#724: The Art of Selling Stories, Not Just Stuff

Foreign.

Business can be a lonely game. But it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, e commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry. I'm your host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and and I can't wait to chat. Hey guys. Welcome back to the podcast. This week I am so excited because one of the most smiley and just smiley. This is a good. This is a good metaphor, a good analogy. What am I even saying? Holly? Damn it, I love it when you smile. So good to have you on the podcast.

Hi. That's quite welcome. Thank you.

That was the weirdest welcome I've ever met because I don't even know what I was saying. You're always smiley when I see you. I appreciate that about you. So glad you're here. That was maybe a little bit better.

That's perfect. Whatever was perfect. So whatever. Whatever happens, happens is good.

Well, Holly, it's been fun to get to know you this year. Just at markets, we've been able to spend some time together. In Mastermind, we've been able to spend some time together and I love learning all about your business. So we're going to get into all the gift things today. Are you ready for this?

Sure. Absolutely. I love gifts.

It's going to be good. So as everyone is listening, just give me some of your background, tell me how you got into the business.

I joke all the time that my mom trained me as a shopper. She took me to every store imaginable as I was growing up, both big department stores and small. And I just had a really interesting upbringing with that. And then I continued my shopping habit as a adult. So, you know, to me it's just such a joyful thing to walk into a store where you feel welcome and it's bright and it's awesome and it's inviting and I just love that feeling. So that's why I wanted to do what I do.

I love it. So that gave you the idea, when did you actually pull the trigger? When did the store start? How did you find your space? Tell me about the details.

In 2017, we opened in May, so actually our 8th year anniversary this week. So amazing. It's amazing. I've known about my location for a long time before it was built and they took, you know, in Atlanta, everything's growing. So they took a center, an Area that was needing redeveloped and they put a center. We are anchored with the Whole Foods. And I knew I wanted to be where we were before we were there. So before they were broke ground on it. And so we signed the lease while they were doing build out. And the first time I saw it off of paper was when I got the keys, so didn't get to walk it or anything. So.

So you just knew here's the spot and Whole Foods. I mean, you must have great foot traffic in the location that you're in.

It's really interesting. We have people still after eight years that walk in the door and say, I go to Whole Foods once a week. And I didn't know you were here. And I'm like, what? We're five doors down.

Like, yeah, Everyone listening is banging their head against the wall with you right now. Because I think that's true. Like, are we just so absorbed in our daily lives that we have no idea what the store is two doors down? I think that is so true.

Yeah. It's crazy. I mean, we've put stuff out front, we have a huge sign. We have a unique awning. All the things like bright flowers. Yeah. Still people just walk in every day. I didn't know you were here. I come to Whole Foods once a week and I'm like, do we need a blinking light? Like a Batmobile light or something?

But you might. Some loud music, I don't know. So you got the location, I'm assuming because you're so close to Atlanta. Atlanta gift was probably your, you know, first stop, your perfect stop to start stocking the store. Did you know you always wanted to go specifically into gift or. Or were there certain product categories that you were really most drawn to when you first started?

I really wanted to do gift. I wanted to do a gift experience where people walk in, enjoy the picking out, enjoy learning about the things that they're buying, and then get to walk away with it bagged and ready to go and ready to gift. And so I knew I wanted to do that to the point where during build out, I told the designer, I was like, I don't want any fitting rooms. Not. I don't need any fitting rooms. Never carrying apparel. Nope, not doing it. So we don't have fitting rooms. We're working on it. But yeah, I knew I wanted to do gift. And it is. Was very definite for me.

So when you first got into it and you're picking, I mean, because gift is. You're ordering in advance. I mean, it's. It's different than apparel in a lot of ways, and we can talk more about that later. But how has your assortment changed since you first got in and you made those first couple of brand choices? How has that really evolved over time for you?

