, so it could’ve been anything. Thanks for watching!

@mimusic1853 2 года назад

Could’ve been 10 minutes shorter

@PostMortar 2 года назад

This was the last video where I included a lot of unnecessary research. I thought it was important to the story, which is debatable, but a 20 minute video on Service Merchandise was unneeded. I keep it on the skinny now, and most videos are about 10 minutes.