Warren Thayer

Wow. Ryan really, really nailed it.

Well, there goes my retirement job. Actually, I've seen this shift happening for many moons in some Walmarts I've visited. Makes sense, better use of personnel today. I don't see this as a big deal one way or the other.

Well, it sure beats "9-9-9." But I'm glad to see "anything that helps" succeed. I hope it remains niche. Once it becomes "scalable to the masses," it won't be cool, and this little trend-let will be over.

With beer at $5 and wines at $7-$9, I don't think that guy in Los Angeles has to worry about having to deal with many drunks. I think it'll fly, albeit with some ruffled feathers making headlines for awhile. But of course it'll be harder than ever to get...

I'm not a foodie, but I'm a diabetic, and it stinks. I'd not even heard of Paula Deen until this big flap. It appalls me, sort of like someone with emphysema or lung cancer pitching cigarettes. It would be far better of her to work on recipes for diabetics....

Penney needs excitement and differentiation more than anything else. I'd have done more work there first, before switching to EDLP. Maybe there are other strategies waiting in the wings, set to be rolled out. I hope so.

Good points from everyone. This just underscores the need for brick and mortar to make more and better use of online to remain competitive.

Well, how can you NOT agree with all this? To my mind, everything here has always been a part of good customer service, and to me, at least, adding new terms to it and trying to break it into components is, well, just not really adding anything new or...

These are good, practical ideas that seem worthwhile. But I also love the Instant Poll showing just what I expected: significant confusion.

Good comments all, but I think Carlos totally nailed it with "Fresh & Easy has behaved as the foreign kid in school who fails to embrace the host culture." The only added point I would make is that the stores, especially the ones in poor locations, sure could use...