SUPER BOWL SPECIAL : ‘There Won’t Be Any Need to Gouge Because of the Volume of People in Town’ : Tourist Influx Helps Keep ‘Super Hosts’ From Raising Prices
In a week of super merchandising--and the potential for super gouging--Tom Stein wants you to know there are a few bargains in town. You just have to know where to look--like to his dry cleaners in Lemon Grove, east of San Diego.
Stein says he’ll sell you an official, NFL-approved Super Bowl T-shirt for just five bucks--compared to the $8, $10 or $13 that some merchants are trying to get for the same souvenir shirt.
Not that Stein’s Dutch Cleaners on Broadway in Lemon Grove is the merchandising headquarters for Super Bowl souvenirs. He’s only selling T-shirts and plastic Super Bowl beer mugs, and they’re intended primarily for his regular customers.
Something for the Locals
What tourist, after all, figures on driving out to a Lemon Grove dry cleaners for souvenirs?
“But, hey, this is a big deal, the Super Bowl,” Stein said. “I paid $4.70 for each T-shirt, so why not sell them for five bucks? This is just a little bedroom community, and probably the only people buying them will be my regular customers. Why not give them a bargain?”
And there are bargains, too, where you might not expect to find them--like in tony La Jolla, a blueblood community perhaps most noted for its beachfront clubs, retail finery and investment houses.
The operative phrases this week sound almost foreign to the La Jolla vocabulary: “Ten percent off!” and “Free gift with purchase!”
La Jolla, home of the soft sell and the understated, is hustling for business?
“We want to make it more attractive to go to La Jolla than anywhere else,” said Alexander Bende, owner of Alexander Perfume and Cosmetics and president of Promote La Jolla Inc., the town merchants association.
The retail trade group has published a promotional brochure which, among other things, includes a map to La Jolla and a listing of merchants who are offering discounts and/or other specials during Super Bowl week.
“San Diego is already saturated with retail,” Bende said. “Everyone has so many choices (of where to shop). So we want people to make up their mind where they should go shop--which is here in La Jolla.”
His own Super Bowl special, Bende said, will be to give away perfume and skin-care products to those who make a purchase--no minimum--at his store. No price gouging in La Jolla, he said.
Glad to Have the Tourists
“We are all so glad to have such an amount of people in town, we’d just like to do good business at regular prices so people will come back. La Jolla businesses rely a lot on reorders by mail, so we want to make a good impression.”
While super bargains, in fact, have been the exception versus the rule this week in San Diego as tourists come to town with cash and credit cards and a certain predisposition to spend big bucks, local officials nonetheless are concerned that visitors aren’t victimized by greedy merchants inflating their prices.
To that end, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce developed a “Super Host” program in which businesses were asked to pledge they would maintain their regular service levels and prices during Super Bowl Week, and not gouge.
In exchange for the pledge, these Super Hosts received promotional material including window stickers and “Super Host” name tags for employees, as well as good-will publicity--all at no cost to them.
The Chamber of Commerce hoped at the outset to enlist 1,000 businesses by this weekend; that number was reached in mid-December and was pushing 2,000 businesses earlier this month.
To say that every businessman in San Diego wants to somehow ride along the Super Bowl coattail is hardly an overstatement. Among San Diego’s Super Hosts:
Gordon Stewart, owner of Dana Bedspreads in La Mesa--the second-largest bedspread store west of the Mississippi, or so he says.
“I didn’t plan on raising my prices during Super Bowl week so I figured I’d go ahead and send my name in to the chamber,” Stewart said. “I’m a football fan, and this (Super Host promotion) puts my name out to the public--for free.” And if you’re looking for an interesting souvenir, he adds, have you considered one of his 4,000 bedspreads? George Schmalhofer, a former agent for the U.S. Secret Service and now owner of Excelsior Protection and Investigations in Hillcrest.
