ADVERTISEMENT

Observation around town yesterday

RandallThomason

Blue Raider Legend
Jan 1, 2005
20,989
619
113
I happened to be in two separate stores yesterday in Murfreesboro (Belk at The Avenue and Kohl's at St. Andrews).

At Belk there was some sort of a college team gear section set up that was titled something like "My Team" or something that indicated that this section was for a local team. Well, the section was filled with clothing for (drumroll please.....) the TSU TIGERS. I am used to seeing sections of UT and Vandy, but now somehow TSU has an entire rack set up at Belk in Murfreesboro, and is being marketed as this town's team. It made me wonder if A) the inventory manager doesn't know the difference between the two schools and just ordered the wrong stuff, or B) this was an intentional display and MT is just even more of an afterthought than I realized.

At Kohl's, I saw gear for UT, Vandy, Duke, Kentucky, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New Jersey Devils of all teams. Didn't see any MT gear.
 
Being a retail guy and now doing accounting for a major national retailer, I can say this doesn't surprise me.

Like you said, a lot of it can have to do with the department manager doing the ordering. And quite often can be the buyer at the corporate office.

For example the buyer makes a deal for x# of college t shirts and hats. The store dept mgrs then choose from the list of schools given by the corporate office. Sometimes a school isn't available from the manufacturer and sometimes it is the buyer only choosing certain schools as an option.

Sadly it isn't always the store's fault...however, that being said, a good store Mgr would let home office know they are in a college town and most stores are even given an allotment of $ for specialty items through non-tradional sellers. Like how you find high school stuff at Target or Walmart. A good manager would make the effort to show local pride.
 
I happened to be in two separate stores yesterday in Murfreesboro (Belk at The Avenue and Kohl's at St. Andrews).

At Belk there was some sort of a college team gear section set up that was titled something like "My Team" or something that indicated that this section was for a local team. Well, the section was filled with clothing for (drumroll please.....) the TSU TIGERS. I am used to seeing sections of UT and Vandy, but now somehow TSU has an entire rack set up at Belk in Murfreesboro, and is being marketed as this town's team. It made me wonder if A) the inventory manager doesn't know the difference between the two schools and just ordered the wrong stuff, or B) this was an intentional display and MT is just even more of an afterthought than I realized.

At Kohl's, I saw gear for UT, Vandy, Duke, Kentucky, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New Jersey Devils of all teams. Didn't see any MT gear.
I used to work at Belk (helped open the store in the Boro) & I don't think the inventory manager has a ton of control over MT vs TSU. IIRC, they were just the one who managed the team who unloaded inventory. Memory may be wrong and / or policies may have changed.

But, the Boro needs more places to buy MT gear & local organizations need to do their part to support the biggest reason the Boro is booming : MT.

If you take away MT, Murfreesboro is Manchester. Good city. Great place to raise a family. Has the stuff you need on a weekly basis, but you still have to drive to the "big city" for the big stuff.
 
Why stock stuff nobody will buy? Blue raider fans are cheep cheep cheep….don’t blame the corporation watching inventory turns. Blame your fans, or lack there of…
 
  • Like
Reactions: JohnDavidBlue
Why stock stuff nobody will buy? Blue raider fans are cheep cheep cheep….don’t blame the corporation watching inventory turns. Blame your fans, or lack there of…
This is just wrong. People WILL buy it, but it has to be there first. There are almost 200,000 people in Murfreesboro. Its logical that the local school merch will sell. I always heard it was a licensing issue?

I always scour the sports section if I'm at a local big box store. Anecdotal, but if I ever saw some MT merch in Chattanooga, I'm buying it.
 
A little off task but I believe it is beneficial...
When Jack Daniel's was beginning his business, he automatically cut each order in half, thereby, giving the impression of high demand... While I don't think this strategy is one that would work for us, I believe the creativity should serve as a example to our leaders to approach the marketing of MT Merchandising differently than our current path... Currently, our Merchandising Pathway is PATHETIC...
This falls on the AD and McPhee...
 
