This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Crapplebee's below in the comments.

I first heard the nickname "Crapplebee's" from my brother, when I suggested that we go to dinner at Applebee's and he didn't think it was such a good idea.

I don't know that Applebee's is "crappy" per se; it's more that there's nothing especially unique about it. It's very similar to Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, Ruby Tuesday's, and a whole bunch of other fast-casual chains with "apostrophe s" in their names. T.J. Palmer recently said about the restaurant that "It doesn't have anything that would make me want to come back."

What makes that a major burn is that T.J. Palmer is the founder of the company! You can read her version of the company's history at her website.

On November 29th of 2007, IHOP, now DineEquity (NYSE: DIN), announced that it had completed the acquisition of Applebee's, with CEO Julia A. Stewart commenting that "We are delighted to complete the acquisition of Applebee's as it represents an opportunity to create significant long-term value for IHOP shareholders over and above what we could have achieved on a standalone basis."

On that day the stock closed at $52.29. It closed recently at $25.49. That's a decline of more than 50% since the acquisition: Crapplebee's indeed!

Company nicknames: Crapplebee's, a place only a founder could love? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about The General below in the comments.

"The General" does not deserve its nickname any longer. Founded in 1908, General Motors (NYSE: GM) was the largest car company in the world for almost seven decades. It lost that distinction to Toyota (NYSE: TM) during the last year.

GM has 50% of the U.S. car market at one point. That is now down to 20%.

"The General" still maintains a number of the most successful brands in the world: Cadillac, Buick, Chevy, and Pontiac. Years of neglect have pushed the company into a position where it does not make competitive cars in its home market. It greatest current sales successes are in the Chinese market and Latin America.

In 1955, "The General" was the No.1 company in the Fortune 500. It held that position until 2000.

Alongside General Electric (NYSE: GE), GM is probably the most important American corporation of the last 100 years. That won't be true going forward.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Company nicknames: The General, no longer a commanding presence originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Four Bucks below in the comments.

As big multinational corporations go, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) had such possibility. Rooted in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, born of grunge rock and a commitment to really good coffee and a distinct sense of place, embracing the centuries-old European coffeehouse tradition with its literary name, Starbucks, Captain Ahab's first mate in Moby Dick. The company's founders were all about the beans, buying them directly from growers in Africa and Central America and roasting the beans themselves.

It was entrepreneurial upstart Howard Schultz who conceived of the strategy of making espressos, coffees, and lattes in the coffee shops and selling them for big profit margins. And in the 1980s, milk was cheap and coffee was cheaper. I like to imagine that, as the company's founders sat around a cafe table in Seattle's Pike Place Market, drinking their mellow brew and listening to Schultz's wild ideas, the others scoffed at the concept of someone paying upwards of three dollars for a latte.

Continue reading Company nicknames: Four Bucks -- and then some

Company nicknames: Four Bucks -- and then some originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Golden Slacks below in the comments.

There are many corporate nicknames that are used to either make fun of, shorten, or parody certain company names. But the nickname of "Golden Slacks" for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is perhaps the most appropriately assigned nickname in all of corporate America.

With the exception of a few years, and with the exception of 2007/2008 woes, investment bankers and brokers and traders on Wall Street have done far better financially than most jobs on Main Street. Goldman Sachs bankers are thought of as being the highest paid on Wall Street.

There are bucket shops, small single-office brokerage firms, small regional firms, larger second-tier brokerage and investment banking firms, and the prized bulge-bracket firms. Goldman Sachs defines the bulge-bracket firm on an exponential basis, although in some ways it is almost like a club. You can't just walk into an office with a few grand to open an account. Goldman may not have official minimums, but the thought has prevailed that if you don't have at least $5 million at the firm then you shouldn't expect your broker to call you.

Continue reading Company nicknames: Goldman Sachs -- golden slacks never go out of style

Company nicknames: Goldman Sachs -- golden slacks never go out of style originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about the Peacock Network below in the comments.

Perhaps more visually recognizable than any other television symbol today, NBC's colorful peacock logo and nickname encompass far more depth and history than simply having been a tool of recognition for NBC Television, subsidiary of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE). Beyond simply identifying network programs in the age when NBC and CBS began applying the color palette to broadcast television, NBC's peacock was charged with the awesome task of informing and convincing the parents of the baby boomer generation that color television had arrived, it was good, and they wanted it. The peacock was assigned the monumental task of engaging the public. Indeed, it has performed that job to perfection.

