Sharpening the Sword is a regular column by retailer John Riley of Grasshopper's Comics, a 1300 square foot comic and games store in
Two years ago while online for a dinner at GTS I overheard a few retailers talking in line in front of me. They were describing changes they made to their store. I really wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on them but my ears just kind of naturally perked up when one of them mentioned that they had sold 100 copies of Blokus that year. Now we had just gotten into board games, and the concept of selling a hundred copies of anything just kind of blew my mind.
So I politely interrupted him and asked him how he did it. He was a really nice guy and took a few minutes to tell me exactly how he displayed it, where, how he sold it, etc… When we got back to our store after the show we did exactly what he had told us to do. The result? We sold 96 copies that year, not quite a hundred, but a lot more than the five or six we would have sold.
All of which brings me back to the subject of last week’s article: that retailers have a tremendous amount of knowledge that they can bestow upon each other if we’re only given the right opportunity.
And I’m hoping that at GTS this year we’re building the “right opportunity.”
I’m sure you’ve all been wondering what my last bit of “audience participation” might be (I often wonder if I in fact do have an audience, but that’s probably a topic for a different article). Like I said last week, I am on the Retail Division Board for GAMA and one of the things I’m very excited about this year is the introduction of the Power Retailing Workshops that we’ll be running.
Basically these two 90-minute workshops will provide a moderated, organized forum for retailers to brainstorm on issues important to our industry and compile a list of ideas and solutions that we’ve implemented in our own stores. Some of the time will be spent in groups with a mix of experience levels, allowing seasoned veterans to coach newer retailers, and other times will be spent discussing critical issues with your peers. When it’s all over we’ll be compiling all these ideas and solutions into one comprehensive volume.
So what’s the homework? Well, I wanted to take a moment and tell everyone attending GTS what we’re doing so they can come fully prepared to take advantage of it. In order to share as much information as possible you might want to come with some info on your store all set up and ready to share. This isn’t a requirement for participating in the Power Retailing Workshops, but I honestly think that the more you come with the more you’ll get out of it.
So here’s some things you might want to bring:
• Pictures of your store
• Samples of advertising you’ve run
• Samples or pictures of marketing events/plans you’ve run
• Lists of your top sellers
• Outline of your Hiring Procedures
• Training or Operations Manuals
These are just some ideas on things you might want to bring with you to the Workshops. Either way they promise to be a very productive time!
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.