CHECKOUT
VENTURE’S BIG GIVEAWAY: Venture Stores said almost 100,000 shoppers received a free round of purchases as part of the discounter’s “Free for All” Christmas promotion.
The promotion, which began Dec. 21, guaranteed that one in every 100 customers that passed through the checkouts at the chain’s 115 stores got their entire purchase free through Christmas Eve. The average winner got about $45 worth of merchandise free. The biggest giveaway was $1,100 worth of goods, according to a spokeswoman.
Venture officials declined to comment on the cost of the promotion, which was advertised heavily in newspapers and on radio and TV.
“The customer response was tremendous,” said an official, who said the giveaway helped Venture hit plan for the holiday. Previously, the chain said, it expected holiday sales to fall below year-ago levels. The company is currently upgrading stores and assortments.
TAKING A DIP: The Clothestime Inc., a 537-store women’s off-price chain reorganizing under Chapter 11, received bankruptcy court approval last week on $8 million of its total $40 million debtor-in-possession financing package with CIT Group/Business Credit Inc. A court hearing to approve the entire deal is scheduled for Monday.
Clothestime, which filed for Chapter 11 protection Dec. 8, got court approval last month to close 137 underperforming stores by Jan. 31. The stores to be shuttered will drain $2.7 million from the operation for the year ending Jan. 27, according to court papers. The chain’s remaining stores have a $29.3 million positive cash flow.
COUPONS AT KMART: Catalina Marketing Corp. will install in-store electronic coupon distributors at 87 Super Kmart Centers between January and March.
Catalina uses scanners at the checkout to “read” what shoppers purchase and then print out customized incentives, called “Checkout Coupons,” based on those purchases.
Customers receive coupons from vendors that they haven’t purchased from at the time. For example, if one kind of baby food is purchased, then a customer would receive a coupon offering a discount from a competing baby food supplier.
Catalina said the coupons will cover products in all departments of the Super Kmart Centers, which combine a general merchandise store and supermarket under
the same roof.