Vox populi: customers speak - discount shopper interview

Discount Store News, May 6, 1996

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Analysts and marketing managers spend entire careers studying consumer attitudes. For this special report, DSN went straight to the experts--the consumers. In a pair of focus groups conducted by Leo J. Shapiro and Associates in March, we asked a representative sample of discount store shoppers about shopping today. Group I consisted of shoppers in the Eastern and Central Stanard Time zones; Group II was made up of women in the Mountain and Pacific zones.

VOX POPULI: FOCUS GROUP I

MODERATOR: What do you worry about most on a day-to-day basis?

SHANNON from Kansas: I think I worry about the crime. You hear so much about crime and gangs. That really bothers me. It's taking over. I don't know what we're gonna do, but we have to do something. We're gonna be in a world of hurt.

KITTY from Orlando: I'm concerned about the crime and the lifestyles starting in elementary school. [You hear] on the news, one out of three kids bring knives or guns to school. Mostly they seem to feel they're in a really hostile environment when they're going to public school. It disturbs me because they're getting a view I'm not getting, but I'm sure their view is accurate. It's gonna keep escalating, it seems like.

MODERATOR: You share a fear of crime and violence especially in the schools. What can you do to make yourself feel better, to get over that concern or do something about it?

KITTY from Orlando: Well, one thing we've done is put our son in private school.

ANNE from Massachusetts: We do home school. We live in a wonderful town and we have a great school system. [But] like in every town, there's always something that's happened. Today one of the kids was telling my son--he's in middle school--they were saying they caught one of the kids in there with a gun. The town I live in is a very expensive town to come into. It doesn't just happen in the cities; it happens in the suburbs, too.

KATHLEEN from New Hampshire: You hear these news stories that the father has 10 guns in his closet and ammunition available and no responsibility, just left them lying around. Kids coming and going. I think a lot of it stems back to the home. In the big cities, you can get weapons on the streets, but a lot of these children that are bringing them to school are kids that find them at home. They know their families have them and they're not locked up. So where's the responsibility at?

BONNIE from Maine: I guess I'm very fortunate to live in a very different kind of area. Crime and guns and stuff really isn't a concern where I'm located. I'm concerned about all the educational cuts that are being made. It seems more and more money is going overseas and going for different things and being taken away from our children who need it the most.

KITTY from Orlando: Race relations is still a big problem. Just looking at the O.J. Simpson trial, watching people's reactions to it--it's very straight down the line. White people were convinced he was guilty and black people weren't. There was animosity and hostility.

MODERATOR: Any other burning issues?

KATHLEEN from New Hampshire: All this news about downsizing, all these people being laid off. You hear on the news attempts to raise the minimum wage in New Hampshire. They voted it down because that would encourage children to drop out of school. Here these ceos of big companies are making millions of dollars a year without any concern, just chopping off thousands of jobs. What are these people supposed to do? At the same time, the government is cutting back. In New Hampshire we're having a tough time. Suddenly we're $60 million in the hole. What are they cutting? Social services. Perhaps there is a lot of waste in social services, but it always seems to hurt the same people. The President says everything looks great, we've got 8 million new jobs. Well, [that's] great if you want to flip hamburgers. Where are these good jobs with benefits and health insurance? People are really in dire straits.

MODERATOR: Compared to five years ago, do you feel your family is more financially secure or less financially secure?

BONNIE from Maine: We're much more financially secure than we were five years ago. We bought a new home, got another car. Things are a lot better. I'm still staying home with the kids and [my husband is] still working--same job. Things have just picked up.

MODERATOR: What do you think has happened that's caused the increase in your husband's business?

BONNIE from Maine: Well, I think a lot of it is probably the lowering of the interest rate. And you know, everybody talks about the economy, but people are buying. Everybody has to buy cars no matter what happens. I see a lot of people losing their jobs, even in Maine.

SHANNON from Kansas: We're more financially secure just for the mere fact that we were just starting out finishing up college. Now we both have our degrees. We have a new home, nice cars and that kind of thing. For us it's definitely better because we're more established. We have our education and we're able to work now.