phantom tollbooths in Davis Sq. ...

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

apropos of nothing and not a serious proposal but I was thinking about sales taxes last night, the discussion of tolls on 93 south and something to do with all the border violence going on in the world these days. Suddenly I had this image of tollbooths/checkpoints on the roads entering Davis Sq. Weird but interesting to speculate on.

The growth in popularity of the sq. has brought higher rents and housing prices, higher prices in stores and bars and general gentrification. The city of Somerville and the property owners benefit but the residents don't. Would be interesting to have a toll that went to offset the costs of gentrification to people who actually live here.

Comments

Re: Marketing sometimes takes more than a sign

[komos.livejournal.com]

I'm not confused. I am simply attempting to explain what McKinnon's does. They sell meat, and their signage is meant to attract people who wish to purchase meat. That they have pickles and asparagus is incidental to the fact that they sell meat. If they were really interested in pushing the pickles or asparagus, they would put signs up for pickles and asparagus. Instead, they put up signs for meat. You have said that putting up signs for meat just says to you that they're selling animals as food, and because you find that offensive, you are unlikely to go in to see what else is there. What you've not understood is that because their primary goal is to sell meat and not pickles and asparagus, having signs that push something other than meat is counterproductive to what they are trying to accomplish, which oddly enough is to sell meat.

The other examples I brought up were an attempt to illustrate just how absurd the idea that a butcher marketing something other than meat is. Does their signage affect their ability to sell to vegetarians? Probably, but since they are a butcher, it's probably safe to assume that they didn't really have vegetarians in mind when they opened.

By extension, that a butcher uses signs that advertise meat is a very good marketing technique, considering that they're in business to sell meat. Your assumption that they are losing business because they don not cater to your specialized needs is partly correct, but that business lost is so infinitessimal that it is effectively irrelevant. On the other hand, if they didn't attract their core demographic - namely, omnivores and other meat-eaters - with the promise of meat, they would lose significant amounts of business because these are the people to whom they are trying to sell. Your example began as flawed because you assumed that they were a "weird little grocery store" instead of a specialty market. It continues to be flawed because of your insistence that a handful of vegetarians never going in because they assume that they only sell meat should even cause a butcher to raise an eyebrow.

Re: Marketing sometimes takes more than a sign

[turil.livejournal.com]

I guess I give up. I'm really not interested in McKinnons at all. I was only using it as an example. I really couldn't care less what they sell or who they are. It really doesn't matter to me, and I'm sorry you've felt the need to spend so much time explaining it to me.