This is just wrong. People WILL buy it, but it has to be there first. There are almost 200,000 people in Murfreesboro. Its logical that the local school merch will sell. I always heard it was a licensing issue?

I always scour the sports section if I'm at a local big box store. Anecdotal, but if I ever saw some MT merch in Chattanooga, I'm buying it.

Agree.

Side note, it seems that the Walmart on S. Rutherford (about 1.5 miles from MTSU) has significantly increased their MTSU merchandise/apparel section in the past few months.

I could be wrong, but they moved the section front and center by the check out area, but it looks like they've been stocking a lot more MTSU gear.
 
Agree.

Side note, it seems that the Walmart on S. Rutherford (about 1.5 miles from MTSU) has significantly increased their MTSU merchandise/apparel section in the past few months.

I could be wrong, but they moved the section front and center by the check out area, but it looks like they've been stocking a lot more MTSU gear.
Thats where I go for my MT gear. They’ve had the best selection by far. Last time I was in there I bought a blue and white MT football. I also bought a house flag and car flags there. Alumni Hall by Dicks in the Avenue has a good selection for nicer clothing.
 
The whole Nike thing is an issue too. Granted I get the business aspect of it from our AD as well as Nike. But sometimes the minimum qty Nike requires is huge. And I like alot of the Nike stuff as I only wear Dri-Fit or breathable shirts and usually try to get the coaches pullover that all Nike schools wear every year.

I think that's why a lot of stores don't carry MT gear due to the large qty required for orders (and not just Nike). I think it would sell but I get their nervousness. I 100% feel the AD could help with that and coordinate some orders between stores in town so that the qty for each isn't so high. Might get more stores on board that way.

I retreated this and will leave it here too.
 
The whole Nike thing is an issue too. Granted I get the business aspect of it from our AD as well as Nike. But sometimes the minimum qty Nike requires is huge. And I like alot of the Nike stuff as I only wear Dri-Fit or breathable shirts and usually try to get the coaches pullover that all Nike schools wear every year.

I think that's why a lot of stores don't carry MT gear due to the large qty required for orders (and not just Nike). I think it would sell but I get their nervousness. I 100% feel the AD could help with that and coordinate some orders between stores in town so that the qty for each isn't so high. Might get more stores on board that way.

I retreated this and will leave it here too.
This.

I buy Nike 90% of the time (polos, pullovers, etc). Most of the time, the "knock off" brands don't last, don't fit, & stay in my closet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MidTennMtneer
Probably won’t buy another mt piece of apparel in my lifetime. Closet is full.
Not a huge Nike fan.

a lot of missed opportunities but whatever. I can buy tsu gear in the boro….probably Tennessee tech too. Hilarious.
 
I happened to be in two separate stores yesterday in Murfreesboro (Belk at The Avenue and Kohl's at St. Andrews).

At Belk there was some sort of a college team gear section set up that was titled something like "My Team" or something that indicated that this section was for a local team. Well, the section was filled with clothing for (drumroll please.....) the TSU TIGERS. I am used to seeing sections of UT and Vandy, but now somehow TSU has an entire rack set up at Belk in Murfreesboro, and is being marketed as this town's team. It made me wonder if A) the inventory manager doesn't know the difference between the two schools and just ordered the wrong stuff, or B) this was an intentional display and MT is just even more of an afterthought than I realized.

At Kohl's, I saw gear for UT, Vandy, Duke, Kentucky, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New Jersey Devils of all teams. Didn't see any MT gear.
The airport stores have TSU gear as well!
 
Just FYI, Sam’s in the Boro has a large selection of clothing, folding chairs and plates. Maybe we should start buying the stuff from the places selling it rather than complaining that other places aren’t.
Don’t you have to be a member though?
 
Smart, Sam’s club than straight to some third world country. No way they sell that crap at full price.
 
Always 1 in every bunch. I meant beside Sam’s? I have been a fan since 1992. I have not seen plates before this Sam’s photo.
Not sure but I bought some while I was at Sam’s. Great for tailgating.
 