Oh, you know, some things that we knew we wanted to open with, that I knew I wanted to open with, we still have, you know, and then. But the only good thing in retail is. I mean, one of the good things in retail is constant change. If you love change. I do. So it's great. We've changed a lot. I think we probably have four anchor brands that we opened with that are local here to us and that we will always carry, and then some that are not so local that we will always carry as well. We really like to have a relationship with a brand and, you know, our rep with those brands, and we really like to honor that and really hold to it. So. Yeah.

Do you want to talk about what some of those anchor brands are or what have been some highlights for you?

Absolutely. There's a candle company here in Atlanta called Himalayan Candle Company. And honestly, it is a fantastic line. It's a soy candle. I just loved the smell of it in. In the beginning anyway, so I loved it as a use. But then I ended up knowing somebody Atlanta is very good for. I know somebody who knows some, you know, very small degrees of separation. So I ended up knowing somebody who originally sold at a flea market with the owner of Himalayan Candles, the founder of Himalayan Candles, and she was. She grew up in the Himalayan mountains, and she came back and loving these vessels. She tried to sell them at a flea market, and they weren't selling. And so the husband goes to her and goes. And I heard this story from my friend. The husband goes to her and goes, why don't you put some wax in there or something? Because candles are selling. So that started her business. And so because she has such a love of the vessel and what she puts the candle, the soy wax in, she actually sells refill kits for her candles. So I love Himalayan Candles for that story. I love brands that do that, you know, are what they are, you know, and that's one of them.

I've got to just stop you right there before you go on to the next one, because everyone needs to just take a page out of this book. This is why products sell. Like, this is what makes gift so special, is you just told me that story with so much love and detail, and I can just imagine being in your store and hearing that story and going, I have to see it. I want one. I need one. Because then when I'm entertaining in my home, I'm going to tell my guests that exact same story when they notice the candle. And I just think, Holly, like, that art is lost in a lot of places. And a lot of business owners get so product focused and buy this widget, buy this widget that the art of telling the story has been lost. Or if you have a lot of, you know, big staff or multiple locations, like, are we training our staff to tell those stories as well? How do you keep that story going in your business? Because that was. That was awesome.

Well, I tell it, you know, I love being on the sales floor. I'm not there as much as I'd like to be now, but, I mean, it was one of my most surprising moments as an owner was when I was in the store and I was telling the story to a customer, and then they were like, can you just tell us about all your products? And then I had a little crowd following me around the store because I actually love my products. I choose them because of a good base of reasons, and I stick with them because a good base of reasons. And it's just so fulfilling to me. But that really told me I knew I was where I was supposed to be because they wanted to hear what I had to say about the products that I love. So it was fantastic.

So do you work on doing that online as well? Like, do you ever really focus on making videos that do the same thing?

I haven't yet. It is always on my to do list. Even the simplicity of a shelf talker talking about all of this in the store is definitely on my to do list. But I have. I'm so fortunate to have such an amazing staff that has such a passion for this like I do. But they want to tell the stories too. So it's definitely a personal connection in our store where we want to tell these stories about these brands. So, yeah, yeah, I love it.

Such a great. Such a great tip. And everyone can incorporate more of that in their business for sure. How else do you think about. I mean, the. The brands are always changing, the products are always changing for the most part. How do you continue to focus on keeping your store expensive experience fresh? So when someone comes in on repeat, right, to buy gifts, how are you always mixing it up and keeping that experience different and fresh?

You know, I think that products can sit on a shelf for as long as you let them, but if you have to, if it's not moving where it's sitting, it needs a Different home. And so that is what we always try to do. Constantly moving things, resetting displays for the holiday. Like, right now, when you walk in, we have a focal point impact that hits you, and that's teacher gifts. And then you can turn a. Our door, sadly, is on the far right of our store, which, you know, most people go in and go to the. Go to the right, so you have to make them want to go to the left. And so you have a focal impact when you walk in. And then you turn and there's a. The next thing, which right now is collegiate, because we're in collegiate gift season. And so I just think that constantly changing those displays, constantly changing what is in them, and then also height, you know, color variance just all adds to such a big, big difference.

