Talk:Service Merchandise

Best Buy
Was Best Buy truly the only electronics company to place pressure on Service Merchandise? This smells a little funny.

Actually, as a former electronics department employee for SMC, I can say it was Wal-Mart and the fact that SMC had such a small selection of items, plus virtually no product training for employees. There was also a horrible return policy of only 7 days.24.211.211.161 (talk) 03:53, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Service merch logo.gif
Image:Service merch logo.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 04:04, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Service logo.jpg
Image:Service logo.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 04:04, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Service Merchandise.gif
Image:Service Merchandise.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 04:04, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Bill Cosby
I remember that Bill Cosby was used in some of their advertising. Does anyone know anything about this? -- Suso 04:27, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Locations
Were there really only the four New York locations listed in the article? I'm pretty sure I remember one in Valley Stream on Long Island. Phaded 00:52, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Demise of Service Merchandise
Having been an employee of Service Merchandise from 1987-1995, the demise of Service Merchandise was severalfold, and in my opinion, not due to pressure by other retailers such as Best Buy or Wal Mart.

In approximately 1993, there was shift in management from Raymond Zimmerman to another (I forget his name) who was responsible for transforming the retailer from a catalog based showroom to a "boutique retail store" (their words, not mine). Although good in intention, it alienated the vast majority of loyal SMC customers, who liked the catalog.

As noted in the article, SMC did not embrace the internet at all. In late 1994, the company started producing catalog CD-ROMs, but that is as far as the technology went. In retrospect, what better company was there to take advantage of the internet than SMC? They already had the catalog structure & distribution channels in place.

The lack of understanding of their customers and their failure to embrace the internet commerce movement was the reason for the decline of the company. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JessterCPA (talk • contribs)

The above poster is exactly correct. They didn't get the Internet in the same way Sears did not get it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meharpe (talk • contribs) 14:49, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

Internet Company?
I'm confused, i went to www.servicemerchandise.com expecting to see this internet company called service merchandise like the article says, but instead i get 99centstuff.com?!?!Grk1011 (talk) 04:40, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * The link on the article works and takes you to Service Merchandise.

Fair use rationale for Image:Service merch logo.gif
Image:Service merch logo.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 08:02, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Locations list
Please do not restore this list. It is unencyclopedic in both tone and content. Wikipedia is not a directory, even for a defunct chain.oknazevad (talk) 01:28, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Wheel of Fortune
Were Service Merchandise certificates ever used for any shows other than Teen Weeks, where the normal sponsors' certificates (e.g. Tiffany, Gucci, Gump's) weren't really tailored to kids that age? Even at that, the earlier Teen Week shows gave away U.S. Savings Bonds, which was effectively giving out cash, albeit at a 50% discount. — Preceding unsigned comment added by That Don Guy (talk • contribs) 16:02, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

Supposed restart as online retailer
I've removed all references to the supposed 2004 restart of this company as an online retailer. There were zero references for this claim, and it appears that if the online company ever did exist it was not actually the same company, but just a case of someone buying a defunct name. I'm very suspicious of this since one of the editors on this article was also involved in very similar claims about a supposed restart of another retailer Consumers Distributing as an online retailer. In both cases the webpages said "We are rebuilding the site to be better than ever. Please click here to join our contact list." It beggars belief that one online retailer would have such a webpage, let alone two. Meters (talk) 21:52, 7 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Six years since I removed it and IPs are still trying to add this unsourced claim. I still suspect that this is just the internet domain and name squatting that has affected several formal retailers. Even almost 20 years ago this article did not claim that the company was still in existence, just that the company name had been bought at at auction Meters (talk) 22:52, 17 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Raymond Zimmerman, the former CEO, acquired the name. So it isn't just domain squatting by an unrelated party. However, the old company was liquidated and he started a new one, so there isn't an organizational continuity. This 2004 Nashville Post article gives the basic info about it. There are some other articles about it online, but many of them are subscriber-only. --RL0919 (talk) 22:20, 31 July 2023 (UTC)

Former locations
A series of IPs have been attempting to add a long list of former store locations. Not only is this list completely unsourced, but it is simply not needed. 28 k (twice the size of the rest of the article) of former store locations is not useful, even if it we had reliable sources. Meters (talk) 21:18, 1 March 2019 (UTC)
 * A year later and still going on, and started in 2008 (see history and previous talk page thread by user:oknazevad ). Meters (talk) 03:28, 20 April 2020 (UTC)