Always 1 in every bunch. I meant beside Sam’s? I have been a fan since 1992. I have not seen plates before this Sam’s photo.
I have only seen them at Sam's – They had both MT and utk plates last week.
 
Sam’s also has MT folding chairs and tailgating canopies with one wind blocker panel.
 
While this is encouraging it is also concerning our merch was doing half a million last year. Glad to see a turn around.

“With over a million dollars in sale for the 2022 fiscal year, MTSU retail sales have grown over 47 percent YTD, and MTSU is just now tapping into more outlets for fans to find the MTSU gear they need for game day.”
 
I was as diehard as it gets(at least among students and young alumni) while I lived in the Boro from 2003-2010, I was a mod on BRZ for years, even my first few years of living in Atlanta I was making four or five games a year up until about 2014 or so.

Shifting priorities and a lackluster product and I cannot say for sure when the last time I attended a game was. If I still lived in Murfreesboro, or even in the Nashville metro I'd probably make a couple a year, same might be true coming from Atlanta if there was a product worth prioritizing.

What I'm most struck by about this thread is how it reads exactly like threads from 5, 10, even 15 years ago.
 
I watched a great video the other day about a business owner who said he hated mediocre employees.

The poor/lazy employees were easy targets because you just fire them for obvious reasons and then re-hire someone else, hoping they're better.

The overachievers/top sellers were easy to keep around (and reward) for again, obvious reasons. They were your best employees.

But the mediocre employees were the worst because it was difficult to justify firing them, but keeping them around wasn't a great option either. With enough mediocre employees, it's a cancer to the business and eventually kills it. These were, by far, the worst people to hire and keep around.

When you let mediocrity fester it slowly kills a business (or any entity for that matter). That is exactly what has happened to MT Football.

It's mind boggling how long this has been allowed to go on. So much so, I've given up on ever hoping for a new head coach and just accepted the fact that Rick is tenured here and will be here as long as he wants.
 
I watched a great video the other day about a business owner who said he hated mediocre employees.

The poor/lazy employees were easy targets because you just fire them for obvious reasons and then re-hire someone else, hoping they're better.

The overachievers/top sellers were easy to keep around (and reward) for again, obvious reasons. They were your best employees.

But the mediocre employees were the worst because it was difficult to justify firing them, but keeping them around wasn't a great option either. With enough mediocre employees, it's a cancer to the business and eventually kills it. These were, by far, the worst people to hire and keep around.

When you let mediocrity fester it slowly kills a business (or any entity for that matter). That is exactly what has happened to MT Football.

It's mind boggling how long this has been allowed to go on. So much so, I've given up on ever hoping for a new head coach and just accepted the fact that Rick is tenured here and will be here as long as he wants.
There are no top performers if everyone is a top performer. I get your premise, but I've always hated that line of thinking. Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" becomes the standard.
 
Last edited:
When you let mediocrity fester it slowly kills a business (or any entity for that matter). That is exactly what has happened to MT Football.

It's mind boggling how long this has been allowed to go on. So much so, I've given up on ever hoping for a new head coach and just accepted the fact that Rick is tenured here and will be here as long as he wants.
It's what mediocre mcphee wants.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: SpaceRaider
There are no top performers if everyone is a top performer. I get your premise, but I've always hated that line of thinking. Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" becomes the standard.
Sure there is. I work with a group of nurse practitioners. There’s 9 of us. We have patient goals of 240/month. Every single one of us meets that goal each month unless taking vacation. So we are all top performers and meeting our quotas.
 
The state of MT fandom as measured by tailgating



probably one of the weirdest things about my first two kids from the 2000s and my last two from the 2010s.

the first two remember all day tailgates. Eating, playing, running, yelling. All at Peckerwood Forrest (whatever the tailgating area next to peck is called) and my last two doesn’t have a clue.

however, they all love going to basketball games but man Saturdays were fun before stock got constipated. Not perfect but fun.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT