$4 Billion in Sales. Then Service Merchandise Closed Every Store

🛒 Everything I learned in 40 years on the selling side of the counter, in plain words. 📘 BUY IT ONCE - get it here: https://askvincentthomas.com You remember writing the catalog number on that little order slip, paying at the register, and waiting at the counter for your box to come down the conveyor belt. Service Merchandise once sold more than $4 billion a year that way. Then every store closed. I'm Vincent Thomas. For 40 years I sold TVs, stereos and appliances to the independent dealers of eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the catalog showrooms were the stores that kept my dealers up at night. In this video: How Harry and Mary Zimmerman went from a dime store in Pulaski, Tennessee to the biggest catalog showroom chain in America The fair trade trick that let the showrooms sell name brands for less, and the secret coded price hidden in the catalog Why diamonds, not TVs, paid the bills The flower building in Langhorne and the rise and fall of Best Products The borrowed money that came due, the bankruptcy, and the day they stopped selling TVs What really happened, and why they had the right idea 30 years too early No gimmicks and no sales pitch. Just an old salesman telling you what he saw from behind the counter, so you know what really went on. Did your family shop at Service Merchandise or Best Products? Did you ever wait for your box at that conveyor belt, or work at one of the showrooms? Tell me in the comments. I go through every comment. Chapters: 0:00 My daughter and the conveyor belt 2:01 Harry and Mary Zimmerman 2:53 How a catalog showroom worked 3:38 The fair trade trick 4:07 The first Service Merchandise 4:49 Stereo was exactly what I sold 5:45 "That's a neat trick" 6:47 The end of fair trade 7:22 The secret coded price 8:47 Diamonds paid the bills 9:59 The guide I put all of this in 10:18 Best Products comes to town 10:32 The flower building in Langhorne 11:25 A billion dollars a year 12:16 Raymond goes shopping 13:43 Service Merchandise comes to Allentown 14:23 Borrowed money 15:30 Jewelcor closes, Circuit City moves in 16:46 The signature pad 18:01 Four billion dollars 18:59 The first store closes 19:26 Best Products dies first 20:41 "Who's next?" 21:47 The last makeover 22:45 Dropping the catalog 23:13 Missed payments and bankruptcy 24:18 Morris closes up 25:26 No more TVs 26:52 Going out of business 27:21 My daughter's phone call 28:12 The last visit 29:06 Best Buy gets the buildings 29:24 Raymond Zimmerman today 30:53 What really happened to Service Merchandise 31:58 The right idea, 30 years too early 32:26 The order slip Watch more: I Sold TVs for 40 Years. Here's What Really Happened to Zenith and RCA    • I Sold TVs for 40 Years. Here's What Reall...   $733 Million in Sales. Then Two Guys Closed Every Store on Purpose    • $733 Million in Sales. Then Two Guys Close...   I Sold Electronics for 40 Years. Crazy Eddie Was the Biggest Fraud I Ever Saw    • I Sold Electronics for 40 Years. Crazy Edd...