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The Gifted Retailer

GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 12/15/2010 4:35:25 PM

When shopping for her store, Mari Dolby, owner of Ash Hill Designs in Chester Springs, PA, will buy things that she'd be more than happy to receive as a gift or live with in her own home.

Gifts & Decorative Accessories: What do you like best about being a retailer?
Mari Dolby: What I really enjoy about being a retailer is engaging in mini "work sessions" with my customers in which we are brainstorming together to create the perfect gift or a tasteful addition to a room. This always involves asking lots of questions and providing multiple scenarios and product options for the best end result - a happy customer!

G&DA: What is the most valuable piece of business advice that you ever received ?
MD: Someone with great taste and a storied career in design and retail once told me - buy what you love - if you feel strongly about your product then you convey that to your customer and it makes for more confident sales. I've followed this - everything in Ash Hill
Designs my shop is something that I'd be more than happy to receive as a gift or live with in my own home! (Warning: this can be dangerous at times.)

G&DA: What is/was your most successful promotion?
MD: We like to combine a celebration - anniversary sale, holiday open house - with exceptional discounts for a limited time period. They are usually tiered discounts meaning the more the customer spends the higher the discount. We also raffle off a prize during these events as a way of gathering new customer information and potentially rewarding our existing customers with a free gift. Customers respond well and sales are always good during these functions.

G&DA: What are you doing to attract new customers?
MD: Since we are located on a very busy corner, I find that outdoor signage is probably my best way to attract new customers - we have lots of new walk-in customers each week. But I'm also getting into the social networking end of communicating with the public - Facebook especially is a tool that I'm trying to make better use of.

G&DA: What three products Ash Hill
Designs /lines are your best sellers?
MD:Our best selling jewelry item is without a doubt the Lotus initial pendant necklace. For Holiday the Thymes Fraser Fir poured candles fly and as an everyday hostess gift Boston International's dip bowls with spreaders are extremely popular.

G&DA: What was your most effective display?
MD: I don't know that a particular display stands out as most effective, but I will say that because the shop is in an old house, we've found it very effective to set up rooms in the shop that feel like the rooms in a house that people live in. For example, we have a kitchen Ash Hill Designs area that showcases food items, serving pieces, table linens, more casual furnishings, etc. that could easily move right into someone's real kitchen. We have similar setups for a bedroom, dining room, pub room and garden room. This also helps us integrate the retail with the design side of the business.

G&DA: How do you find your best employees?
MD: I've always found my employees through word of mouth or because they have been someone I've known and/or worked with before. We have a small staff and I really like having some prior relationship or knowledge of the people I'm going to spend each day with.

G&DA: What was your biggest retail problem and how did you solve it?
MD: Our biggest challenge was to move seasonal merchandise in an effective manner. We have been addressing this by offering a buy two get one or discounting within the season as opposed to waiting until the season is over. In certain cases, these items act as loss leaders and effectively get more customers in the store.

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