Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Retailing

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WT:RETAIL

This page is within the scope of WikiProject Retailing, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of retailing on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.RetailingWikipedia:WikiProject RetailingTemplate:WikiProject RetailingRetailing

Retailing To-do List:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Assess : SM Lanang Premier
Copyedit : Retailing in India
Expand : :- Please expand this project's list of articles. The subcategories of Category:Retailers is also an excellent starting point.
- Expand this project's image gallery page

- More articles for expansion: Automated retail, Big-box store, Chain store, Hypermarket, Store manager
NPOV : Retail loss prevention
Photo : Retail design
Stubs : Leakage (retail), Retail geography
Verify : Department store, Discount store, Retail clerk, Retail in the Republic of Ireland, Retail media, Retail software, Suggested retail price
Other : * Please add this project's banner {{WikiProject Retailing}} to retail-related talk pages. Also, bots can be utilized to automate this task.
- Also, add biographies to the articles list.

–When a task is completed, please remove it from the list.

Notes

I would note the following:

A company's business model is a major source of criticism (e.g. importing from China → criticism about wages in China) so the criticism section should be just below the "business model" section.
The philanthropy section should immediately follow, and should not need to be the same size. NPOV &neq; equal time for each POV. Criticism responses should be in the criticism section - for example "(criticism about wages in China → claims that the wages are actually quite good for the Chinese)" - which clearly does not belong in the philanthropy section.
As is standard on Wikipedia, External links is seperate from Further Reading.

Yours, r3m0t ^talk 09:48, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your response. I have made changes based off of what you have suggested. The External links vs. Further reading thing I got from WP:CITE#Further reading/external links, which suggests that it doesn't matter since you can read both printed and online material anyways. I suppose it would only matter depending on how many non-referenced works are listed in the article, and the personal style preference of the editor. Tuxide 23:18, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Newsletter just a little over the top

I think that the newsletter to the user talk pages is just a tad over the top. Here's why: most people who are involved in the project will have the page watchlisted, and therefore will be able to follow a newsletter posted to the project's talk page. Thoughts? SchuminWeb (Talk) 04:20, 5 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If we were to do another newsletter, should we make the user talk page thing opt-in, I suppose? I had no intention of doing another one unless we really want it or it was absolutely necessary, since bored people leave quickly. I got the idea from User:Caldorwards4's talk page, since he's the one that's subscribed to such a service. If you really want to know, I pulled off a September one primarily because I needed a quick and dirty way to streamline information for the first time, and it was easy for me to send it without using a bot since I was only messaging four people, excluding myself. What I am interested in knowing is, do we really want to keep it? This is open to feedback. Regards, Tuxide 04:38, 5 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Opt-in, or just ditch it entirely for posting to user talk pages. I have no problem with the newsletter. I just think that here is a better place for it than in the user talk page. SchuminWeb (Talk) 04:57, 5 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Now that I think about it, opt-out might be better since anonymous users don't have watchlists. You can't take advantage of something that you don't know about, but then again that is the justification that all other spam uses. Oh well, for whoever it bothers (if any), you have my permission to remove the one I posted yesterday from your own talk page. Tuxide 04:24, 6 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've just noticed that WP:WPTC has an option that allows users to either be notified when a newsletter becomes available, or to have the whole newsletter be sent to them. There is also a mailing list. Tuxide 00:46, 7 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On a similar note, have you thought about making a template in the Wikipedia namespace (like as a subpage for the project) for users to place in their user space? This could be similar to what The Wikipedia Signpost does with their {{signpost-subscription}} template. This would allow users who subscribe to see it right on their userpages, and would probably be a lot less cumbersome to update. SchuminWeb (Talk) 08:04, 7 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Like User:Tuxide/Sandbox/retailing-subscription or would rationale instead of a list of links be more useful? Tuxide 20:45, 11 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What you came up with seems to work. SchuminWeb (Talk) 00:07, 12 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Done, all I have to do is move it into another namespace and put some instructions for posting. I've also created another page called Wikipedia:WikiProject Retailing/Noticeboard so other members can post their own notices as they wish (for example, links to discussions concerning major edits that need attention, etc.). As far as User:Tuxide/Sandbox/retailing-subscription, I am planning on moving it into the Template namespace unless anyone objects. Tuxide 16:50, 16 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

