My Customer on the L.A. Times

Read here: L.A. Times

Late Tuesday night before I was going to hit the sack, I noticed an r/c car on the front cover of the L.A. Times, business section. It was an HPI Baja 5b. Since the paper was folded again vertically by my mom, I only saw the car. Once I unfolded the paper (to my dismay), one of my best customers was on it. The header and sub-header threw me off guard.

This customer would spend thousands of dollars a week with me. I would literally talk to him everyday. I know a lot of his background by now. When I first met him, he paid us a few thousand in cash. Now a days people use company checks or credit/debit cards. Apparently his dad made a lot of money selling cabinets and shelving to department stores. For now, his family has enough money to weather through the economy.

I called him yesterday because some of his back orders came in. The first thing he said was "you read the paper." I told him I did. Right away, he assured me that he was not going anywhere. This was just an idea his Wife had, so they submitted it to the editor. If it was or was not a publicity stunt, it worked. His phone rang off the hook. Customers from all over called and a lot of them mentioned that they never heard of him. Like my good friend Hollywood Pete says, "no such thing as bad publicity."

With this torn economy, it's hard to say if he will last, but I am definitely crossing my fingers. He doesn't order close to what he did a few months ago, but he stocks most of my parts and I thank him for it. Times are tough and this holiday season is not looking sunny at all for most retailers. My current observation would suggest a low forecast and a small decrease in sales (5-10%) this holiday compared to 2008. Last year was already a drop from the following year. We just got to be optimistic and hope for the best.

Like we say in our office, "we need more Big Ballers."