I grew up fully addicted to television, and NBC's peacock long heralded the appearance of many of my favorite shows. Bonanza, NBC's first serious success in color broadcast television, was a weekly treat for me, as it was for millions of other enchanted TV viewers. Accordingly, by the time color television promotion had begun to move consumers to purchase the new color television sets, which sold for approximately $1,000 initially, the NBC peacock, which had begun its glorious life as a simple static image, learned how to fan its tail feathers in a motion indicative of the sweeping changes the television age would come to initiate.

Until man orbited the earth, television was perhaps the single greatest technological achievement since Henry Ford had put automobiles into mass production. Since the coming of color television in 1956, the NBC peacock has been a television communications fixture, and NBC television is respectfully referred to as "The Peacock Network" by people and publications throughout the industry. It can be said that very few other company logos have stood as representative for changes that have affected so many people, so very deeply, for such a long time.

Company nicknames: NBC's peacock stands for much more than just 'living color' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Walley World below in the comments.

When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) began transforming from a regional discount chain to a national retail powerhouse in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the company caught the attention of consumers and business critics alike. The company has never been the same since, and after its meteoric rise in the 1990s, it is easily deserving of its alter ego, Walley World. Why, might you ask?

The term comes from a fictional amusement park in the 1983 comedy film National Lampoon's Vacation. The sprawling amusement park, which the Griswold family travels cross country for, turns out to be closed. This, of course, makes hilarity ensue as Chevy Chase's character hijacks the entire park to make sure his family has a good time after the disastrous journey to get there.

Continue reading Company nicknames: Trekking to Walley World instead of Wal-Mart

Company nicknames: Trekking to Walley World instead of Wal-Mart originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Mickey D's below in the comments.

Should you ever doubt that I was born and bred a United States citizen, let the following anecdote erase all skepticism. Flashing back to 1983 for a moment, we find my 2-year-old self in my dad's old Plymouth station wagon. We're on the way to pick up my sister from Montessori school, and I'm riding in the front seat (a flagrant violation of my mother's car-seat rule, not to mention Ohio state law). From my shotgun perch, I have a clear view of the windshield wiper knob for the first time ... and, to my toddler's eye, the button atop this lever screams one message: McDonald's (NYSE: MCD).

That's right; I thought that the familiar wiper-fluid icon, with its two arches fanning out from one central stem, was somehow related to America's premier fast-food export. My quickly formed hypothesis went something along the lines of, In case of emergency, press here, and the Golden Arches will appear on the horizon. (Are you listening, automakers? The future is now!) As formative childhood memories go, this one blissfully passes up Freud and heads straight to Jung.

It might sound like an exaggeration, but the Golden Arches are nothing if not archetypal. Sure, there are other notable arches in the world; the Gateway Arch in St. Louis springs to mind, as does France's Arc de Triomphe, and the reasonable facsimile thereof in New York City's Washington Square Park. But, I ask you, is there another parabola in the world that so effortlessly communicates the same message in Beijing as it does in Cincinnati?

Continue reading Company nicknames: St. Louis has nothing on McDonald's Golden Arches

Company nicknames: St. Louis has nothing on McDonald's Golden Arches originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Fiat below in the comments.

Sometime in the 1970s, some wag dubbed the Fiat Fix It Again Tony, because at the time the Italian cars were awful -- they were built with cheap Russian steel that rusted easily. Their reputation among American consumers has never recovered.

"Modern Fiats are actually pretty respectable thanks to modernization of materials and manufacturing processes, unfortunately most Americans still think of the old phrase 'Fix It Again Tony' because Fiat has not sold cars in North America since 1982, and therefore that is the last Fiat anyone there has usually seen," according to the Urban Dictionary.

Maybe Fiat's absence from the U.S. market is not a bad thing. Writing in BusinessWeek, Helen Walters described the Fiat Punto as being riddled with design flaws, including one that is a safety hazard. "As it happens, I'm not in the market to buy a car," she writes. "But if I was then the Punto wouldn't make it anywhere on the list."

Looks like the old Fiat joke is not going away anytime soon.

Company nicknames: Lame Fiat joke lingers after decades originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Big Brown below in the comments.

The simplicity of a brand name or symbol confers status on a company. Decades ago, the symbol might literally have been a stock symbol: the oldest companies got one letter ticker symbols from the New York Stock Exchange. United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) now gets that status by taking an entire color: brown. (Granted, it's not a primary color like IBM's Big Blue, but it still shows the company's clout.)