How do you plan that out? Like, what does that look like when you. When you sit down and you're, like, thinking about displays and merchandising? Because I know you love it so much. How do you plan out how often you're going to change things up or on what days of the week? If, you know, whatever day you're closed, I'm assuming, or the store is slow. What does that process look like for you?

I have an amazing team as well. As I've said, they do great with, hey, this is really looking drab. Let's fix it. You know, and they. They do a great job with that. But for me, I have a hard time turning off my brain. I'm always going, going, going. And so for me, I'm like, driving home thinking, our Georgia section is just so packed. I have to get that changed. And so, you know, it kind of goes well, if we do that, then, you know, if. Then you have to do this. And so that kind of trickles through the change in the store of what we get to wear. So, yeah, how do you incorporate that.

With your buying plan? Because again, something with gift, and I know that I've got a lot of people on both sides listening, Gift is so much further in advance than apparel. Apparel is so immediate, and I think both sides can learn from each other and take a page from each other's book. But how do you plan inventory in advance as well?

You know, seasonal merchandise for gift, in my opinion, seasonal merchandise for gift is so in advance, but there's always opportunity to fill in. And I feel like running a business now is totally different than how you run it ran it 20 years ago. You don't have to do, like, I need 25 animal print products to put in this Focus feature. I mean, sure, you can do that, but if you're a little behind, you can scramble, go on Creative Co Op's website, search, you know, tortoise, print and all of the things that you can find them. It's just a matter of finding them in stock, but they're there. Yeah, part of the hunt. So as far as like pre planning, I've, I've gotten better as I go. I used to just buy what I liked and it came in and I was like, okay, I guess we're gonna have a lot of ornaments this year. So I'm trying to do much better with that. That was, it's a error learn and error and learn has been very much for me.

Yeah, I, Are you saying that you really love inventory planning? Is that what I'm hearing that you just really love?

I'm getting better at it, much better at it. Buying towards a theme. But I, I, there's no, there's not enough room in our 2,400 square feet to buy towards five themes and then have all of the gift merchandise. And so that's been my personal challenge is how do you do an impactful theme that will sell but have everything else in the store and it not feel like you can't walk through it. And so I've really had, I've had to start planning because of that. It's just been very important for me because otherwise, you know, if you have too much going on, it kind of just gets lost. Yeah.

So it is definitely, definitely a balance for sure. How do you so in those themes as you're planning all of it out, you mentioned that you've got, you know, your staple brands and then you've got some big, well known national brands as well. What does it look like for you when you're trying to decide how much do I bring in of what I already know or what I already have or of these big brands versus like the discovery of, oh, I'm going to take a chance and I'm going to test out these lesser known brands and bring those things in. How do you think about that mix?

I feel like for me what really works is I have to figure out the balance of having anchor spots with brands and mixing things in to where it merchandises well together, but it not be too busy. And so I feel like I've gone to where everything was everywhere when we first opened and now I've kind of gone to more, I hate to say it, but literally grocery store where everything's very clean on the shelf and everything is very Easy and straightforward, you know. You know where to go for Nora Fleming, you know where to go for Jelly Cat, and then everything else is there. So I'm trying to get better about mixing in, like, the Nora Fleming with other things that work with Nora Fleming. And it's been a process for me to really learn that, yes, over time.

We've got to. You just mentioned something that we've got to talk about. You and I were talking about this a little bit before we started to record, but you sell a lot of Jelly Cat and that is like, if there was ever a buzzword right now in gift, and I mean really gift, apparel, whatever. If you have teenage daughters or kids in general, everyone knows what a jelly cat is. And it wasn't until the mastermind and you and Anna from Coolie Boutique were both talking about Jelly Cat, I didn't realize there was such a demand for jelly cat sales online and that some of these little guys, I suppose it's like Beanie Babies when I was growing up, like, they're hard to find. Like, I just got the goat for my daughter and she cried because she was so excited about the goat. And Anna had it so crazy. Tell me about selling Jelly Cat, the ins and the outs.

