BrandsMart USA
Randy Johnson
Sr. VP Merchandising
Chief Merchandising Officer
The Pay-to-Play atmosphere of the entire BrandsMart USA Merchandising/Buyers department starts with Randy Johnson.
From the motorized wheel chair cart that he uses to get around the corporate office and witnessed a number of them “donated” to him, to the assistance he constantly is in need of.
When BrandsMart USA added mattresses to the product assortment, the executives working closest to him all, Perlman’s and Johnson’s, received new high dollar mattresses for their personal use.
The ultimate pay-to-play was receiving an eight thousand dollar television that pissed off Michael Perlman to clamp down by informing vendors to no longer give gifts to employees including Randy Johnson, but I heard that he called them up and told them it did not apply to him.
Cannot tell you how many times in the years I spent both in and out of the BrandsMart USA corporate office, hearing of him and his family members getting new appliances and trips from vendors, including his bi-annual vacation trip to Las Vegas.
Including a vendor using their corporate jet to shuttle his granddaughter to Las Vegas for her twenty-first birthday.
A long term BrandsMart USA merchant/buyer arranged for all the vendors to pay for every BrandsMart USA merchant/buyer, under Randy Johnson’s supervision, lunch six days a week he was in the office.
Each vendor taking turns in providing their credit cards to the BrandsMart USA merchant/buyer who made a lunch list, then he would leave the BrandsMart USA office and retrieve lunch for all on the list.
Once this BrandsMart USA merchant/buyer left the company chaos ensued and the vendors themselves were then tasked to retrieve the lunches.
Cannot tell you how many vendors vented to me their disdain of having to cater to him, not only in the BrandsMart USA corporate office, but worse yet when they traveled with him.
The Chief Merchandising Officer for BrandsMart USA is responsible of all merchandise BrandsMart USA sells or offers.
For the majority or my tenure with company, Randy Johnson was responsible for purchasing of small and major appliance categories and before Dick Wallace retired[1], Dick Wallace was responsible for the electronics categories.
Dick Wallace set open-to-buy[2] amounts for all categories including small and major appliances during his tenure.
The two had a very volatile relationship to say the least.
Randy Johnson refused to do business with any small vendor representative that did business with Dick Wallace during that time.
Michael Perlman promoted Randy Johnson to Chief Merchandising Officer in ’13, when Dick Wallace retired, overseeing all buying of all categories.
No open-to-buy for any category were set after Dick Wallace’s retirement resulting in shortages of purchasing electronics for the Back to School and Black Friday sales, because of the maximization of the credit line for extended inventories of appliances.
BrandsMart USA Merchant/Buyers, as well as, vendors themselves came into my office on numerous times venting that they could not believe during some of the biggest sale events they could not purchase or order the items needed for their specific categories geared to those events.
During the early years, David Johnson, another of Randy Johnson’s sons, was the Television Buyer working under Dick Wallace.
On my first trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we traveled together.
David Johnson had a limousine waiting for him, tagging along to the New York-New York Hotel & Casino; following him as he walked directly to the casino, laid five one hundred dollar bills on the craps table and moments later leaving empty handed!
He was later terminated for what was rumored later, for taking kickbacks, drug and alcohol abuse.
Years later David Johnson acquired a position with Ragalta a housewares and appliance company with the assistance of his father whom then started doing business with BrandsMart USA.
Bringing it to an executive’s attention, the executive management were unaware of the association and it turned into another volatile issue.
BrandsMart USA continued to purchase from the vendor with no litigation in this conflict of interest business relationship that benefited a family member.
Email: Randy Johnson
Corporate Address:
3200 SW 42nd Street
Hollywood, FL 33312
Corporate Phone Number:
954-797-4000
Toll Free:
800-432-8579
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