The company first started using its trademark brown trucks in the 1920s when it delivered appliances and other goods for department stores, says Mike Brewster, author of Driving Change: The UPS Approach to Business. Pullman brown was a good choice because "their department store clients wanted the company to be more under-stated, because the stores didn't want the fact that they no longer had their own trucks highlighted." That, and the dark trucks were easier to keep looking clean.

Brown is much more than a truck color now. It's the uniform. It's the logo. It's what the company calls itself in commercials. UPS employees bragging about their loyalty will say they "bleed brown." This year the company sponsored a horse named Big Brown, which won two-thirds of the Triple Crown.

But, hard as it is to believe now, UPS almost gave up its trademark color. "The company almost changed the color in the '90s during one of several re-brandings, but decided to stick with brown, much to the disappointment of many in the company," says Brewster. "But the 'What can Brown do for You?' campaign has given the color new life at the company."

Company nicknames: UPS: Big Brown, much more than a truck color originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Ford below in the comments.

I didn't grow up in one of those families that placed a high premium on American-made goods. If the Japanese can make it better, we'll buy it from them! was the general consensus. And those foreign autos served the Harrows well. My parents bought their 1984 Toyota Tercel when it was new, and that unattractive but reliable compact was part of the family through the beginning of my college career -- even surviving my first, hilarious attempts to operate a manual transmission. So, it wasn't until I moved in with my friend Debbie, as an adult, that I learned the details behind a particularly unflattering nickname for the Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F).

There are those who would joke that the letters in "FORD" stand for "Fix Or Repair Daily." I know from experience that if you make that particular wisecrack within Debbie's earshot, she probably won't crack a smile. Instead, you can almost see her wheels churning, as though she's trying to calculate the thousands she's already poured into her Ford Focus -- or maybe she's just trying to predict which part will break down next.

During the time we shared a mailbox, it was a not-out-of-the-ordinary occurrence for Debbie to receive recall notices bearing the familiar Ford logo. These repair-o-grams arrived with such frequency that the exact number now escapes my memory; when I questioned her via text message, she replied, "I have had six. Stupid car."

Continue reading Company nicknames: Ford's reputation for quality found on road dead

Company nicknames: Ford's reputation for quality found on road dead originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Mr. Softee below in the comments.

You would be hard-pressed to find a professional stock trader today who didn't know that "Mister Softee" is Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) . The nickname is so widely-used among investors that it seems to barely need explanation. But there is actually a quite simple reason for the derivation of the moniker. Here is how I imagine it taking hold:

Once upon a time in a land known as Manhattan, some Wall Street traders were enjoying some after-work beers. After about the fifth brew, these professionals began to gain insights, as they so often do today, into weighty topics.

They pondered the amorous tastes of Ginger and Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. They debated whether "Freebird" or "Stairway to Heaven" was the greatest rock song of all time. Then, one of the traders had the burst of insight that the ticker symbol for Microsoft ("MSFT") has some of the same letters as beloved self-serve ice cream Mister Softee. And so, one of the most ubiquitous bits of Wall Street slang was born.

Continue reading Company nicknames: Microsoft nickname is an insult to Mister Softee

Company nicknames: Microsoft nickname is an insult to Mister Softee originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Roadway below in the comments.

Once or twice a year, the family and I take a long, cross-country drive to one vacation spot or another. So when I heard that that the nickname of the freight hauler Roadway Express was "always on the Road and in the Way," I knew exactly what that meant. It never seems to fail: just as I'm about to catch up to a semi truck, it suddenly swings over into my lane, the passing lane, and then spends the next five to ten miles inching past a very slightly slower truck. In the meantime, I get a nice close-up view of the Yosemite Sam mud flaps, while impatient traffic builds up behind me.

According to their website, Roadway Express, now a division of YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) has been on the road and in the way since it was founded in 1930 by a pair of brothers hauling freight between Akron, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri. By the end of its first decade, it had offices in 22 cities and operating revenues of more than a million dollars. After the Interstate system was established, that expanded to 65 cities and more than $40 million in operating revenue from nearly 1,000 trucks. The company celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2005, and now delivers to all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico with more than 8,500 trucks.

Continue reading Company nicknames: Roadway is on the road and in the way

Company nicknames: Roadway is on the road and in the way originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the most unfortunate of company nicknames that I have ever been witness to, is the distasteful tag of homage that has been bestowed upon Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD). Even more disconcerting than the nickname itself, is the fact that it was bestowed on the company not from outside sources, but from within the company's own hierarchy. "Home Despot" is a name that shall long remain the legacy of one well-jettisoned corporate executive. Home Despot is the name that distinctly belongs to Bob Nardelli, a man who took his own personal neuroses and bound a great corporation with them.