So Jelly Cat has been a really interesting adventure. We opened with Jelly Cat and so we're very used to their pattern. They had a very decisive pattern of what they did. So they would do an early bunny buy that released in January or February, and you would put your order in, and you're pretty much guaranteed to get your order. And I can't answer for them what happened on their side. But as a retailer, what I saw and heard was that they, number one, blew up. They did their own stores in huge hotspot tourist areas like New York and London, and that helped them blow up more. And then they had some factory issues with quality. Jelly Cat is a premier quality stuffed animal. It's not really a stuffed animal. It's a. It's a baby or, you know, it's a. It's. It's a lovely. Call it that. Yeah, it's a levy. It's a premium quality, lovely levy. They are made to English standards. And so for me, when I was. When I first started, I'd ask my replacement, do I need to worry about babies and the plastic eyes? And they were like, no, because it's made to such high standards. So they had some issues with a. I think with their main factory. And so then it kind of went crazy viral. And so the mix together has made it Very hard to get. And so I used to be able to order whatever I wanted of the newness and now I'm required to just do one pack. So, like, if it comes in a full pack of 4, I can only get 4 until it's available on a reorder. First come, first base. And then it's kind of a race to get it. And so it's been really interesting. Like jellycat as a business has made the decision to pull out of Hallmarks and learning expresses because it just was so hard to keep up with the demand. And so it's been really interesting just being a retailer in it. So now they sent out a in stock list and a in stock within 30 days list every Monday and sometimes a random Wednesday. And no matter what happens, it's like a bell goes off in the office and we are running around trying to get our order in before everybody else. It's quite the adventure. And so people come in all the time. Do you, you know, before Easter, I didn't have any bunnies. They're like, do you have any bunnies? And I was like, I'm sorry, no. We'll put you on a list if we were to get bunnies in, I will call you. But if you see it somewhere else, buy it, please. We're not going to be mad that you didn't take the bunny that you put a name in for. So that's a service that we do for our customers just to so they can feel like we care that they have it, but they're not required to buy it from us. And so we've loved that.

It's so fascinating how in demand they are. And people will drive for a long way to find them. They'll search the Internet high and low to find them.

Let me tell you a story. What happened in December. We were shocked. So we ended up thankfully getting some of the stuffed pretzels in. And there are two sizes of the stuffed pretzel. And so we had a woman drive call and say, do you have the pretzel? Well, she didn't specify. And my employee said, yeah, we have the pretzel, no worries. She's like, can you hold it for me? I'm on my way, but I'm two hours away. So she drove two hours to buy the pretzel because the party was like the next day, so we couldn't ship it to her. And come to find out she bought it for her like mid-20s daughter food, jelly cat birthday party. What?

What?

Yes, it's crazy. And then the Other thing that happened is instead of ornament exchange parties, like 40s, 50s ornament exchanges, the 20 somethings and the teens started doing jelly cat exchange parties for Christmas. And so they didn't care what they got. They just wanted whatever we had. We. I mean the jelly cat has been an amazing, amazing thing to follow.

That's so wild. Yeah, I. Yeah, I could totally see the jellycat exchanges. And I mean, thank you, TikTok. Thank you, TikTok for making it blow up. I also. One last jelly cat thing. I don't know if you saw this, Holly, but in our inventory exchange at the Bott boutique hub here a couple weeks ago, we had a member and I can't remember her name, so I feel terrible that I can't call her out by name. But she had a giant jelly cat and it was like a son, I think. And our team. So in our. In our boutique hub team Slack channel, someone had screenshotted it and they were like, is this for real? Because I think it was. She was selling it for like a thousand bucks or it was just like something insane. And we're like, could this possibly be real? Is this a scam? And so one of our team messaged her and she's like, no, this is. This is what it is. So tell me about the giant jelly cats. It's a whole other thing.

