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But Sensible Alternatives is a one-stop
shop for funerals, selling everything from caskets
and tombstones to sympathy cards, fresh flowers,
books and urns. It even has funeral accessories
for pets.
And its employees can arrange a complete
funeral.
"We're dealing with a situation few want to
face, so if we can make it a bit easier for them,
it is much better," said Bernie Henderson, general
manager of Northern Virginia operations for The
Loewen Group Inc., which owns the Sensible
Alternatives store.
Funeral stores are popping up in strip
shopping centers across the country as operators
bring traditional funeral services and merchandise
to mainstream America. Some shops operate
independently, while others are affiliated with
funeral parlors.
And some funeral home operators, including
Nelsen Funeral Home in Richmond, are overhauling
parts of their funeral parlors to better showcase
their accessories.
It is all part of a trend of baby boomers
growing older and wanting alternatives to make
their own funeral plans or plans for loved ones,
including their parents.
Funeral stores are increasingly popular,
experts say, because they offer a greater
selection in a less intimidating, more convenient
environment. Consumers also are looking for less
expensive alternatives to traditional funeral
homes, industry analysts say.
And with a more transient population,
consumers often don't have strong ties to a
community - or to a specific funeral home - as
their parents and grandparents did.
The popularity of the stores got a boost in
1994, when a federal law went into effect
requiring funeral homes to accept caskets their
customers bought from any source.
"We began to see and hear from people who
were looking for something other than a
traditional funeral home in order to make
arrangements," Henderson said. "But this concept
isn't for everybody, and that's why we still have
traditional funeral homes."
But some traditional funeral home operators
believe funeral stores simply are a fad that
eventually will die.
"They pop up and they go away," said John
Fitch, director of government relations for the
National Funeral Directors Association, a trade
group representing about 20,000 funeral directors.
"It is just a different marketing
approach," Fitch said. "People don't go out on a
Saturday afternoon and stop by a strip center or
mall to buy caskets."
But the atmosphere at funeral stores can be
inviting.
The Sensible Alternatives store is brightly
lighted and the decor is a light gray.
Customers are encouraged to browse the
merchandise, which is arranged as items might be
in a department store.
There are books about dying and grieving.
Customers can buy garden stones and wind chimes.
The store carries more than a dozen styles
of urns, including the lighthouse replica and the
sundial found at the front of the store.
Absent from these stores are the
stereotypical dark rooms where caskets are lined
up wall-to-wall as they might be at a funeral
home. There are no embalming tables or chapels
either.
Instead, portions of caskets in various
woods or metals line the walls.
"People are a bit intimidated by going to a
funeral home," said Mark Panciera, who opened his
first Memorial Store in Hollywood, Fla., in 1997.
He now has three stores - two in strip shopping
centers and a stand-alone - along with a
traditional funeral home business.
"People don't want to face this inevitable
end. It is a sad time, so why make it worse for
them," Panciera said. "We are trying to make it a
more acceptable and pleasing experience."
Consumers, particularly baby boomers, would
rather shop in a retail environment for funeral
merchandise and services, because that is what
they are used to doing, Panciera said.
As do many retailers, Panciera researches
market demographics, studying census tracts to
determine where stores should be, based on the
number of elderly residents.
Employees at his Memorial Stores in South
Florida wear casual clothing such as polo shirts
and khaki pants, rather than the dark suits and
ties found at traditional funeral homes, to make
the atmosphere less somber.
But Sensible Alternatives hasn't made that
bold step on attire just yet.
"We want to be evolutionary and not
revolutionary," Henderson said. "We are not sure
people are ready for such a dramatic change, and
frankly we're not sure we are ready for it
either."
Sensible Alternatives is the only funeral
store currently operating in Virginia, state
officials say. Two other similar shops, one in
Roanoke and one in Edinburg, opened a couple of
years ago under different names and operators, but
have since closed.
Sensible Alternatives opened in late April
as a branch of the Mullins & Thompson funeral
homes in the Fredericksburg area.
It is the first stand-alone store operated
by The Loewen Group, the nation's second biggest
funeral home and cemetery operator, which expects
to emerge from federal bankruptcy protection later
this year. It is watching the test closely.
The Loewen Group operates three Mullins
& Thompson funeral homes and 23 other funeral
parlors in Virginia under different names. A
second Sensible Alternatives store is being
considered.
The company hopes to capture more business
for its Mullins & Thompson funeral homes by
operating Sensible Alternatives. "We expect this
store to be profitable and not to be subsidized by
the funeral homes," Henderson said.
Funeral stores that are affiliated with
funeral parlors simply are leveraging the costs of
the funeral home by expanding sales potential with
stand-alone stores, Panciera said. Consumers,
however, are not required to use the
store-affiliated funeral services for any
purchases they make at a store.
"We are just basing our model on what the
mass retailers have done," Panciera said.
Blair Nelsen, president of Nelsen Funeral
Homes on Laburnum Avenue and in Williamsburg and
Hopewell, doesn't believe most funeral stores can
attract enough consumers - and revenues - to
support the expense of operating the shops. And
the ones that can usually are in large
metropolitan areas or where there is a high
retirement population.
"I would think you have to have tremendous
volume there to support the investment," said
Nelsen, who created a more appealing-looking
showroom on Laburnum Avenue earlier this year and
is making similar changes to the funeral parlor he
recently bought in Hopewell.
"This is a concept where the jury is still
out," he said.
There are more than 150 funeral stores in
the United States, according to the National
Casket Retailers Association. Only a handful of
states, including Virginia, require licensed
funeral directors to operate funeral stores.
Funeral store operators know they have a
challenge in attracting shoppers. But they believe
their differentiating factor with consumers is
price.
Caskets sell at funeral stores for far less
than traditional funeral homes, the operators
claim. The markup by funeral homes, they say, can
be 300 percent to 500 percent.
"Given the opportunity to spend less on a
funeral arrangement, more people are apt to do
that," said Kevin Gray, the president and chief
executive officer at Direct Casket stores, based
in New Hyde Park, N.Y.
Gray, also chairman of the National Casket
Retailers Association, opened the first of his six
stores shortly after the federal law was adopted
in 1994. Still, most consumers are unaware of the
federal law that allows them to buy a casket from
anyone.
"The market is being driven because of the
price and the convenience," Gray said.
Price was a key reason Regina Kelly of
Fredericksburg decided to use Sensible
Alternatives two weeks ago when her sister died.
"I know you go through a period of
mourning, but you still have your bills to pay,"
Kelly said.
Saving money was important, but Kelly also
liked going to a strip shopping center in casual
clothes to pick out her sister's casket and make
other arrangements.
"Walking in here, I said, `Wow, this is
nice.' I feel like I am going to the mall or the
grocery store," she said. "It makes me feel very
comfortable."
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