European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 12, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Friday february 12,1988 readers sound off with criticism of cafes i m sure you Musl have received a deluge of mall on whether or no the Dicha Tilc is a bargain. The answer is yes and no. The bargains Are Here but far and few Between. You have to visit the Exchange Al least twice a week and Check Over every a k meticulously. However Many clothing items or so outrageously priced to begin with thai even Wilh cafes hacking off a Gener Ous 3d percent it s still Loci much. This is whal 1 feel hat made the Exchange Sci Cly a Nice place for officers wives to Ilion perhaps we need cos running cafes. Anyway we enlisted wives have to know what we re looking for shop around Check out the Yard sales and he Thrift shops the slips in town and then the Exchange. A Good Cia Mulc of the Dii parity Between the clothes real people Wear and what the Exchange offers when my daughter needed a jacket All the Exchange had was Lyndon fog for kids for gun. Sakcs these had no hoods or pockets. Hut . Pc Nncy s did and that s where we bought it. Of col. Gilbert. 1 say this our is change docs not sell the kind of clothes i Wiir every Day to shop in play Wilh the kids Wash the Rar Etc. I.e., Plain jeans Puli Over sweaters and Oxford Type shins. These ought to he in regular Slock in no just special  this is Why. Of my age my Mother Mill sends me clothes Kathy bin Garten curse hum Chin Nunn England editor s note Bri. Gen. Joseph t. Ella commander Liq , replies the Mission of cafes is to provide Quality goods and services while generating earnings Rar support Al army and air i orce morale welfare and by lion of trims. I want of to it new thai purchasing and stocking of inexpensive Quality clothing is a top priority Here in cafes Europe to it the increased demand Many of our stores have tripled the amour i of inexpensive clothing Over the previous two years requirements a Ira value and Speed in buy items should be More Prev tent in your Exchange. 1 believe you will  a decided improvement this year particularly in women s and boy s clothing. Our goal is to Stock selections styles for everyone s desires. Our dlr Lution system is a Complex one with Mer Chandise being shipped from depots in Europe and the Continental United stain to our Many stores on a Dally basis. We Are constantly putting new merchandise on the floor is soon As it arrive to better serve Yon. For Ymir information there Are 31 military members assigned id makes Europe 10 or them cos All in key positions Here to serve you. The types and sizes of seasonable clothing carried in your store is based upon a store profile tiled twice yearly fall Winter and Spring summer with he cafes of a Ion distribution Center in Dallas. This profile is baud on previous years experience consisting of what types of items sold Uell Overstock and customer demand. Community demographics also play an important part in his. For instance if a Community has a Large number or single airmen Vav family members they adjust their clothing requirements accordingly thank you for Shiv Tang an interest in our cafes  operations and i want to Tell you How to ret into tved in improving your Exchange. When the Exchange does t hate what you want nil out a customer comment form. You will receive a response from Exchange management in than seven Days. I ind out Vito your unit Aafke advisory Council member is and Tell that person your desires. And last but certainly not least talk to Ger male my Lachinski i our a Trenham common Exchange manager. She Solic its your comments. She can be reached at 635-44177. Hunks for your comments and for assisting us in serving special  Cie Many is truly a great place to be assigned. The entire country with its culture and ancient heritage is marvelous. The foods  great the wines Are Ambrosia and the people  wonderful. All this of course is built around a person s own altitudes. Most of the complaints of the american families living in Germany however seem to be self induced . Nothing to do no place to go spouse gone All the time. Etc. These problems for the most part  Solva ble. 11 Means a person Musl activate an adventure i ue.," a incr friends together and go jump into the mainstream of activity and Opportunity. My bib ust personal complain and i m Noi the Only one in Ikis Haskel is Noi self induced and it comes Frum one of our own major support systems cafes cafes is inc biggest and most widespread department store system in the world. Vet it seems to he the most ill managed system n person could possibly imagine. 1 will use k Mart discount Profil oriented and scars retail profit Orical cd As example of efficiency and the cafes supposedly non profit As the total oppo site. Over inc Long haul k Mart and Sears Art a re to by found Wilh empty shelves. They have an extensive variety and rpm i roof item prices from the inexpensive to the . Executive management in looking to product needs customer requirements ordering purchasing shipping receiving and Stock ing is keen and competitive. If a person wants a Shin by size or n can of hair Spray they can be found 01 any store Al any Lime. The cafes stores thanks to in my Humble opinion absolute mismanagement and bureaucratic restrictions in All areas  overstocked in stuff that people either Don l want or need and Are under locked i n family necks is lies a great Deal of the time. A person can find 100 mini Small and 100 humongous Large sweatshirts but no mediums. Many limes the shelves  totally empty of everyday items. When the shelves Are slacked people literally clean off inc shelves and Hoard hems As they do no know when inc shelves will be locked again. One store actually stopped ordering a particular item because 11 was Loo popular and a bother to keep up with. A person can buy fashion plate jeans and clothing hems at some savings. Even so Plain pocket cloth ing for inc non fashion conscious and lower budget people is almost non exist Cal. In merchandising it is Well known that the larger the order the cheaper inc item Selling Price. Consequently when k Mart orders 1.000 cases of tooth paste or motor Oil and