{{retailing-subscription}} is now available. Tuxide 05:42, 28 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

IRC

Any of you use IRC (particularly freenode)? I don't know if any of you are interested, but you can usually find me on the #wikipedia channel. We could have a channel for our WikiProject Retailing, too. Tuxide 05:38, 28 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

October 2006 newsletter

I have created Wikipedia:WikiProject Retailing/20061001 newsletter for October, although something needs to be put into it! Hrm... Now is your opportunity to put something in here and make your voice heard to the rest of the WikiProject. Feel free to edit it as you see fit, for real life is keeping me busy (university studies). When it's done, a link to it should go onto Wikipedia:WikiProject Retailing/Noticeboard. Regards, Tuxide 06:37, 28 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Last call for additions/edits made to Wikipedia:WikiProject Retailing/20061001 newsletter. If nothing else, I will post it tonight.

I have created Wikipedia:WikiProject Retailing/20061101 newsletter for November, just as before. Again, its content is open for anyone to decide upon. I am quite busy in college, and I don't know if I'll have the time I need to add to this before the start of November. Regards, Tuxide 19:40, 25 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have created Wikipedia:WikiProject Retailing/20061201 newsletter for December, like the other two. If somebody could, please fill the newsletter with content for the time being. It is dead week in my university, so I probably won't be able to write one until after my finals next week. Regards, Tuxide 02:00, 7 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Project directory

Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 21:21, 25 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Shopping malls

Should shopping malls be covered under this project? They are covered under WikiProject Architecture, but most malls are composed of a group of retailers in the same area for convenience. Plus articles on individual shopping malls wikilink to articles under this project such as Macy's. --Geopgeop 08:54, 15 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think so, some of the more interesting shopping malls (such as Southdale Center) were started by retailing companies. Also, Category:Shopping malls is a subcategory of Category:Retailers. Tuxide 00:15, 16 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Day Awards

Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 22:58, 29 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

John Geisse

Dear Tuxide, Thank you for your article on John F. Geisse. I updated it a bit. Rowley's book is fairly good on Target but she failed to get the inside true story on Dad. I've sent her the corrections but no update as yet. Discount Store News Markowitz (the late) was very accurate in his history of discount stores......look for 25th anniversay material circa 1987. His work was encyclopedic and Dad said very accurate. Thomas Geisse —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tjgtjg (talk • contribs).

Thought I would add that Thomas Geisse is still editing his father's article. Tuxide (talk) 12:09, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New WikiProject Retailing template

I have designed a new boilerplate for WikiProject Retailing based on what is usually found on talk pages. This one is the same size as the other boilerplates. New features include a warning when not placed on talk pages or the Wikipedia namespace, and a small parameter, when set to yes it makes a smaller version of itself suitable for talk pages with a plethora of templates on them. Some also have this small feature, like {{FACfailed}}. The sec parameter is still there also. The reason I made this is to make it more standardized and to make it easily expandable in case this WikiProject gets called upon to do that assessment thing. This isn't our official boilerplate yet, so feel free to comment on it. Regards, Tuxide 08:54, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Edit: Removed redlink, the template is now our official one. Tuxide 05:20, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry I've been terribly busy in college this semester. Spring break is next week; I'll try to write a newsletter to catch up from the beginning of the year. Much has happened in this WikiProject since this year started. Tuxide 01:52, 6 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Myer

Anyone else feel the list of stores is unnecessary Nil Einne 16:15, 28 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've started discussion on Wikipedia:WikiProject Retailing/Listings of former locations a couple days ago. In my opinion it's more like a style problem opposed to whether it's notable; WP:CORP states that a list of Wal-Marts in China could be informative. Tuxide 18:07, 28 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Main Page

As of today, Wikipedia's main page has this on it:

Picture of the day

Aisles of packaged food in a Fred Meyer hypermarket in Portland, Oregon. A hypermarket is a combination of a supermarket and a department store, and the Fred Meyer chain is one of the pioneers of the hypermarket format in the United States. Kroger, which owns Fred Meyer, is the top grocery retailer and the third largest general retailer in the country.Photo credit: Lyza Danger

Archive – More featured pictures...

