[Zhang Fei]

[Catalog showrooms such as Best Products and Service Merchandise were popular in the US during the 1980’s.]

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That’s a walk down memory lane. I frequented both of these establishments at least a couple of times each. I enjoyed the experience. For some reason, they failed to make the cut, with Best Products folding in 1997, and Service Merchandise liquidating in 2002.

[Spktyr]

All the catalog houses were either slow to adapt to the internet or outright refused - and now they’re dead or dying. Service Merchandise should have been almost as good a fit for the internet as Sears would have been with competent management. Indeed, Service Merchandise did go on the internet early - but their implementation was crap and they had issues with merchandise selection and the quality of what they were offering. One person I knew at the time commented that their tech and electronics offerings in 2000 appeared to have been selected by some not-genre-savvy 70 year old. The rest of their inventory often showed the same signs.

Amusingly, recently Service Merchandise was revived as a web-only store by the son of the original SM founders. They focus strictly on jewelry and accessories, something that doesn’t require their corporate buying staff to be up to the second in-depth knowledgeable about tech.