Racism in retailing. It’s not an issue that many retail companies want to acknowledge, let alone discuss.
Yet lots of tony retailers choose to run their advertisements only in high-income communities, where coincidentally, most residents are white.
Many African-American shoppers complain that they are followed about by store security people who tag them as potential shoplifters when they walk through the door.
Just last year, Eddie Bauer was ordered to pay $1 million in damages to three black youths who were wrongly accused of shoplifting. One of the youths was forced to take off his T-shirt because an outside security guard thought he had stolen it.
Now comes more evidence that African-American consumers are a growing and important part of the economy that no retailer can afford to alienate or ignore.
A study by the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth found that the purchasing power of black consumers is on track to eclipse $500 million in 1998, almost a 6 percent increase from 1997 and up 63 percent from 1990.
The growth rate for black buying power far exceeds the increase for overall U.S. buying power and is 2.5 times greater than the inflation rate this decade.
Nationally, black consumers are projected to account for 8.2 percent of total buying power in 1999, up from 7.4 percent in 1990, the study says. In Illinois alone, African-Americans are expected to spend $29.4 billion during 1999.
“Income growth this consistent and this widespread should create tremendous opportunities for businesses that pay attention to the needs and preferences of African-American consumers,” said Jeffrey M. Humphreys, director of economic forecasting at the University of Georgia and the study’s author.
Sure it should. The question is when will all U.S. retailers recognize that everybody’s money is the same color.
Moving in: Another European retailer is moving into the ground floor of the Bloomingdale’s building at 900 North Michigan Avenue. The newcomer is Lalique, a French luxury-goods maker best known for its expensive and elaborate crystal creations.
The 1,260-square-foot boutique, which will open in September, will carry Lalique’s silk scarves, jewelry, perfume and leather goods in addition to its trademark crystal figures and vases.
Opening a freestanding boutique on the Magnificent Mile didn’t seem like much of a risk to Lalique’s North American operation, which has four other stores in the United States. Chicago membership in the Lalique Collector’s Society is at an all-time high, and Illinois ranks second in membership, trailing only New York.
But for Lalique to get the space it wanted fronting Michigan Avenue, another European retailer had to move. Pavillon Christofle and Rue Royale, two related boutiques offering French china, silverplate and decorative accessories, have relocated to a much bigger space at the back of the mall, near the entrance to Bloomingdale’s.
Christofle’s owner, Nina Terzian, tells us she isn’t worried about customers finding her. “People asked me, `How can you move off Michigan Avenue?’ I’ve been here for 10 years. People know me. They won’t be able to miss it.”
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She’s also not fretting that Lalique’s crystal offerings will compete with Christofle, which produces only stemware. “Lalique isn’t competition. It’s only a complement. I’ll be their best customer.”
Moving on: Paulette Garafalo, a former executive with Salvatore Ferragamo, has been named group president of Hartmarx Corp. In her new position, Garafalo will oversee the company’s Hickey-Freeman high-end suit line as well as its Bobby Jones International line of golf apparel.