Tuxide 06:43, 29 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

New page

I just created this page for any Retailing articles that need expert attention. If you think a page needs attention, please add it. TenPoundHammer 01:29, 15 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject Fashion

A new WikiProject, called WikiProject Fashion was created last month and I was asked by them to introduce it here. Many articles within our scope about retailers and private label brands also fit within their scope: I view the difference between the two projects being that our approach is to illustrate the impact of these retailers from a business perspective, while their approach is to illustrate the impact of these retailers from a social perspective. You might've seen articles about department stores become categorized under Category:Clothing retailers, Category:Fashion (which became too big of a category), etc. Much discussion exists on their talk page about further categorizing articles about retailers, and suggests our involvement/comment. Regards, Tuxide 21:14, 21 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Tuxide asked me to explain here what this project could do to help ours. Well, right now, just look at any article that's tagged for both projects (clothing retailers and major US department store chains, mainly, at the moment) and make sure that it's good from a retailing perspective (i.e., good discussion of the chain from a business perspective) while we'll try to get something in there about the impact on fashion (A good example of a chain where there's something to write from both perspectives: The Gap, which I just moved to this project).

We've also got some articles on influential single boutiques like Biba where, if someone has some knowledge from the retail side that could be added, should be. Daniel Case 05:58, 3 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Another area of overlap is with biographical articles about people like Stanley Marcus, the late CEO of Neiman Marcus, who was a pioneer in fashion retailing. Lawikitejana 01:49, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Need an infobox?

It would be good if there were an infobox template for biographies of retailing CEOs. (See Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography for info on similar infoboxes.) Lawikitejana 01:49, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Userbox

I've created a userbox for WP:RETAIL at Template:User WikiProject Retailing. Cheers! WODUP 03:00, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Shopping centre anchors

Over at Wikiproject Shopping Centres, there has been some discussion on tenant and anchor lists. Thoughts and comments would be most appreciated at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Shopping Centers#Anchors and tenants. Thanks. Skeezix1000 18:17, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fisher's Big Wheel

Just letting y'all know about a newly created page on Fisher's Big Wheel. Ten Pound Hammer • ^{(Broken clamshells•Otter chirps•Review?)} 05:26, 11 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed deletions

27 September 2007 - expires 2 October

Food Pyramid (grocery store) (via WP:PROD)

History of House of Fraser (via WP:PROD)

--User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 20:57, 30 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

Frank Westwood (via WP:PROD on 30 September 2007) Deleted

RSS feed

I just realized that an RSS feed existed for Special:RecentChangesLinked/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Retailing/Articles now, for those who like to watch pages related to WP:RETAIL without actually having to go to this website or populating your watchlist. I don't know when they made that addition to MediaWiki, but it's about time. Tuxide (talk) 02:23, 13 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good Article nominee: Stanley Marcus

I have two requests:

1. editors to further improve the article
2. editors to review the article

Stanley Marcus is a major figure in the history of retail, and it would be appropriate for the article on him to reach Good Article status — on the way to Featured, of course. Please note that to date I have been unable to find a noncopyrighted photo of Marcus to use, though in the section about one of his books, I was able to make fair use of a book jacket that has his photo on the cover. I want to make sure we don't use an image that will get pulled, as that can drag an article down. Thanks for your assistance! Lawikitejana (talk) 12:46, 25 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Articles flagged for cleanup

Currently, 427 articles are assigned to this project, of which 209, or 48.9%, are flagged for cleanup of some sort. (Data as of 14 July 2008.) Are you interested in finding out more? I am offering to generate cleanup to-do lists on a project or work group level. See User:B. Wolterding/Cleanup listings for details. More than 150 projects and work groups have already subscribed, and adding a subscription for yours is easy - just place a template on your project page.

