Barbie Makes Her Move

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If my little household is any sign, the decision by MGA Entertainment Inc. of Van Nuys to unveil a social networking Web site around its Bratz line of dolls this week probably will be a good one.


MGA’s move follows a similar one from Mattel Inc. In case you missed it, the El Segundo company rolled out Barbiegirls.com a few months back to capitalize on its Barbie brand. Girls can customize their own character, outfit her room and buy stuff by building imaginary credits. Girls can visit each others’ rooms.


I knew my 6-year-old girl was spending a lot of time on the site, but her obsession became clear during a recent family outing when she pestered me to return home early because she “needed” to feed her online pet. I’m bracing myself for the torrent of stuff she “needs” to buy, thanks to the Barbie Web site.


Here’s a question: What took them so long?


Social networking sites have been huge for several years among teens. Moving social networking down to the hop scotch set seems like such a no-brainer that you’d think these initiatives would have been done at least a year or so ago.


Unfortunately, that question soon will be replaced by a more important one: How will these L.A. companies deal with online child predators?




The decision by Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons to scrap the two-tier employee system, a decision ratified by the union last week, was probably as much a victory for the companies as the workers.


A two-tier employee system is stupid. So is having two chief executives or cultivating two corporate cultures or trying to have two spouses.


Of course, the two-tier system was adopted as a compromise, a way to help end the grocery strike of four years ago. It allowed existing workers to keep their higher pay and benefits and it allowed the companies to wait out the older workers and slowly replace them with the lower-compensated employees.


But it was still a stupid compromise. A two-tier system creates resentment among employees and an unending headache for management. You can just hear “you’ll-have-to-pay-me-as-much-as-you’re-paying-him-before-I-do-that-job” kind of squabble that mid-managers had to arbitrate. The companies are better off without the two-tier system. Did I say it was stupid?


By the way, the union won this round, but you have to wonder how many victories are left for them. The march of history is against grocery chains that employ many full-time workers with benefits, just as it was against shoe stores, department stores and gasoline stations.


As long as customers keep demanding low-priced food, grocery owners will be compelled to cut costs. That means more workers without benefits some time in the future.




Among the interesting articles in the Real Estate Quarterly special section in this issue is one on Page 30. It points out that vacancy rates for office space across Los Angeles County have gotten quite low. As a result, it said, already high rents appear headed up even more. Lease rates are not yet driving businesses out of the county, but they may soon.


J.C. Casillas, an executive with Grubb & Ellis Co., put it this way: “The second half of the year is going to be very interesting.”



Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

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