Posted in Shopkeeping talk on February 29, 2008|
Since it’s Leap Day and all…and you get an extra day to do something you really WANT to do…I hope you do some STRETCHING today.
Anyone who’s ever exercised understands about stretching. It’s that feels-so-good-it-hurts segment of your routine, where you can FEEL (more…)
Posted in Shopkeeping talk on February 27, 2008|
The brand is just about EVERYWHERE… good or bad. I mean, for heaven’s sake, when I want to impress upon my resale, consignment, and 
thrift shopkeepers how they are probably tossing away more money than it would cost to be a Sponsored link at HowToConsign.com, I use the example of “costs less than your daily Starbucks.”
(We’ll ignore the fact that I personally, having received a Starbucks gift card as a thank-you for working on a charitable committee. still haven’t found the time or impetus to USE it, over a year later…)
And we will put aside my dislike of the cloning of America (and the world!) with look-alike, corporate-run, who-gives-a-**-about YOU businesses, to learn (more…)
Posted in Shopkeeping talk on February 24, 2008| 3 Comments »
From some nerdy web site (http://www.news.wisc.edu/14723 if you must know):In 1582, Pope Gregory instituted a calendar reform (which is why we use the “Gregorian Calendar”): We add a leap day every four years, except in years divisible by 100 (like 1900), but those can also be leap years if they are divisible by 400.
“So we would have skipped a leap day in 2000,” says Lattis, “but it’s also divisible by 400, and that’s the exception to the exception.”
So, how many leap days have YOU had? You could have a fun event in your consignment, resale, or thrift shop, for one day only: Take 2.9% off for every Leap Day you’ve lived. (That’s to honor Feb 29, of course!)
I’ve had 16!! So, because I am one of those OLD customers so many of you shudder to think about, I’d get 46.4% off. That snippy little self-important 23-year-old only gets 17.4% (Revenge of the Sagging Cells, I like to think of it as!)
Making the purely-arbitrary decision that none of your customers are over 80 (or, if they are, that they have grown beyond worrying about discounts on your already-terrific prices), here’s the list of years your customers might have lived through a Leap Day on:
Like this idea? Make up a chart of birth year = discount. Don’t insist on seeing valid ID to PROVE that your customer, who’s having a great deal of fun (after all, it ain’t often that the older you are, the better off you are, right?) is as old as she admits to. And Great-Grannie, who claims to be 86-and-a-half and wants to claim that discount? What the heck, break the bank, give her 100% off something. It’ll be worth it, to see the smile on that wrinkly old face, huh? Just be sure to capture a photo on your digital camera of her, and post it on your Community Bulletin Board for all to enjoy!
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged customers, Products for the Professional Resaler on February 22, 2008|
If you have any of my Too Good to be Threw Products for the Professional Resaler, you’re well-aware that I consider Customer Benefits next to godliness… or at least cleanliness.
I’m constantly flinching from mis-steps such as a consignment shop titling their seasonal in-take calendar When We Take What instead of (more…)
Posted in My Favorite Things on February 20, 2008| 4 Comments »
Here’s a favorite thing that will guide your browsing customers AND save you hours of straightening time. Color-coded mini-markers that slip on the neck of a hanger. Think how YOU could use them:
* To indicate Petites or Talls while keeping clothing in the right size range.
* To denote Boys, Girls, Gender-neutral in T’s, jeans, and other items.
* To mark linens folded on hangers: table, window, bed, bath. Keeping these usages separate makes for an easier shopping experience for your customer, which means more sales for you.
* To call attention to higher-end designer items. Makes it easy for even part-time staff to keep them on the proper racks, or for buyers to understand your price structure if you mix your price ranges within categories.* To point out vintage, costumes, whatever would be useful for your staff or your clientele to know.
You could even go hog-wild and assign a different color mini-marker to sizes XS, S, M, L, XL throughout the shop… thereby being able to create appealing completely-colorized racks. Imagine being able to have a rounder of black pants here, of tan there, of the rest-of-the-rainbow over there, and STILL helping shoppers “find their size”! That’s a way to banish the mish-mash of merchandise in consignment and resale shops!
(Oh sure, it takes work, keeping things on their color-coded hangers properly…hey, everything takes work!)
For a [update: a little more than a nickel now] nickel apiece, these hanger mini-markers might become one of your favorite things as well!
Too Good to be Threw is the flagship site of the TGtbT Family of Sites for the Professional Resalers
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 