If you want to respond to this canned message, please do so at my user talk page; I'm not watching this page. --B. Wolterding (talk) 16:41, 28 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Crutchfield Corporation

The article "Crutchfield" should be renamed, "Crutchfield Corporation" which is the correct name of the company described in the article. Virginian corporations are required by law to include in their names an identifier such as "Corporation", "Corp.", "Inc.", or "Ltd.", to show that they are corporations and not individuals or partnerships.

The title "Crutchfield" should be reserved for an article on the English surname, which many notable persons have borne, including Cuba Island Crutchfield, the cowboy rope spinner and associate of Will Rodgers; James P. Crutchfield, the physicist; Jimmie Crutchfield, the Negro League baseball great; and Will Crutchfield, the opera conductor.

Assement scale

If this project ever becomes active again, Template:WikiProject Retailing could use an upgrade to accept grades on the Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment scale. -- Beland (talk) 21:47, 4 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Restaurants In Steinbach's Department Stores

In the article on Steinbach's Department Stores, it states that only the Asbury Park Store had a restaurant in 1978. Stores in Manalapan Mall, Shoreview Mall, and Seaview Square Mall, all had restaurants well after the Asbury Park store closed. I was the Manager of the Manalapan restaurant from April, 1978 until April, 1979. I came back as the General Manager of all 3 opearting restaurants for a year from August, 1980 until August, 1981. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.86.93.166 (talk) 19:48, 20 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Store lists

It seems like a decision was made to not include store lists are not allowed in articles. Some of us, like myself, User:Pubdog, User:Datrain021 and User:JaredCMH support store lists, while User:SchuminWeb and User:TenPoundHammer do not. Let's open discussion on this issue. --DangApricot (talk) 22:07, 23 April 2009 (UTC) 98.28.197.0 (talk) 23:50, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Individual branch stores are not individually notable, and the information provided is often original research and unverifiable. Unless one can find a reliable source for each individual location, it can be challenged and removed, as TenPoundHammer and I have done. Flagship locations may have notability, but your typical branch location is not notable. Additionally, store lists run afoul of WP:NOT#DIRECTORY, specifically number six, which states that Wikipedia is not "a complete exposition of all possible details". In the case of operating businesses, this can fall afoul of WP:SPAM as well.

In the case of defunct businesses, what became of former store locations is not relevant in the context of the company. In the normal course of business, when a company ceases operations, all assets are disposed of, and that includes the buildings that housed the stores. It doesn't make them special. Thus it is not notable, for instance, that a Hecht's store closed, the building briefly became an IFL Furniture location following Hecht's closure, and now sits vacant. Additionally, to say so without reliable sources to back up the claim makes the statement original research, which is prohibited under Wikipedia policies. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:00, 24 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Additionally, while it appears that no retail chain articles have made it to featured status, I did take a look through the good articles listings, and found NBA Store, Poundland, and Wal-Mart as retail store articles that have achieved good article status. None of these include listings of current or former locations in their articles. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:11, 24 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

For defunct chains, one of the more notable topics is former locations. It's by definition not spam or advertising since the store is long out of business. And it's notable because, if you search news archives, half the time the chain name comes up is to talk about former locations. It seems Schumin's blankings are not supported by consensus. --Chiliad22 (talk) 15:44, 2 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would argue to the contrary. See Talk:Big Bear Stores#Edit warring where TenPoundHammer describes why these are not appropriate, stating precedents in deletion discussions. SchuminWeb (Talk) 19:40, 2 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

