The Gifted Retailer: Granma's Treasures
GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 8/23/2010 11:06:02 AM
Gifts & Decorative Accessories: What do you like best about being a retailer?
Patty Zion, left
Patty Zion: Being able to create things that make people happy! All my life I have enjoyed making things; turning matchboxes into decorations, decorating cakes, sewing clothing for my children...
As they grew up I turned to crafting and selling at local craft fairs.
When I developed Fibromyalgia and couldn't travel, I opened a shop in my house to sell the things I made. When I outgrew the space, I moved the shop (4 times at last count). I still make quilts and tabletop to sell in the shop. We are known for our gift baskets and our 'party favor' treat bags. We recreate displays weekly, and decorate our windows seasonally.
G&DA: What was the most valuable piece of business advice that you ever received?
PZ: DO what you like, LIKE what you do!
G&DA: What is/was your most successful promotion?
PZ: We have several every year, including our Pajama Party, Granma's Birthday Bash, and our Annual Holiday Open House, now in its 15th year. These all require lots of planning, decorating, advertising and cooking!
The easiest promotion we do is our Annual Grab Bag Sale: We hold sidewalk sales during Wray Days in July, and clean out all the nooks and crannies, sale bins, discontinued items, etc. The whole town participates, so there's lots of stuff to choose from. After Wray Days most stores put what's left in storage. We put ours in Grab Bags. They go out for sale on August 1 and they sell like hot cakes because people know what good quality merchandise we have.
One year a lady came in, saw we had our grab bags out, and called her mother and her aunts. Between them they took 81 bags! The hard part was getting them all in her suburban.
G&DA: What three products/lines are you best sellers?
PZ: Demdaco for gifts, Park Design for tabletop, Melissa and Doug for children. They are the top three for this year to date, and have been the top three for the last three years.
G&DA: What are you doing to attract new customers?
PZ: This year we have added a blog, done facebook, hired a graphic artist to paint a story wall on the back of our 
building (we have a corner location on Main & the highway through town), improved our e-newsletter, invested in some online advertising and are tweaking our party promotions.
G&DA: What was your most effective display?
PZ: Several years ago I found our bridal registry was time consuming for both our employees and customers because we were still using the standard list method, and having to search out items that had moved around in the store. We developed a 'Bride's Booth' with shelving and hanging space where we display everything the bride has picked out.
The customer can see at a glance what the bride has selected, and choose add-on items that coordinate. The employees can see what has sold and rearrange as needed. And the bride can stop in and select additional items as the booth empties.
G&DA: How do you find your best employees?
PZ: I have been extremely lucky. In a small town (pop.2000+/-) and hiring only part-time help, the pool is not overflowing.
The advantage of living in a small town is knowing who you are hiring, their family and foibles before hand. For example, I hired a lady 12 years ago who is still with me today. Her children were in school with mine, and I knew her church background. We had visited on numerous subjects several times before I mentioned that I was thinking of hiring someone part-time, and knowing me and how I worked and thought, she applied immediately. My other two ladies had done some fill-in work at holidays, and worked into year round help.
Other than these three, most of my hires have all been green high school students. They require a lot of training to make good employees, but I assign them to work with an adult the first month, and check in often to see how things are going. I am very upfront about what I expect, in the way of dress code, timeliness, attitude, etc. If they work for me, they know their best effort is required. I never raise my voice to an employee, I thank them each evening when they leave, and I give credit 
when they do an exceptional job on a project. I believe in handling problems immediately, in one-on-one conversations, so we are both on the same page. With few exceptions, the teens I hire have stayed with me until they go off to college, or move away.
G&DA: What was your biggest retail problem and how did you solve it?
PZ: What started out as a courtesy turned into a real headache. We do gift baskets, and we want each one of them to be the perfect gift. We let the customer pick out the contents of the basket, and then we 'dress it' to make it extra special. But then a customer came in with an item we didn't sell, movie tickets, and wanted to include them in our popcorn basket. And we did. Next it was a 'special book', purchased somewhere else. And even though I sell a number of gift books, we added it. Word got around, and eventually we had people bringing in the entire contents, and expecting us to build a 'special' basket. Before long we were getting 'regift' items, Wal-mart and discount items, and we were spending as much time cleaning up stuff as we were making baskets. We started charging extra labor, which people thought was unfair. Finally we bit the bullet and just said 'no.' No items brought in. Yes, we lost a few customers for a while. But now they buy the cello, ribbon, shred and baskets from us and make their own. Not as 'special', but they save the labor, which is what they wanted anyway.
We would love your feedback!
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