Cool Breeze

Among the most challenging aspects of living in NYC during the summer was the oppressive heat that the city seemed to retain during the dog days of August. In other posts I've gone on about how unbearable the heat is and tricks that I've used to make the best of it. Believe it or not I lived in NYC for one entire summer without the use of any air-conditioning whatsoever. I simply took multiple cold showers every day and had a different fan for every room in my apartment. I simply assumed that on my meager salary I wouldn't be able to afford the electricity bills and without actually doing any research to confirm/deny this challenged myself to simply live without AC for an entire summer. This directive worked for one summer only. When the following summer rolled around I felt like I wouldn't be able to deal with another summer of intense oppressive heat. One could sweat profusely just sitting around my apartment without an AC Unit to blast. Moreover, sleeping in these conditions was a little challenging to say the least.

So in my second summer in the City, I broke down and picked up an AC Unit at the Circuit City on 86th Street. Without a car, my options were somewhat limited for getting the thing home. I thought about taking a cab until the salesperson asked me if he could load the AC unit into my car. When I told him I was without wheels he suggested that I borrow a handtruck and wheel the AC unit the 7 blocks to my place as long as I left my ID at the store (after all, I could've just kept the handtruck at home without a reason to go back and return it).

As an AC owner I felt this renewed sense of pride - as if I had ascended to another tax bracket (although still a low one). With an AC unit to operate as I pleased I felt part of the rest of the City and found myself noticing other retailers and their summer air-conditioner sales. Now, I was an informed buyer and could judge whether or not I got a good deal from Circuit City versus the deals offered by Best Buy and PC Richard. PC Richard, a local retailer with intimate knowledge of the NYC market, knew how to move these units. They anticipated high demand for them every season and instead of asking shoppers to actually go inside their store and try out the units before buying, stacked them in 10 foot high mountains of excess stock right on the sidewalk in front of their stores in order to draw consumers in. I suppose the thinking here was if you can see the AC unit from the street (it was actually "on the street") then you would go over to the storefront and start shopping there first. Best Buy and even Circuit City didn't take this approach and made consumers go inside their store before browsing.

I liked this approach by PCR because it was uniquely New York. It appealed to consumers while they are on foot and presented no physical barriers between the buyers and the merchandise. This style was more powerful and appealed to New Yorkers' sense of being in control. They wanted the freedom to make these purchases happen on their own time and sub-consciously needed to have these shopping opportunities right in their face or they might just walk by and miss out - being distracted by something completely different. The activity of one or a group of people shopping/buying AC units on the street would of course attract attention and bring in even more buyers. PCR used their local knowledge to find a way to reach these buyers and appeal to them within their own lifestyles making the entire shopping experience seem completely normal and unobtrusive.