The Gifted Retailer: Blackstone's of Beacon Hill
GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 10/1/2010 4:53:47 PM
Gifts & Decorative Accessories: What do you like best about being a retailer?
Jennifer Hill and Mark Duffield
Jennifer Hill: Being part of, growing with, and supporting the community in which we live. Servicing our neighbors with items they either need or want for themselves and unique items they can purchase for others that cannot be found anywhere else. We both [business partner Mark Duffield] came from non-profit backgrounds and decided early on that we wouldn't wait to be asked for our support, but would offer it at the outset.
G&DA: What was the most valuable piece of business advice that you ever received?
JH: Don't make a sale, make a friend. In a difficult economy people and sales come and go, but a friend returns many times. Building long lasting relationships and rewarding loyalty helps to weather tough times and builds a strong foundation for future growth with customer referrals and recommendations.
G&DA: What is/was your most successful promotion?
JH: Blackstone's of Beacon Hill, together with two other Charles Street businesses, Caswell Galleries and The Charles Street Inn, played host to an evening of sleuthing, discovery, fun and entertainment, refreshments, and prizes on Thursday, March 18 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Gardner Heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum.
Author Ulrich Boser of The Gardner Heist was on hand from 4-7 p.m. at Blackstone's for a book signing. An expert in art restoration was at Caswell Galleries from 5-7 p.m., and the Charles Street Inn played host to Laura R. Duggan who entertained audiences with two one-woman performances of Isabella Stewart Gardner at 5 p.m. and again 7 p.m. The performance was followed by an informative Q&A conducted by Boser who revealed important updates in this 20 year old, unsolved case of the largest art heist in history. The Q&A session was moderated by David Boeri, long-time radio and TV news reporter, currently with WBUR. Boser signed books at both Blackstone's and The Charles Street Inn.
By marketing this event with two other businesses, we maximized our reach for all three businesses through emails, Facebook, in store signage and posters. Our PR efforts resulted in placement in our local Boston Globe newspaper and local magazine, the Improper Bostonian. We also received coverage in our local newspaper, the Beacon Hill Times.
G&DA: What three products/lines are you best sellers?
JH: Caspari
Vera Bradley
Books of all types - local interest, humor, adult, fiction, non-fiction, children
Boston memorabilia
G&DA: What are you doing to attract new customers?
JH: Sponsorship of major local events - this year we are supporting the local efforts of The Friends of the Public Garden who are celebrating 40 years. Increased publicity through promotion of events - this year we have made Daily Candy, the Boston Globe, and Improper Bostonian. Social media and events
G&DA: What was your most effective display?
JH: We organized and participated in a Beacon Hill Business Association Window Decorating Contest that was held in conjunction with Flag Day and Father's Day. The theme for the contest was general - beauty, humor, and originality. We chose to do one of our windows on Flag Day and Father's Day, paying homage to fathers with a figurine of a man dressed in an authentic revolutionary war costume standing on what was meant to be a battlefield.
We than asked our customers to submit photos of their fathers for us to adhere to stars which we hung throughout the window. Our "Faith of our Fathers" window attracted numerous pictures from our customers.
With a window approximately 4'x5', we placed a 1" Wee Forest Folk miniature figurine (a little mouse in dancing pose - French cancan) in a shadow box. We then added a single beam of light focused on our miniature performer creating a vaudeville-like stage. Along either side of her we placed small banners that read "Appearing Daily" followed by a list of our products. We also included on the top of this shadow box a sign recognizing the passing of news anchor Tim Russert.
The combination of both windows earned us an honorable mention by the judges, which included our local Fox News affiliate morning anchor, an editor from the Boston Courant and three local interior decorators.
G&DA: How do you find your best employees?
JH: We find that the best our employees have come through referrals and friends.
G&DA: What was your biggest retail problem and how did you solve it?
JH: We are located in the space-challenged retail district of historic Beacon Hill in downtown Boston. We have 
approximately 540 square feet, with roughly six square feet taken up by our cash wrap space. In our previous layout we had a wall that divided two thirds of the store. Our old layout also included a faux fireplace at one end of these two halves which was a low yielding revenue area. We frequently heard customers say that they felt trapped in one side or the other and that they wished the floor plan offered the ability to move around the entire store without having to double back. Theft was much more of a problem too because our cash wrap counter was located at the front of the store on one side, which placed a significant section of our inventory out of site. We were also limited by our ability to do vignettes of product groupings effectively.
Lighting and heat were also issues in the previous layout. We have track lighting throughout the store as well as in the windows. In order to effectively light the previous layout, we required many lights, thus it was hot in the store and the air flow was inadequate. With the remodel we changed to all energy efficient bulbs, even adding more strips of lights, and our electric bill has actually gone down, and the summer heat is no longer a problem because the air can circulate.
Our goals were to:
Enhance the overall look of the store.
Increase the product display space without compromising floor space.
Increase the amount of storage space on the selling floor without compromising floor space.
Increase the amount of revenue generated from all areas of the store.
Provide for easier movement throughout the store (i.e. mother with baby stroller can now walk around the entire store).
Reduce the heating bill and provide for better air circulation.
Result:
We increased the overall sales per square foot by 20 percent.
We would love your feedback!
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