Best Takes Steps To End Sales Slump Retailer Revamps Product Mix In An Attempt To Reverse Slide

People shopping for calculators or bicycles this Christmas will be out of luck at Best Products Co.

Due to continuing losses, the Richmond, Va.-based company is discontinuing certain items and moving toward selling more jewelry and housewares.

“The biggest change in the company’s history will begin in August,” said company spokesman Ross Richardson.

Best has two Spokane stores, one on the North Side, at 7630 N. Division, and one in the Valley, at 15312 E. Sprague.

Among the items that Best will stop carrying are: bicycles, home office electronics, video games, film processing, automotive electronics, calculators, music items, some sporting goods and selected toys.

“We expect to be out of all those categories by at least this Christmas,” Richardson said.

The phased-out merchandise will be replaced by housewares such as pillows, mattress pads and furniture, and more jewelry. Best will continue to carry home fitness products, such as treadmills and exercise cycles, in keeping with the new housewares theme.

Signs of the changes already are visible at the Best on North Division. Huge signs advertise a storewide clearance, and almost every toy is on sale. Conversely, the home decor section is filling up with new lamps, furniture and mirrors.

Best also is trying to make its stores more shopper-friendly. The stores will be transformed from catalogue showrooms to self-service stores. Customers no longer will fill out order forms for the merchandise they want.

The company also is eliminating its annual catalogue in favor of more print advertising, Richardson said.

Best, which operates 169 stores in 23 states, is taking these steps to reduce expenses by about $40 million annually. After losses in the last quarter of 1995, the company’s first-quarter sales of 1996 continued to decrease - to $269.8 million from $272.8 million during the same time period last year.

, DataTimes