But I'm not arguing for a standalone article. I'm sure there are sections in nearly any article that would be deleted as standalone articles. His proposal for listing notable locations is probably a good one, especially when there are more than a handful of locations to list. But running around blanking any list you come across is counterproductive toward that goal. If a referenced list builds up over time, and becomes overlong or trivial, then we can weed out the excess information. But if we just blank lists on site, they'll never get anywhere. Wikipedia is a work in progress, after all. --Chiliad22 (talk) 19:46, 2 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Let's see if we can find some of the discussions in question and see what the arguments are. SchuminWeb (Talk) 21:42, 2 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Bloomingdales locations, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Bloomingdale's locations (separate discussion), Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Parisian locations. Ten Pound Hammer and his otters • ^{(Many otters • One hammer • HELP)} 23:17, 2 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't deny articles that just list locations are directory-like. But I think there is some place for covering (as opposed to just listing) locations in the main article, and I think going on sprees blanking any content that looks like a location list is counterproductive. Wikipedia is a work in progress... I think sloppy coverage of locations could evolve into good coverage, especially if it was tagged rather than blanked. --Chiliad22 (talk) 23:36, 2 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You also still have not addressed a key point: If lists of locations of operating stores are not notable and established by precedent as not notable (no one, for instance, would even consider listing all 3,000-some Wal-Mart locations in the Wal-Mart article), what makes the individual locations notable when the company is out of business? We contend it's not. Additionally, for those articles about retail establishments that have made it to GA status, they have no store listings. SchuminWeb (Talk) 00:44, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

One of the store chain GAs has only 3 locations and spends the bulk of the article covering those 3 locations. With small chains, listing (and eventually covering in prose) individual locations just makes sense. Like I said, prose coverage of locations is preferable, but that's what we're working toward. Blanking stops that work in its tracks, tagging lists as needing references, and then as needing conversion to text, would be much more productive. I don't think anything I've said suggests I think we should be listing 3,000 Wal-Mart locations, but covering notable locations (largest stores, stores where the company introduced a new business model, etc.) is a part of a theoretical good article on a chain. --Chiliad22 (talk) 01:13, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That's what we've been trying to get at - flagship stores, prototype stores, and the like are possibly notable and worthy of inclusion. Most individual stores, however, are not notable, and are not suitable for inclusion, even in list format. SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:05, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't really want to get into this, but if the location or some relation between the units is notable, then it should be in prose in the history section (or wherever appropriate), not in tabular form. Target Corporation#History is a good example; instead of listing them all, it prosifies the history of important unit openings in terms of what states the chain expanded to. I suggest if there are any directory sections left they should be marked with {{Prose}}. Tuxide (talk) 06:46, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Now that's what I'm talking about. Showing expansion of the chain is notable in the context of the company as a whole. However, individual branch stores are still not notable, as listing individual locations falls into WP:NOT#DIRECTORY. Additionally, listing a similar method as in the Target article in regard to store closings, that also would be notable for the company as a whole, saying XYZ company closed X number of units in X number of states as part of whatever store-closing event. Listing out individual closed locations and what happened to the building is still not notable in the context of the company as a whole. Regarding tagging with the {{prose}} template, I don't see where unreferenced lists will convert to prose in the form described. They should still be removed outright, as they don't serve any purpose, and the prose created from scratch. Tagging is just a copout in this case, akin to the user on my talk page who suggested I warn users rather than remove these lists. What good will that do? SchuminWeb (Talk) 15:59, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm assuming there are parts that do pass WP:V, or otherwise WP:N and would pass WP:V if we weren't seeking an ideal lazy way out. Either way the lists should be removed entirely. Tuxide (talk) 04:35, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Removing the lists entirely hides any sources the list might cite, which would be useful to converting to prose. The whole reason I'm here is the Times Square Stores article where I added references to show the list was verifiable, but it kept getting blanked anyway. I think it's a bad idea to just blank them entirely... Wikipedia is a work in progress and it's best to tag sections and let editors improve them over time than just remove anything that isn't an ideal section right off the bat. --Chiliad22 (talk) 03:29, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The references still exist in the history - no content is lost even if the list is removed from the current revision, and so the references are still locatable and usable even if the list is not in the most recent revision. SchuminWeb (Talk) 04:14, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Very few people go through the history, the idea of adding tags in general rather than just blanking any problems is that people will see the tags and make edits to address them. If it's buried in the history even experienced Wikipedians usually forget about it, so casual editors would never realize it was there. I don't get what the big deal is... in most cases we're talking about articles that are lacking content anyway. I could understand if article length was a concern... but for short articles like Times Square Stores there's no length concern, there's no harm in an in-progress section. --Chiliad22 (talk) 04:22, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

