3 reasons YOU need a swing shop:
1- You can focus attention on specific categories or styles to keep them moving
2- A swing shop keeps
Posts Tagged ‘success’
What’s a Swing Shop and why would I need one?
Posted in I've been meaning to tell you, Shopkeeping talk, tagged display, merchandising, resale shopkeeping, selling, success on July 6, 2017| 4 Comments »
Resale Bus Tour, Part II
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged NARTS Conference, resale shopkeeping, success on July 3, 2017| 1 Comment »
The next stop on our NARTS Conference Bus Tour was a bonanza of ideas from two shops owned by the same company, Turnstyle.
First, their clothing shop. It’s on the inside elbow of an L-shaped center, within 100 feet of their home furnishings store. Although there is excellent overhead signage for motorists, pedestrian-level signage is missing in both cases, and I did actually hear some of my bus companions exclaim that they totally missed the tucked-away clothing store.
Remember, click any photo to enlarge.
A whole wall of accessories, neatly arranged. Notice the narrow mirror, hung sideways above the jewelry.
Notice that scarves and jewelry are hung not on straight arm slatwall fixtures, but on waterfall faceouts for easier browsing.
I loved their devotion to colorizing. Don’t the belts look great… and colorizing shoes is something I seldom see!
The shop does carry a selection of childrenswear, sizes 2T and up, and some menswear as well. Plus size womenswear has its own floor space as well.
Periodic markdowns are done by hand, in red marker, as prescribed by the Manual ♥ (or maybe they just realized this was best practices on their own ♥ )
The cleverest idea I picked up at the clothing store was this: Spring-summer clothing is tagged with green tags, fall-winter with red tags. This makes it simple, at seasonal clearance time, to simply say “50% off all green ticket items”, without having to rearrange the shop or put stamps, stickers, or hole punches on each tag.
Here’s the shop’s post-dated consignment goods awaiting the seasonal switch. Note they have red tags, allowing the shop to intersperse some transitional goods into stock without affecting the green-ticket clearance event.
Next door to the clothing shop is the home furnishings store. Here, colorizing makes the assortment of knick knacks look so much more appealing:
What to do with too much wall decor? I’ve seen plenty of solutions, but these carpet-covered, stepped units are elegant in looks and function!
Soft goods get their own department, The area rugs are displayed on a large sturdy table for easy browing (and a bit of undercover storage as well.)
Stay tuned to our blog… Part III of the Resale Bus Tour at NARTS Conference coming up soon… and another shop a few of us were thrilled to visit on our free evening!
See Part I of the Resale Bus Tour.
Visit turnstyleconsign.com for more on this company.
Which do you choose: Fighting back, or going OOB?
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged advertising, customers, Facebook, resale shopkeeping, success, web on June 15, 2017| 10 Comments »
One shop is concerned with slumping sales, saying that the mom trade groups on Facebook are causing her shop to lose sales.
Yet there is nothing
on her Facebook page or her web site motivating folks to shop with her rather thanwith some stranger in a parking lot. If her assessment of the battle facing her is true, wouldn’t she be wise to gather some ammo and fight back? She could post, often and charmingly, of
all the advantages her shop has over stranger-dealing…
from A (we’re air-conditioned, shop in comfort!) to Z (Zounds! This shop has ah-mazzzing selection, you’ll be able to choose the perfect item rather than settling for less!)
Another shopkeeper complains that “people don’t know I’m here”…
yet there is nothing
to make the eye of a motorist or pedestrian glom onto her store front. The store’s just one in a row of identical frontage.
Grab their attention, stand out!
Would a large silk tree that she could wheel out onto the pavement every morning make people notice? Or vinyl lettering on the glass, or a bright and well-lit display changed every week?
A third resaler says “they just want sales and deals before they’ll buy.”
And yet,
he doesn’t take advantage of his software’s ability to add a line on every tag with the original retail value of that armchair or dresser that will underline the values inherent in his merchandise.
Nor does he add value with some personalized signage, the kind you’d only see in a real-life, bricks-&-mortar, shop-local type of situation.
Fight back! Don’t stand there and take it… better to stand out from the crowd!
Getting ready to join your peers and learn?
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged NARTS Conference, resale shopkeeping, starting a consignment shop, success on June 14, 2017|
I’m busy making lists, packing supplies, and practicing my workshop. Gathering resources I think the folks I meet and chat with and eat and drink with might like to have.
Hope you are too!
Don’t forget to check which Products for the Professional Resaler you already have. And download what looks interesting… that way, you’ll have a chance to read it before Conference and, if you need to, ask for clarification or for how you could adapt, say, a promotional idea that catches your eye, or a way of handling clearance sales or using your space better, to your specific shop situation!
PS: If we don’t happen to meet in the course of Thursday, Friday or Saturday, I’ll be in the front of SourceMart on Sunday just for the first hour, from noon to 1pm, signing the Manual. Brings yours if you’d like me to sign it, pick one up if you’ve never treated yourself to this business tool… or just come chat!
Kudos: Design Challenge
Posted in Kudos: Ideas to inspire!, Shopkeeping talk, tagged home decor, perceived value, resale shopkeeping, success, web on June 12, 2017|
The program was part of a September 2016 competition that was featured in local TV and which won a national award.
Consignment and resale shopkeepers often dream of having interns from local schools lend them a hand in their shops. But the logistics can be baffling.
Kristi Hickey and husband/ business partner David, owners of the 28,000 sq.ft. (more…)
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