I could feel the effects of the Home Despot when I entered one of the company's retail locations in my neighborhood. Though the store was always tidy and quiet, it had a tight and smothering feel to it. Associates were always available to show me where specific merchandise was, but they were never friendly or engaging. They always seemed afraid to get involved. It was quite a stark contrast to the Menard's store where I definitely preferred to shop. At that store I always felt welcome, and it always felt like things were going on.

I have moved away from the Home Depot store since then, so I can't say if the effects of the Home Despot still linger there. I can however, say that the name itself still does. It's an unfortunate reality that negative nicknames often have a tendency to hang around far longer than the good ones do. I can only hope that the man who gave spawn to the concepts that deserved that nasty title, took with him all the negative sentiment such a name entails. Home Depot never deserved such a negative association, and I think that Bob Nardelli never deserved Home Depot.

Company nicknames: The lingering effects of the Home Despot originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Taco Hell below in the comments.

Homer Simpson, when naming his first child, eliminated many monikers that he feared would invite rhyming nicknames (Screwy Louie, etc.) before choosing Bart (D'oh!). Combine this human propensity, the heat of Mexican food, and a soupçon of suspicion that low prices equal lower-quality ingredients, and the nickname for Taco Bell, Taco Hell, seems inevitable.

The YUM! Brands (NYSE: YUM) chain was born in the same town and at the same time as Mickey D's -- San Bernardino, California. There Glen Bell began selling 19-cent tacos, made possible by his innovation, using pre-fried taco shells. His restaurants, then know as Taco Tia, spread throughout southern California. In Redlands, the football L.A. Rams players who trained nearby began flocking to Bell's shop, and two of them became his first franchisees. In 1962, Bell sold out his share of the existing restaurants, now called El Tacos, and started Taco Bell. He took the company public in 1966 and sold his holdings to PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) in 1975.

Shortly thereafter, the chain went international. It continued to grow thanks in part to savvy marketing, including one promotion offering a free taco to everyone in the U.S. if the Russian Mir space station, on its fall from orbit, were to hit a floating taco target in the Pacific. (It didn't.)

Continue reading Company nicknames: Taco Bell, a circle of Taco Hell?

Company nicknames: Taco Bell, a circle of Taco Hell? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about the Mouse House below in the comments.

Anyone who has ever wondered about the term "Mouse House" need only consult the slanguage dictionary of the show business bible Variety, which defines it this way: "the Walt Disney Co. or any division thereof, a reference to the company's most famous animated character, Mickey Mouse." Variety also refers to Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) simply as the "Mouse."

I've recently rediscovered Mickey because of my nearly two-year-old son Jacob, and I'll say that the old rodent looks pretty good. I mean he's not in his Fantasia form, but he can still deliver the goods for the toddler crowd. Jacob probably is confused by many of the same things about Mickey and his gang as I was, such as why Donald Duck wears no pants and what sort of animal is Goofy. Those mysteries will endure until we fulfill our promise to take our son to visit Mickey's house in Florida.

Disney deserves credit for keeping Mickey Mouse relevant for today's kids because it realizes that the character remains vital to the brand of the world's second-largest media company. The company remains the best-run company in the sector and the only stock worth owning.

Company nicknames: Disney, the Mouse House, still relevant after all these years originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Bloomies below in the comments.

If Macy's (NYSE: M) is the crossroads of all department stores, then Bloomingdale's is the Eastside hub of the cosmopolitan individual. At one time the old slogan, "All cars transfer to Bloomingdale's," beat Macy's to the chase as New York City's 58th Street subway station on the Lexington Avenue line was built in its basement in 1913.

The flagship store is located at 59th and Lex, where the surrounding affluent neighborhood used to supply most of its shoppers, particularly in the early 1970s. Even today, the fashion bonanza exhibited in its store windows draws a crowd while the gleaming black and white art deco interior lures shoppers in the door.

The department store chain has long since spread around the country, but Bloomingdale's has remained a draw for younger professionals seeking exciting new fashion trends. It's not surprising that at some point its hip, young clientele started affectionately calling it "Bloomies."

Continue reading Company nicknames: All cars transfer to 'Bloomies'

Company nicknames: All cars transfer to 'Bloomies' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Aug 2008 06:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about the Tiffany Network below in the comments.