-- SchuminWeb's orginal argument for deleting the Talk:Big Bear Stores#Edit warring Big Bear Stores list was because it was not verifiable -- I have an orignal document from the company listing the stores. I noted this information in 2006 when I added the list to the page. Let's end this argument and put back the list the way it was. JaredCMH 98.28.197.0 (talk) 23:50, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

--- I have had numerous store lists deleted --- ref AM&A's, L. L. Berger, Best & Co., Garfinckel's, Goldblatt's, Harzfeld's, Hecht's, Joseph R. Harris Co., Hengerer's, Hens and Kelly, Jelleff's, Lansburgh's,Miller & Rhoads, Miller's of Tennessee, Raleigh Haberdasher, Sattler's, and Woodward & Lothrop. The store locations lists were built using materials referenced in the article or through store ads found in The Washington Post. This didn't seem to matter to those intent on enforcing the "rule" of "Wikipedia is not a directory." On Franklin Simon & Co. in particular, I listed the locations at the closure of the company from the bankruptcy notice posted in the Washington Post. That did not seem to matter either. After countless lunch hours and spare time spent on building what I thought would be useful information for historians of defunct retail companies, it is just sad to see all that work gone. Oh well ... after all these months it is certainly a losing battle. I very much appreciate --Chiliad22 and JaredCMH trying again.--Pubdog (talk) 17:24, 21 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am puzzled by two of the arguments frequently raised.

(1) That store lists are not verifiable. If anyone challenges that a particular store existed, various local history sources can be consulted to support or oppose the challenge. Stores are generally well documented.

(2) That store lists are not notable. The notability policy WP:N does not apply within articles, only for article creation and deletion.

I would be interested to hear the opposing point of view on those matters.

--Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 15:01, 9 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

--- I would like to chime in here with a comment comparison. Let's compare store lists to episode lists. What makes lists of episodes of a particular show so important that they are relevant to Wikipedia, where a list of stores of a retailing chain is not? I would argue that an episode list IS important, (I myself use Wikipedia in this way several times a week). Dates of airing, Titles of episodes, and other notable data are included in most of these lists on Wikipedia now.

I would carry this over to store lists, and argue, even considering WP:NOT#DIRECTORY, that at the very least, a listing of Store locations SHOULD be included for historical and posterity reasons, and being that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia of useful information, it ought to have such lists as reference material. As a casual searcher looking at a defunct company like Big Bear Stores I would want to know that they had a store down the street from XYZ, and it was open during such and such a date.

Information that is included in the list should be relevant. Store #, Address, Opening date, Closing Date, Notable info (firsts, and lasts, etc...) need to be included. I would agree, however, that information like Phone numbers (certainly a WP:NOT#DIRECTORY trait, and store manager listings, should not be included because they really don't add anything substantive. SchuminWeb's previous argument that store lists can almost never be complete should have very little to do with List compiling, as the purpose to Wikipedia is that we all add information to make a complete article, and through revision we will arrive at the best information at any one time. In the case of Big Bear Stores I have a complete list. Verified by source material compiled by the company itself for anniversary celebrations, it is located at the Ohio Historical Society to which I am a member. It was itself collated (and can be re-collated) from published annual business newsletters, and newspapers which listed exact date information as it occurred. It is also been double checked as correct by dozens of former management including myself. As far a calling that source reliable, I can only say that the data included is as accurate as humanly possible. This I believe would fit the WP:V and WP:NOR policies with primary and secondary sources covered.

I would quote WP:NOT#DIRECTORY directly: Of course, there is nothing wrong with having lists if their entries are famous because they are associated with or significantly contribute to the list topic. Wikipedia also includes reference tables and tabular information for quick reference.

and

although mention of major events, promotions or historically significant programme lists and schedules may be acceptable.

Both of these points go directly to listing stores for quick reference, and for historically significant data.

I have been sitting on the sidelines watching this edit/re-edit, for years, and just want to upload my data so that persons like Chiliad22 and JaredCMH can learn this information. Araymond424 (talk) 05:12, 15 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Buy.com Wiki entry...

