tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9003076573972458673.post5118888177223077817..comments2009-02-07T15:48:13.514+05:30Vinay Dabholkarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02007011866370283276noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9003076573972458673.post-48328569189761148202009-02-07T15:48:00.000+05:302009-02-07T15:48:00.000+05:30Agree with you on the service of these chains. Surprisingly, I find More to provide much better service in Hyderabad than in Bangalore.<BR/><BR/>Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger burnt their fingers with investments in Retail. In the late 60s they got enamored by the growth offered by Retail franchisees and set up a holding company called "Diversified Retailing Company, Inc." to acquire diversified businesses especially in the retail field. Their first purchase was that of Hochschild-Kohn in Maryland in 1966. Buffett describes the purchase as "buying a second-class department store at a third-class price". They sold the business in 1969 at cost. This was a period where Buffett would change his investment philosophy from "fair company at a wonderful price" to "wonderful company at a fair price". <BR/><BR/>There are some business models (like retail) which are harsher on second-class citizens than others. If you look at IT services companies from India in last decade, we can see that many of them gave healthy returns in spite of them being "mediocre". Now, the same thing can't be said about the next decade, Can it?Vinay Dabholkarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02007011866370283276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9003076573972458673.post-89435767813630815332009-02-06T19:48:00.000+05:302009-02-06T19:48:00.000+05:30Another factor perhaps is the service levels (almost for anyone). I found Subhishka's staff to be very poorly trained, not having product knowledge (not the technical specs), but basics. The stores were shoddy too and I stopped going over there long time back. I see similar problems with More(formerly Fabmall, which has gone from bad to worse after coming under Aditya Birla. LifeKen, the pharmacy store also has changed hands - service was found wanting here too. <BR/><BR/>Shoppers Stop and Tata Chroma have good staff. I read somewhere that Warren Buffet used to check with his family where they shop and what they buy, before investing.RamP!http://www.blogger.com/profile/10815768199710752824noreply@blogger.com