If CBS Corp.'s (NYSE:CBS) nickname The Tiffany Network were newly coined, I'd speculate that it referred to the long history of Tiffany's, and how the current CBS viewing public had probably begun shopping there back in the '20s. If the company has a more recently gained nickname, it would be the silver (-haired) network, due to the skewing of its viewership toward the geezer crowd.

In reality, the Tiffany moniker hearkens back to the CBS of radio's heyday and the early days of television. With the likes of Edward R. Murrow reporting from London during the Blitz, Orson Wells scaring the bejebus out of listeners with his broadcast of The War of the Worlds, the hit multi-cultural comedy I Love Lucy, and the iconic western Gunsmoke, the network's reputation for quality was once as glittering as one of Tiffany's diamond-pavéd bracelets.

How the mighty have fallen. CBS, with debacles such as the Katie Couric news anchor stint, now lags behind Fox in weekly ratings.

The Tiffany Network is part of a massive entertainment company with fingers in television (66% of revenues), radio (remember radio?) (12%), outdoor advertising (16%), and publishing (6%). Yes, those are all very 20th century businesses. The question troubling current investors is just how the company will move into the 21st century without swapping all its diamonds for rhinestones?

Continue reading Company nicknames: Tiffany Network CBS becoming The Silver Network

Company nicknames: Tiffany Network CBS becoming The Silver Network originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Needless Markup below in the comments.

Neiman Marcus may be the most successful upscale retail department chain that selected shoppers love to hold a grudge against.

The chain caters to primarily female, upper-income and upper-middle shoppers, and features designer lines that rival boutique (and beyond) price levels.

Further, while some of the products are decidedly exclusive, some are not or appear to not be, according to shoppers, but the prices of these items remain in the stratosphere, and it is for this reason that the store was tagged with the nickname "Needless Markup."

Here's a classic example. About a year ago Marie Lang, sister of yours truly, was searching for a leather shoulder bag. She found a medium brown, designer bag she liked for $1,200 at Neiman Marcus. However, being a discerning/critical comparison shopper, Marie of course took a few days to scout the competition.

The result? She found a comparable shoulder bag at Bloomingdale's for $595. Had she been willing to take a slightly smaller bag, she could have secured one for $395.

Continue reading Company nicknames: Neiman Marcus -- If you have to ask about price ...

Company nicknames: Neiman Marcus -- If you have to ask about price ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Whole Paycheck below in the comments.

Having long shopped at overpriced gourmet foods markets, I'll admit to having rolled my eyes a bit -- maybe even scoffed -- when I first heard the beloved nickname for Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI), "Whole Paycheck." Of course, this was also when I was single and living on a dot-com boom-style income.

Today, I rarely shop at Whole Foods; there isn't one in my neighborhood, and it's true: it's not difficult to spend upwards of $100 on ingredients for one meal. While there are choices on the lower end of the price spectrum, especially in the company's 365 house brand line and seasonal produce, the grocery chain has long prided itself on providing a wide range of organic and gourmet ingredients; and if its customers demand star fruit from Brazil, stinky cheeses from around the globe, and sushi-quality tuna, by all means, Whole Foods will provide it, and won't bat an eye about charging for its hard work.

Continue reading Company nicknames: Whole Paycheck could mean any grocery store these days

Company nicknames: Whole Paycheck could mean any grocery store these days originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about the $100 store below in the comments.

You know you do it. You walked into Costco (NASDAQ: COST) to save some money on one thing -- just one little thing. In our minds, we do all sorts of calculations. We see ourselves saving money instead of what we're actually doing, spending money. An hour later we walk out loaded down with bulk bargains -- and $100 lighter. That's where Costco gets its increasingly popular nickname: The $100 Store.

Bloggers and consumers have been using the unflattering "$100 store" nickname for a while. And, it turns out they are right. A recent Christian Science Monitor story cites a statistic from the Food Institute: the average visit to a warehouse club costs $93.

The $100 spending phenomena may be a universal phenomena in any of the big-box discounters. But one Harvard professor thinks the membership fees at Costco (and other warehouse clubs) make us think we're getting a better deal than we are. Michael I. Norton, an assistant professor in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School, says that the presence of fees make people think they're getting a special discount and then they spend more.

"The presence of fees can drive choice of retail outlets, such that stores with membership fees are more popular even when they offer the same goods at the same prices as stores without fees," Norton writes in his working paper. Maybe that idea of paying to shop somewhere was crazy after all.

Company nicknames: Costco really is the '$100 store' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.