Just curious...if Wikipedia is to be a useful tool for shoppers, I think that articles should checked for authenticity. The Buy.com page seems to be critical of the business' practices, yet the final paragraph seems to be something that the company itself may have added to to article, in an attempt to gloss over its shortcomings. Here's the final paragraph...I'd like to know if this was a late addition to the article and who placed it there...the company/one of their lackeys?

"Buy.com is a leading e-commerce company focused on providing its customers with a positive shopping experience and a broad selection of high-quality technology and entertainment retail goods at competitive prices. Buy.com offers over 2 million products in a range of categories including consumer electronics, computer hardware and software, cell phones, books, music, videos, games, digital music downloads, toys and sporting goods. Individuals and businesses can shop quickly and easily at Buy.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week".

Of course, the critical comments may be bogus too. I'd like to know what to believe! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.243.96.118 (talk) 08:57, 28 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WP 1.0 bot announcement

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Sales management

Please could someone take a look at Sales management. Thanks thisisace (talk) 22:01, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

CfD discussion that needs additional input

Help is needed in reorganizing Category:Markets at this discussion. If you can help, please place any comments there. Vegaswikian (talk) 18:30, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

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Retail Loss Prevention Article

We are inviting comments and input on the retail loss prevention article. We just published a major revision to that article and would like to hear from people interested in this topic. Thank you. Usgrant7 (talk) 18:06, 28 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Input duly providd. Your article was egregiously promotional, but do feel free to propose neutrally worded amendments on the talk page (don't edit directrly, obviously, due to your conflict of interest). Guy (Help!) 16:28, 22 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Poundland

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National Furniture Supply

450 Piedmont Ave, Atlanta, GA, 30308, Ph: 877-225-0804

Hey Guys, I work for this company and requested an article to be written about the company on the organization request page - Please someone take out time to write a small article about the company. It will help everyone who want to know more about the company. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vipulpratap (talk • contribs) 06:40, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Requested Move - Apple Store = Apple Retail Store

Discussion on Talk:Apple Store. Please take a look. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 09:29, 13 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

GAR

Criticism of Walmart, an article that you or your project may be interested in, has been nominated for an individual good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Dana boomer (talk) 16:54, 6 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

One of your project's articles has been featured

Hello,
Please note that Grocery store, which is within this project's scope, has been selected as one of Today's articles for improvement. The article was scheduled to appear on Wikipedia's Community portal in the "Today's articles for improvement" section for one week, beginning today. Everyone is encouraged to collaborate to improve the article. Thanks, and happy editing!
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Hello there! As you may already know, most WikiProjects here on Wikipedia struggle to stay active after they've been founded. I believe there is a lot of potential for WikiProjects to facilitate collaboration across subject areas, so I have submitted a grant proposal with the Wikimedia Foundation for the "WikiProject X" project. WikiProject X will study what makes WikiProjects succeed in retaining editors and then design a prototype WikiProject system that will recruit contributors to WikiProjects and help them run effectively. Please review the proposal here and leave feedback. If you have any questions, you can ask on the proposal page or leave a message on my talk page. Thank you for your time! (Also, sorry about the posting mistake earlier. If someone already moved my message to the talk page, feel free to remove this posting.) Harej (talk) 22:48, 1 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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Harej (talk) 16:56, 14 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Apple in retail

Reading this Wiki I have the distinct impression that Apple jumped into the retail scene in 2001 and exploded. There's no mention of the previous 20 years of attempts at the retail market and the direct-to-consumer stores that Apple struggled with for many years. Why? If the answer is, well, this is about "Apple Store," and since we used to call it something else, let's just forget about that history - then that's disingenuous at best, fraudulent at worst and has no place in a community dedicated to truth and transparency. If I missed it, my bad, but it should be at the very start of the page, front and center, e.g. - Apple's first entrance into the retail space was in 1981 (substitute the actual year) and its stores.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.114.132.30 (talk) 19:45, 10 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Be bold or if in doubt, discuss your sources at Talk:Apple Store. There is some history from 1997 on already in the article. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 12:33, 11 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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