SPARC promotes partners in progress - Supplier Performance Awards by Retail Category banquet - Buyers & Sellers - column

Discount Store News, Sept 2, 1991 by Don Longo

SPARC Promotes Partners In Progress

Last month's Supplier Performance Awards by Retail Category (SPARC) banquet drew a record crowd of more than 500 retail and manufacturer executives.

Among numerous special guests in the audience were Robert Floum, president of Fisher's Big Wheel, Warren White, general manager of Clover and chairman of the International Mass Retail Association, Joe Nusim, president of Channel and longtime SPARC supporter at Jamesway and Makro, Dan Ferguson, vice chairman of Newell Cos., five Wal-Mart associates who shared the Discounter of the Year award spotlight with president David Glass, and, Sam and Helen Walton.

Sam Walton was the first recipient of DSN's Discounter of the Year award at the inaugural SPARC banquet in 1978. Discounting has come a long way since. Not the least of the changes has been in the way retailers and suppliers work together to enhance one another's success.

Wal-Mart is a perfect example of this change. More than one supplier can relate old stories of making the trek to Bentonville and being "beat up" by a Wal-Mart buyer for what the supplier felt were unrealistic concessions.

Today, while far from perfect, Wal-Mart has been a leader in forming the types of true partnerships that involve sharing and communication with the ultimate goal of promoting the long-range success of both the retailer and its suppliers.

For 14 years, SPARC has promoted retailer-supplier partnerships. Discount Store News is proud of the positive impact this unique program has had on fostering relationships between retailers and manufacturers.

P.S.: To the reader who left the anonymous message on my answering machine: The Thalheim-sponsored Back-to-School show was held last February in New York. As I reported in my Aug. 5 column, that annual event has been moved to November in Chicago, beginning this fall. I don't usually respond to anonymous callers, but, in this case, I feel obligated to make sure our readers know the correct show dates.