"Their stores give them some clout with the vendors and get better deals".
But Aldatz-Norris is realistic about her prospects as a small player fighting bigger companies with more clout in mainstream stores.
(Ms. Bushnell speaks of Apple stores but invokes the Starbucks marketing clout).
They have a huge, ready-made branch network - courtesy of their stores - and have massive financial clout.
Department stores never saw that kind of clout again.
Visa and MasterCard now face a massive class action, led by Wal-Mart Stores, that accuses them of using their clout in the credit card market to force retailers to accept their debit cards, which carry higher processing costs.
A store like Wine Exchange is large enough, and has sufficient clout among distributors, that Meyer can leverage even better margins above already discounted offers.
Asked about the book by a reporter at a White House press conference, he said he was contractually "honor bound" to remain mum until it hit the stores — thus demonstrating that Simon & Schuster had more clout with him than the president.
Lacking clout with the profitable juniors market, the chain's 79 stores have seen sales per square foot decline from $237 in 1997 to $218 last year, as much of the rest of retailing was seeing a spectacular boom.
In the mid-1990's he broke from Warner Brothers Records to release music on his own schedule, and without major-label clout his music became more difficult to find on radio stations and in stores; it also grew more exploratory.
For years, Wal-Mart has used its clout as the nation's largest retailer to squeeze competitors with rock-bottom prices in its stores.
