Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged profit, resale shopkeeping, success on October 19, 2011| 7 Comments »
Consignment, resale, and thrift shop owners and operators are truly EXPERTS.Aren’t YOU an expert wardrobe consultant and/or interior stylist? Intimately knowledgeable about the best local sources for raising children? The guru of (more…)
Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged Thrift on October 4, 2011| 1 Comment »
Now you know that a big bugaboo for me, when I am evaluating consignment and resale stores, is making your shopper do her own math re markdowns.
But as a consultant in the real world of volunteer-staffed thrift stores in the non-profit world, I agree that
That’s why “the “color tag” method doesn’t really bother me in large, high-volume, thrift shops.
But watching how the stores word their signage is vital. I mean, who in heaven’s name wants to pay full price?
Even worse, what’s a DNR*? Sure you know, but do your customers?
How about, for signage like this, you replace “Full Price” with a simple, motivating phrase like “New Arrivals“? And the DNRs? How about “Boutique Goods” or “Exceptional Values“? That way, your customer doesn’t feel like a sucker when she covets something with “the wrong color tag”?
A deeper discussion of markdowns, and why the way you handle and do them is so important to success, in an earlier entry here on the Auntie Kate blog.
* DNR stands for “do not reduce” and is usually used for goods which are exceptionally valuable or coveted by your customers.Posted in economics of resale, Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged Thrift on October 3, 2011|
Just got word that Life’s Treasures Carrollwood, in the north Tampa area, beat their much-more established sister store in a wealthier area… first time ever, just a month afterI enjoyed a visit and a bit of consulting there. They were doing lots right, and I hope the insights I was able to share tipped them over the edge! I’ll be back there soon, to see how the Life’s Treasures new “man cave” or “Super Values” department works out for them. I think it will go a long way towards luring both the traditional super-thrifty thrift shopper and the newly awakened smart shopper into the same store, thus keeping “old friends” and developing new customers.
Another of my past consultation clients, the NAM stores in Houston, were able to fund a simple paint-job facelift recently and showed off their work on Facebook. Here’s the “before”, which I told them looked cold and forbidding… and furthermore didn’t tempt SHOPPERS because it downplayed that this was a STORE…
And here’s the “after.” Don’t you love it? And they are doing a super job of rebranding their three thrift stores, too!
Tomorrow, we’ll talk about one more iny change I suggested for the NAM stores. One change that didn’t require much more than, oh, $30 in funding but makes such a difference!
Posted in 5- Minute Fixes, Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged home decor on September 28, 2011| 2 Comments »
I was in a (crowded musty-dusty) resale furniture shop today. Boy, they sure had things packed in there. Big place.
But I am sure I missed (more…)
Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk on September 9, 2011| 9 Comments »
Spotted in an American Cancer Society resale store:
(more…)
Too Good to be Threw is the flagship site of the TGtbT Family of Sites for the Professional Resalers
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 