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The Secret To Success As A Specialty Retailer
June 14, 2008

Any store can say they carry everything but we all know that we just can't carry it all.  What we can do, as retailers, though, is listen to the needs and wants of our customers and put our hearts and minds behind our stores and products.  

I was inspired today by the story of a customer who was in our store.  She had gone online looking for several specialty products.  Time and time again, this customer ran across our store as one of the closest retailers for the products she wanted.  Some stores had some of the items she wanted but no store had all or even most of them, save one.  The customer was searching online from Florida.  For those of you not familiar with my family's store, we're in Atlanta... that's Atlanta, Georgia.  (We're north of Florida for those of you who are geographically challenged.)  The mom-to-be packed up her extended family and drove to Atlanta to go baby shopping.  They didn't drive to Atlanta to see the Georgia Aquarium, The World of Coke, or Stone Mountain.  They drove to Atlanta to get baby gear.  They shopped 'till they dropped and then drove back to Florida.

This is not to say that there probably aren't great stores in the area in which this family lives.  This is, however, an example of how a mom wants the comfort of having one store who carries most everything and has the knowledge to back the products they carry.  

We had another customer this week who bestowed upon us another immense compliment.  She said that ours had been the first store she had gone to.  Because she always received superb service and product education and because we had most everything she wanted, she was glad to say that she felt no need to shop anywhere else.  She didn't feel frustrated and overwhelmed while shopping for the infant and toddler that she's adopting.  

These compliments do not come from running our business as a money machine.  We run our business, with common sense, of course, but with love.  We love what we do.  We listen to our customers.  That is why we've been around for 38 years.  That is why we're well established in the community.  And that is why, during this distressed economy, we are not taking the hit that many retailers are taking.  Mark my words, business owners, you get out of your business what you put into your business.  We get joy because it is what we give.

Posted by Kelly Nelson on June 14, 2008 | Comments (0)