“I’ll charge my straight wage during the Super Bowl,” he said. “I establish my prices based not on the event, but on the risk assessment. A lot of foreign and corporate heads will be in town--people who may require executive protection. But if I might have to dodge (terrorist) rockets, my fee will go up.”
Dave and Linda Folsom, owners of Folsom Marine Supply, which sells everything from rags to radios on Harbor Island.
“Being where we are, next to some big hotels, we will be getting a lot of tourists wandering around who might take a look in our store and maybe like something they see,” Dave Folsom said.
Such as? “Someone might say, ‘Ooooh, here’s an America’s Cup T-shirt I can take home to my kids.’ That’s definitely tourist-oriented. But I’m still going to sell it for my regular price, $12.”
Anita Williams (who describes herself as “tall, gorgeous and blonde”), the promotions director for Confetti, a popular Mission Valley nightclub.
“There won’t be any need to gouge anybody because there’s going to be such a volume of people in town, we can’t help but benefit from it even at our regular prices. Why go out of your way to be hard on people coming to San Diego for a good time?” she asked rhetorically.
Confetti issued VIP passes to NFL executives, the football players and reporters in town for the Super Bowl, enabling them to visit the nightclub anytime during the week without paying the cover charge.
Irene Murphy, manager of Downey Savings & Loan in Escondido, 30 miles north of Mission Valley.
“We promise not to charge (a fee) for cashing traveler’s checks. We don’t charge normally, and we won’t during Super Bowl week, either,” she said. “We want our out-of-town friends to know there’s a friendly face in the crowd--and that we’re not adding any new fees.”
Dennis Perrotti, regional manager for Gary’s Tux Shop.
“We don’t see any price gouging in this business,” he said. “Most people coming to town who will need to rent a tux know what it costs and if they’re going to get gouged.”
Gary’s Tux did offer a bargain for Super Bowl week--it won the bid to provide 625 tuxedos for the Super Bowl halftime show. “We told them, no grass stains,” he laughed.
Peter Portilla, manager of Amigo Taxi Co.
“We would like to (raise our rates) but we’re not allowed to, so we went ahead and signed the pledge card,” Portilla said. And while there will be no bargains offered by taxi drivers throughout San Diego, Portilla predicted there will be fewer cabbies taking intentionally longer routes to their destinations to jack up the charge.
“Longer rides kill time, and with all the people who will be looking for cabs during the Super Bowl, it will be more important to the driver to get to his next ride in a hurry--and make another $20--than drive around and try to make an extra $5,” Portilla said.
Nanc Christy, sales director of the Escondido Athletic Club.
“We’re already working with the U.S. Olympic Committee on training, so it sounds good for us to be involved in things like the Super Host program,” she said.
There may be some residual business out of the Super Bowl for the club, she said. “Someone might be staying up here and want a top-notch club to work out while they’re here, and stop by,” she said. “If they can show us a ticket or some other proof they’re here for the Super Bowl, will discount our daily visitor’s rate from $10 to $5 for them.”
Debby Sharp, manager of Fletcher Hills Towing in El Cajon.
“Everyone around here is a big football fan, so we thought it would be fun having the sticker saying we’re a Super Host. It’ll be like our own souvenir,” she said.
Garry Bonelli, who is coordinating the Super Host program at the Chamber of Commerce, said entire shopping malls have signed up for the “Say No to Price Gouging” promotion.
Everybody Benefits
“The Super Host program is a win-win situation for everybody,” he said. “Not only do the merchants and businesses get free print ads and radio and TV spots and outdoor billboard advertising asking that 75,000 people patronize them, but it will show the NFL how we’re bending over to accommodate them, and so why not give us another Super Bowl?”
The only enforcement tool against price gouging is peer pressure, he said.
“If someone gouges, they’ll be shooting themselves in the foot,” he said. “You might find one taxicab driver or one small hotel that might price-gouge, or a restaurant that will charge $12 for a $4 hamburger, but we think most everyone realizes they have more to gain by holding the line.”