Are called the gigantics. And we've had two gigantics. We've had a gigantic Bartholomew bear and a gigantic puppy. And so the bear was crazy because one of our best promotions is our name game promotion or letter of the day promotion. And we do it because Atlanta is very transient. And so when the kids are out of school, people leave. Like, I don't. I know maybe a handful of people who are from Atlanta, you know. And so people are leaving to go visit family, go to the beach. And so we've had to try to come up with something that does well for us. And so we do this letter of the day game and we start it whenever we go on school breaks and we end it when we come back and it's 20% off a regular priced item. And so this lady had been in our store, gone home to the state of Washington. And then we did this letter and it was her day and so she called and those gigantics are actually numbered and they're a limited edition. So we had her number blank out of 800 on this bear. So she bought it and we shipped it to her in Washington. But it got. It went to the point where they ship them in a special box. They ship them in a big box by themselves. And I didn't know it at the time, she actually educated us on all of this, but I had thrown away the box thinking it's just the jelly cat box. Yeah. She was so upset that we weren't going to ship it in the original box. So now when we get a gigantic end, we say box because people really want that box. Yeah. It's crazy.

This is why this is a whole new thing.

Oh, my goodness.

Well, I'm learning about all the things. Oh, well, I love that promotion. Okay, you've got to know about this if you have thought about being a member of the Boutique Hub or if you're already a member of the Boutique Hub. This year we added something that I just can't wait to get into your hands. Okay, so if you're a monthly member of the Hub, awesome. Glad to have you. It's a great experience. But we were like people who are really serious about their business and growing it into the future. They don't just join the Hub monthly, they join for the whole year because it takes more than a month to. To impact and make real, lasting change in your business. So this year we have updated our annual offer. For those of you who are our members are thinking about becoming a member and joining for the entire year. You want to hear about it? All right. If you're an annual member of the Hub, not only do you get access to everything the Hub has to offer from all of the education, live training every single week, all of our exclusive discounts, resources, wholesale brands, all the things. But now, as an annual member of the Hub, you also have access to some of our very bestselling masterclasses and. And handbooks. That's right. I'm throwing all of these crazy things in for free. If you are an annual member of the Boutique Hub, this includes our best selling Small business marketing handbook, which is over 100 pages of content, calendars, live sale ideas, TikTok ideas, real ideas, social media ideas for literally every day of the month, engagement questions for literally every month of the year, collections, event ideas to run in your brick and mortar, and so, so much more. The Small Business Marketing Handbook is a must have for every type of retailer, no matter what you sell. I guarantee it. We're also throwing in our small business hiring Handbook, which is all the things you know to hire, train, onboard job descriptions, everything you need to know to grow a team. Plus our holiday marketing masterclass, our content sanity masterclass, Best of our boutique Summit videos and so much more. There's over $1,300 added in courses, masterclasses and handbooks just for you. Plus, when you're an annual member of the Boutique Hub, you get access to join one on one coaching calls with myself and several members of our team. We don't give out an opportunity to do one on one coaching anywhere other than for our VIP students in Retail Bootcamp or those who are members of Boutique Hub Black. So this is a real opportunity for those of you who are a member of the Hub and you're like, hey, I just need to pick Ashley's brain for an hour. I need to pick Sarah's brain for an hour. For an hour. What does that look like? You can book an annual coaching call if you are an annual member of the Hub. Did I say annual coaching call? I meant anytime you can book a coaching call only if you're an annual member of the Hub.

So that's it.

I'm excited. I'm rambling. I just want you to know if you're going to join the Hub, this is the best opportunity to get the most out of your membership. If you're already a member, reach out to our team@happypeopleboutiquehub.com we can get you upgraded to annual. If you're not yet a member of the scroll all the way down to the join page at the boutiquehub.com and click annual to join us now. I can't wait to see you inside and get you all of these extras. We're going to do a lot together to grow, scale, optimize and secure your business together in the next year. Let's get started. So on that vein, talk to me about just some of your favorite events and promotions that you've run in store. What gets your customers most excited and more importantly, what helps you move out inventory that needs to move.

