Photo: Dan HamermeshI love to collect examples of bizarre pairs of goods that sellers or buyers apparently believe are complements or substitutes.
Our local, now-defunct Tower Records used to have condoms for sale at the check-out counter, presumably in the probably reasonable belief that they and rock music are complements in students’ consumption.
Near my apartment in Germany this summer, a funeral home has a casket in the window, with seashells on top, sand strewn around, and a seagull perched atop a cross. Do the owners really believe that customers will be consuming funerals and beach vacations together? I wonder.
I disgust my introductory economics students by listing peanut butter and mayonnaise as complements, since I used to make myself sandwiches of these two items when I was in college.
Any other amusingly bizarre real-world examples like these are most welcome, the weirder the better.
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Although they are not necessarily from the same marketers, they are always from email spammers… I have always found odd the advertisement of penis enlargement therapies, followed subsequently by advertisements of cheap erectile dysfunction medicines.
Along these lines, I have noticed an entertaining phenomenon in my neighborhood in Queens- businesses within a business. Much like the condoms at the record store, these counters sell a totally unrelated product- cell phones cases in a shoe store, cakes in a clothing store, etc. My favorite one as of late was the racy underwear counter in the internet cafe…
Best combo I can recall, a store that sells ice cream and garden gnomes. Must have something to do with the conical hats.
In Korea, there are combination wedding halls / swimming pools. As you walk out of a wedding ceremony you see people coming in to swim.
I also saw in Seoul a combination makeup / candy store.
Well, the florist/clothing store down the street recently went out of business.
I recently saw a combination cigar store / shoe repair location.
I once went to a French restaurant in Arcola, Illinois that was located inside a bowling alley.
Best combo I ever saw: a drive-through beer barn and tattoo parlor in Denton, Texas. It wasn’t specified on the sign, but I have always assumed the tattoos were not done on a drive-through basis.
In Melbourne, Australia, we saw a shop across from the Victoria Market: Pet Supplies and Martial Arts. “Now there’s a recession-proof business!” I said.
Gasoline and beer.