cafes orders 10,000 cases Why docs in Cost More for toothpaste or motor Oil at the Exchange examples of this can be St in through out inc store. Over the years cafes has become More and More commercially oriented but no comic Lilic. If the Exchange is supposed to be a non profit organization for the Benefit of the military family and prices Are fixed accordingly Why  in  sales Why is there a need for advertising Why Are there junk mail fliers in shopping bags and in the stars and stripes Why is there a constant change in Giorc decoration every time a Holiday pops up maybe some folks like this but in All costs a Garcal Deal of Money. And the consumer the military family pays for Vilall. Cafes is supposed to be for the military family and its needs. But in fact in seems As if the system is a self serving monster where nobody Wilh real civil Ian merchandising management skills or knowledge of tic military s family needs which is probably More precise a system loaded Down with bureaucratic constraints is in control Over inc past several months i have read in the newspaper and have seen on television some of the cafes representatives with seeming degrees in i Pentagon Csc sidestep jump Over and hum a hum a do Dah their Way very artistically around direct questions of Why the problems exist. The system has stated that in Overall buying inc military family saves up to 25 percent is. Economy buying. This is reasonably possible for fashion Pur chases and jewelry Etc., but what about everyday Plain Pockel household buying there Are Many Blank spaces and questions. Come on folks Lell it like it is. Somewhere some Liow somebody had Heller clean House ridding inc system of the wrong personnel and the bureaucratic restrictions. Someone higher up might just decide that k Man and scars serve the military family better and proceed to shut our system Down. We can i kid ourselves this idea has been thought of before. The right people need the merchandising Freedom out of a bureaucratic Trench 10 do their intended jobs As they probably desire la do. Ai in is however what is supposed to be a support system for the military family s Benefit in t. Chief warrant officer Brian Arnold Frankfurt editor s note Brig Ceil. Joseph t. Ellis commander. To. Cafes Europe replies 1 appreciate this Opportunity to respond la your comments about cafes Europe and the Exchange system in general. Cafes is not the biggest but yes quite possibly the most widespread store system of in kind in the world. It h very difficult to categorize Aafke with Lite Type of department stores you mention however amongst these types of stores we Are rated Mth in Dollar  generating profits fur stockholders like most department stores. Is not a primary Mission of ours generating earnings for support of army and air Force morale welfare and recreation programs is half of our two fold Mission. Providing duality Roods and services at reasonable prices is the other half. We have Many systems in Pla to provide a variety of Quality goods Al every Price Point. Our fashion distribution Center in Dallas and our european toy in provide us Nellh the latest in fashion clothing throughout the year. Our cafes Brand program is Ever Landing but presently include Al Nellc shoes dress shirts hosiery clothing and numerous Rumhold and personal items. Special  Exira value items and cafes brands Are just some of the Many ways we strive to provide Quality goods Al the lowest costs pos is there Are some higher Price Point items carried in our so arts because our customers requested these hems we probably serve the most diverse spectrum of customers of any Type of store. In our superstores for example Frankfurt main Exchange we can Over 80,000 items but we Ilso operate where we Are needed not necessarily where the Profil margin is the highest As with the stores you mentioned. Limited floor space in our Small stores precludes stocking of our full Range of merchandise. Larger stores receive merchandise almost Dally while smaller stores receive ship Wols As required by demand. As it Arr tit we make it available on the sales floor As fast the Long logistics pipeline from the Continental United states forces us la belter Antic anal our Cus Tomer s needs. Our customers can help by being be Lively involved with their Community cafes advisor Council riling out customer comment forms and talking a local Exchange management about their de Ytis it is possible to walk into any stateside depart ment store and find like items less expensive than Al cafes Many stores do Lave a much larger buying Power than us hut they also practice h sales technique called loss Leader which draws people into their stores. Cafes does not practice this Lech Lanui. A february 1987 Nielsen Survey showed that cafes customers save across the Board a vet cent Over shopping at the types of stores you mention. This is a Market Basket Survey used throughout the retail Industry and is conducted by the . Nielsen company an organisation in no Way affiliated with cafes the Survey is not limited to a Penn Fash Ion plate items conducted against Only High roller Type stores it s done with buying everyday items that everyday people Purchase in everyday hurts. We have sales and advertise As a service to our customer. When we get temporary Price reductions from manufacturers we pass those reductions on to our customers. Our advertising budget i quite Small but we believe it serves our customers needs. Cafes n a military organisation staffed with High Caliper military and civilian personnel dedicated to servants you. The customer. We Are governed by a Board of directors which is comprised of senior military members serving military members we re Here to serve you and appreciate your constructive comments. It helps us id to about our business of serving Spe Cial  pen pals Utju it 14 Wulw to Doc to in Over Ita 1 i in 17 a gift Ltd and pfc dancing Cetin Didiw dry Ping b. M looking Tot p w twi if cram City 6hh. England w7 5yq i in Quad Ltd to Coli  i in it Tiar i dual quote cite. Irid a jew Una to to Pul ii Jour can air tit my to hair. Rel rvs. A Refl to p will Ltd play my jew prom. 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