Peter Glen 911 Journal

NARM Mourns Respected Colleague Peter Glen

Retail activist, consumer advocate and author Peter Glen, who was one of NARM’s most popular Convention speakers, died suddenly at his home in Northern California on Wednesday, October 3. He was 62. Many NARM members will remember Peter fondly for his uniquely animated and sardonic Convention presentations in 1987 and 1996 that helped improve us all. He was renowned for provoking, inspiring and motivating his audiences with compelling visual images, no-holds-barred critiques and humorous anecdotes about customer service (or the lack thereof) gained, not just from shopping in retail stores, but from keenly observing and fully experiencing life.

Our 2002 Convention Committee had planned to bring him back to speak in San Francisco next March. We will all miss the opportunity to once again enjoy his charm, his wit, his insight, and his unmistakable flair on the NARM stage. Just a week ago, Peter had graciously shared with us an advance copy of a column he had written for an upcoming issue of Visual Merchandising & Store Design Magazine that chronicles his personal day-by-day journal during the September 11 aftermath. With VM&SD’s permission, we’ve included it here as a final tribute to his contributions to the retail industry, and hope you will find it of interest.

JOURNAL

SEPTEMBER 11-17, 2001

by Peter Glen

Tuesday, September 11

Two items immediately had huge sales increases: flags and guns.

Wal-Mart sold 116,000 American flags.

Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor emptied their windows, putting in only flags, flowers, and words.

Federated Department Stores planned to run full-page newspaper ads offering sympathy to the victims and their family.

Petco, San Diego, gave 500 pair of dog booties, eyewash, and bandages to protect search-and-rescue dogs from heat, sharp objects.

Gas merchants' prices went up 30 cents a gallon in Cincinnati, but in Chicago prices rose to $5.00.

The Sheraton Hotel at La Guardia Airport in New York doubled its room rates.

Union Park BMW car dealership in Wilmington, Delaware, remained open. Owner Frank Ursomarso said he refused to let terrorists tell him what to do. There were no buyers.

Wednesday, September 12

Wal-Mart sold 200,000 flags.

A new Wal-Mart store in Union, New Jersey, preparing for its grand opening today, loaded up two trucks and made it to New York City and the Pentagon, carrying emergency supplies.

Amazon.com donated tech employees to the Red Cross.

Endeavoring to carry out their work, only two-thirds of managers of The Body Shop Canada made it to their annual meeting. I was keynote speaker. Together we all agreed on the eight-hour act of deliberate concentration. We did our best. Work is not trivial.

Thursday, September 13

A blur . . . 48 hours in a Toronto airport hotel room, waiting, obsessed with television, depressed, hoping to go home. When reality intrudes like this, we first confuse it with television and Bruce Willis movies.

Music moguls rushed to cancel this week's release of a new rock album whose cover showed the Twin Towers exploding. I was stunned, but the week before I wouldn't have been shocked to see it on the shelf at every music store.

Millennium Music in Charleston, South Carolina, contributed 50 cents for every CD sold online toward its $10,000 goal towards the relief effort.

In apartment buildings in Atlanta, the management put a little baggy full of candy kisses with a little US flag sticking out the top of every doorknob in every apartment.

Lands' End support: a letter from Dave (President & CEO), a company-wide moment of silence, company-wide donation, onsite blood drive, and Christmas gifts to the Red Cross for all employees.

Wal-Mart sold 135,000 flags.

Friday, September 14

Flags sold out around the nation. Mall of America changed all signs to flags. Gun sales still doubling.

In Paris, a high-fashion boutique simply displayed a Statue of Liberty, flanked by two postcards of the World Trade Center.

The "Middle East" section of Washington, DC's Politics and Prose bookstore was cleaned out. Barnes and Noble and Borders bookstores canceled 126 author events.

Saturday, September 15

Blue, a spa products company, confirmed its New York trade show for October 10, saying that the best thing to do is support the people of New York.

New York's Union Square Cafe and sister restaurant 11 Madison Park delivered more than 5,000 meals to police precincts, firehouses, hospitals and shelters.

Staff members of Windows on the World, the restaurant occupying three floors at the top of Tower One, who were not at work during the attack, were serving free meals at Nino's, an Italian restaurant near ground zero. "The owner of Windows on the World is sweeping the floor," said Nino's owner.

A shop-and-restaurant employee was fired for refusing to serve an Arab-American customer.

United Airlines was called for air fare for an urgent trip to New York. United offered no concession without 14-day advance purchase, otherwise $2200 full fare coach.

Sunday, September 16

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

Plato

Sunday interrupted the uninterrupted flow of ugliness. We saw New York City and its citizens getting ready to go back to work Monday. Television started calling its coverage "America Rising".

Kmart took a full-page ad in The New York Times displaying an American flag graphic and instructions: "Remove from newspaper. Place in window. Embrace freedom." I appreciated this ad. It gave me something to do, while feeling helpless.

Thomas Hampson sang a profoundly beautiful "Shall We Gather at the River" at Riverside Church in New York.

A Brooklyn bride who lost brother, husband and father in the last six months – one a fireman – had no one to escort her down the aisle. Rudy Giuliani did it. "Do something," he told us. Act normal. Begin.

Go to work! he said, just when we despaired of being useful, and with idle helplessness taking too much time.

We'll have to go back into airports, offices, trains, daycare centers, farms, factories and finishing schools, and we'll have to do it soon, because that is the way this world works.

We spent a week sitting watching heroes work. Now it's time to turn off the TV. We have been sitting far too long in front of virtual reality. Do the right thing. Go to work.

Monday, September 17

"Thank God it's Monday"

Microsoft ad copy

On Sunday, Jack Welch said it, Warren Buffett said it, Robert Rubin, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, President Bush, they all said it, Go to work. It's useful. You can do it.

How to begin?

Begin! – the word that marks the turning point and starts the unknowable recovery – begin! Healing is in the doing . . . .

Monday, Wal-Mart CEO F. Lee Scott told CNBC that Wal-Mart had immediately donated $2 million to the Red Cross and other agencies. One million employees devised the campaign "Together We Stand", and matching grants and other employee efforts have yielded $5 million for emergency relief. Scott said he was "overwhelmed" by the worldwide reaction of Wal-Mart associates.

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company donated Angel Bears, Police Bears and Firefighter Bears to all the families and children of the courageous firefighters, police officers, and rescue workers who lost their lives saving others.

Booksurge.com and Blueear.com announced quickie book "09/11 8:49 a.m.: Documenting America's Greatest Tragedy", due September 30.

In its second week, Nostradamus remained the No. 1 search word on top Internet search engines, including Yahoo and Google. "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow," a 1980 documentary narrated by Orson Welles, was the top-selling video at Amazon.com. By Monday, eBay offered 276 auctions for Nostradamus items.

Home Depot prepared its national ads asking customers to donate their tax refund checks and more to United Way, and announced Red Cross blood drive locations in stores

A block away from Ground Zero, Staples opened its store, donated computers, supplies, free copying, gave the FBI copy and fax machines on the spot, and offered itself as an emergency site for firefighters to come in and call families.

Five children in Sudbury, Massachusetts, raised $10,000 for charity selling red, white and blue jelly beans in front of a local grocery store.

First steps.

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