It's not often our industry makes the news. Recently, it did. But not for the reasons most of those of us working in the industry would like to see. A Montreal-based consumer rights group, Option consommateurs, filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau severely criticizing eight national and regional retailers and accused them of misleading advertising. The findings are generally fair and reasonable - at first glance.

I visited the Sears store in Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre the other day. It was a complete mess; the escalators were not working, there were racks in the aisles and there were curtains strung about hiding the activity. I asked an associate what was going on. He replied "a major renovation."

In almost every survey of which I'm aware has given management low marks for communication, regardless of the retailers' annual sales, head count, market profile or ownership. Even companies that score well in other areas - winning the, ‘this is a great place to work' section - generally don't do well in this area. Almost always, management is slightly baffled by these results. Their response is usually along the lines of: "We send our memos. We have monthly meetings. What more do they want?"

"Anyone can give it away" is a phrase from my formative years in retail. I've worked for some great stores managers, but the one who repeated this mantra was surely the best. He knew what determined what the ‘right price' was - in any given circumstance.