A Dozen Who Shaped the 80s
California’s image as a pacesetter held up fairly well in the 1980s in the world of business and economics. Californians were a force for dramatic change.
Some achieved change on a grand scale--inspiring a revolution in economic policy or transforming corporate finance. Some of the change may seem minor, but it altered our daily routines and our life styles. Some business people built firms that are monuments to America’s spirit of enterprise; others brought companies to ruin and became symbols of corporate recklessness.
Here is a sampling of California residents who gave American business a 1980s makeover--making it better, or worse, or just more fun.
SOL PRICE
Back in 1976, San Diego retail executive Sol Price opened a bare-bones, cash-and-carry store in an aircraft-hangar-sized building in an industrial section of his hometown. It marked the birth of a store, as well as the birth of an idea--warehouse membership outlets that cater to small-business owners and consumers who want rock-bottom prices.
By the early 1980s, that idea was transformed into a booming industry. But even as a flock of copycat companies opened similar stores, the Price Club chain remained a leader.
Price, now in his early 70s and no longer running the company, was the first to recognize that “a real basic need of small-business customers was not being met,” said Sarah Stack, an analyst with Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards in Los Angeles.
And, she added, “He saw that consumers were able to forgo some creature comforts to get the best price possible.”
Price also was early to recognize, among other things, the value of what is known as vertical integration, Stack said. One example: After the Price Club started offering optical lenses, it also got into the business of grinding lenses so that it could offer the product at a lower price.
Thomas H. Tashjian, an analyst with Seidler Amdec Securities, said another important innovation by Price was the introduction of a customer newsletter about developments at the stores. Such newsletters, he said, now are regarded “as a vital component of the business.”
