#74 - The Odd Positioning of Smart & Final's "Where Else?" Campaign

What Are Public Libraries For?; Smart and What?; An Attitude of Gratitude II; Time Machine

Hello, my friends,

What’s going on in your lives? Things are moving along here. The summer sumo tournament is underway with Yokozuna Terunofuji barrelling through his underlings and still undefeated (for now). Let’s hope his injuries don’t catch up with him as the tournament goes on though I suspect that they will. My 5K is coming up in just over a week and I’m excited to get going. This week I’m going out nearly every day and next week I’ll be doing a couple of runs but mostly resting. My goal is 28 minutes and my best time so far is 28:14 so I’m on my way. I mentioned it in #70, but my next goal is 100 burpees and I’ve already started. Indeed, a few friends and I have formed a Burpee Club. Really, it’s just a text group where I send original burpee content every few days to keep us motivated. Stuff like:

“Fall down.
Get up.
That is life."
- Master Burpee

Random(-ish) fact: “The word calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek words κάλλος (kállos), which means "beauty", and σθένος (sthenos), meaning "strength".” (Oxford English Dictionary).

“Futile Exercises” (1974) by Gary Kuehn

What Are Public Libraries For?

I finished reading Libraries and the Enlightenment by Wayne Bivens-Tatum this week and next week I’d like to share with you the interesting and paradoxical historical discussion about the purpose of public libraries, but this week, a poll:

“The Library” (1960) by Jacob Lawrence

Smart and What?

Smart & Final, the chain of warehouse stores, has recently put up some new billboards in my area and seems to have a new slogan with which I was unfamiliar with and it all has me a little confused. I looked it up and it’s their “Where Else?” campaign. The billboards attempt to be snappy and humorous, but I’m not sure who they’re speaking to.

I couldn’t find photos online but I do recall that one says something like “Silly Name, Low Prices”. When I saw that ad my brows furrowed. Why would they go in on that subject? Is Smart & Final actually a weird name? I’d never even thought about it. Has anyone? One of their video ads actually shares that the store is named after their founders Jim Smart and Hildane Final. Other popular stores with name names? Ralphs, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Von’s, Jon’s, Albertsons, Walmart, Meijer (operates in six states). But in my opinion Smart & Final has the advantage because the names of its founders are positive words that make sense as the name of a market. So calling attention to their name as silly just makes me go “huh?”. The other billboards got the same reaction.

The other part of all of this is the slogan “Where Else?”

Guys (and when I say guys, I’m speaking directly to the people that run Smart & Final): Where else?? This is the best slogan your marketing team and/or ad agency came up with? Your store doesn’t have the rizz to pull off that kind of catchphrase. When I first read “Where else?” I literally listed like ten other markets off the top of my head. Moreover, the billboards are up in Los Angeles where Smart & Final is way outnumbered by supermarkets and corner groceries so asking “where else?” seems ill-advised since most people have another store closer to them.

Smart & Final differentiates itself as having the best of a regular supermarket, a warehouse store, and a grocery and honestly, it does! The last time I went to a Smart & Final was in West LA several years ago and it was great! Like surprisingly cool. But it wasn’t the closest store to me then, isn’t now, and either way it isn’t so good that it would justify the extra travel time. If I need a warehouse store, I could join Costco or Sam’s Club and get the full giant-pack-of-toilet-paper and cheap Hot Pocket experience, and if I wanted a supermarket or grocery I could go to…well…anywhere else. There is currently Trader Joe’s and Ralphs five minutes from here and they are more than satisfactory to meet my needs.

I mean, if I was opening up a ghost kitchen, throwing a huge party, or just wanted gigantic bottle of BBQ sauce, I would consider Smart & Final, but as it is I suspect I’m not the type of customer their campaign is targeting. But then who is?

“Return from the supermarket” (1971) by Claudio Bravo

An Attitude of Gratitude II

In last week’s Time Machine, I went back to issue #20 where one of the section was a list of things I’m grateful for. That’s a pretty good one to do regularly, I thought. So here is what I’ve been grateful for lately:

1. I took a day off from work yesterday and it was delightful. I went for a 3-mile jog at the Rose Bowl after dropping off the kids, zoomed up to the local k-spa (when I stepped into the very hot jacuzzi I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be), had a delicious lunch at a local bakery, stopped by Ashley’s library (which was nearby) and ended up exploring their Friends of the Library bookstore and chatting with some members (random conversation in bookstores are the best), and then coming home and relaxing before picking up the kids. Finished the day by writing this newsletter.

2. I used to get heartburn for several days in a row every other week or so but since I started training for my 5K at the end of April (nearly 3 months ago) I’ve had heartburn only twice and not at all for the last two months. It doesn’t hurt that I gave up dairy and most “sugar added” foods. To think, at that point I was seriously considering going to see a doctor about the acid reflux. Exercise turned out to be the ideal prescription.

3. Despite the challenges of parenting, I’m grateful that I have kids that enjoy both snuggling and being tossed around. Being touch-oriented, it’s nice to be able to show affection in calm and rowdy ways.

4. I just finished listening to the audiobook of Nonviolent Communication: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values (2007, SoundsTrue) by Marshall Rosenberg and while there was a little too much info for me to pick most of it up from an audiobook, I suspect that the wisdom there is important. I’ll likely be reading a physical copy of Dr. Rosenberg’s work in the near future so I could properly study it. Let me know if you’d like to read it with me.

“Monochrome jaune sans titre” (1956) by Yves Klein

Time Machine

Here’s what I wrote in HMF a year ago (in issue #21):

• Buried by Books: Reflecting on a few bookstore visits through the lens of the “burial score”.

• Descanso Garden Sights: A list of things I saw on a short solo walk in the Garden.

• Summer Haiku: Sharing some poems I like.

“Blue Cat” (1932) by Louis Wain