So I feel like we take a mix of a bunch of different theories and you have to do that and find what works for your store. And so our biggest promotion really is a January and February retail clearance sale in store. It's in store. It is our first and second markdowns. You know, my biggest challenge has been turn in our store and so trying to increase it. And you know, we do have a lot of regular customers. I don't want them coming and seeing a brand in the same spot that it was six months ago with the same amount of stuff. So we do this January and July sales and I think it's actually part of retail mavens. Kathy sure. Yeah. And she, she came up with this program and we just took pieces of it. We don't do it exactly, but I feel like that's what you have to do in this business is take the little pieces that what works for you. So January and July, everything yellow signs go out. That's part of her theory, is that the yellow will get their attention. We make a sales section in the front of the store, which when you got all that mixed together, it's chaos. But we still. January and July, we can do that. And then, you know, we take the markdowns market and it's all final sale. So we mark it in red and pen and that means no return on it. And we just moved that out. People love that. And it's been really interesting like how it's built and built and built. But I think other people love, you know, in 2020 we brought in so much inventory in fear that we weren't going to get inventory that come January we had so much stuff. And I'm of the theory that if this cost me $5 that and I'm selling it for 10, that even if I get a dollar, if it's been there six months, I'd rather have the dollar and buy something that will move. And so we marked all of that down heavily and it's been one of the best things. And then the other thing we had is, you know, we bought in by. We bought quantities. And so in 2020 we were like, oh, okay, what can we do to move these 48 of this item that hasn't sold very well. And so we started doing a 24 Days of Christmas promotion. And we had so much to do 24 days then, but now it's not. So we don't have 24 days as much. But it was really great because we could say this is a slow mover. Let's mark it down and make it a promotion and people can come in and take it. And so that's been really helpful for us. But that and I love my local people. And so just this weekend we had a local jewelry jeweler here, Amy with throwing stars. And she came on Friday and Saturday. She had a great weekend. We had a great weekend. It's just bringing local people in, I feel like just, you know, helps you, helps them. It's just such a great thing. And, you know, now she's family to us. You know, she comes in, she sets up, she knows what the drill is. And we just love having her. And we have a lot of makers come through on a Regular basis. And we really try to keep that up. Yeah.

That collaboration and those just events, experiences are reasons for people to come in. And I love what you said about just using inventory as the promotion opportunity to get people through the door. And I think that's a huge miss when people look at, you know, a sale as a blanket sale, like across multiple categories or just marking things down. But no, it's just such an opportunity when you use it. Right. So that's really well done. What about when you think about just your business growing since 2017, what have been some of the most important systems and processes that you've put in place to kind of keep your sanity? And also, I know you have a team of what do you have? 10 part time, two full time. Is that about right?

Yes. Yeah.

So how about also systems and processes to keep your team in line as well?

You know, it's funny, I met my husband when we both worked for a major corporation. And once I say this, you'll know, but they have a process called Six Sigma. And, you know, they implemented it when I worked there in my early 20s, and I'm 50 now, so this was a long minute ago. And my husband went way up in the ranks to master black belt. And I just got Greenbelt Certified. Right. Which it's all different levels of what you can do and how much you can fix and how much knowledge, you know, to fix a problem. And so that basic program of Six Sigma is the DMAIC process. So you define your problem, you measure your problem, you analyze your problem, you improve your problem, and then you control it. And so it's very hard to measure in retail, but it taught me the basis to, okay, this is a problem we have. How often are we having it? So. So that my team knows if I come and say, is the system flaking out when this happens to you? And they're like, yes, like, okay, let's fix it. You know, let's try to figure out where it's coming from and then improve it. So we implement that throughout. I'm not the best with putting things in writing. It's definitely a growth for me. But in my. I keep it in my head. I'm kind of a walking file cabinet, is what I like to say. Like, I don't know right now. Let me find the file and I'll tell you later. So in my head, you know, but. And so we, you know, you have to analyze your problem. You have to understand what your problem is and how it's happening before you can fix it. And so then you, you make improvements to fix that problem, and then you just put controls in place. And so it's been really great for my business to know that process, because a problem is overwhelming sometimes it can, you know, be a wave that crashes over your head. But if you break it into those pieces, define your problem, analyze it, measure it, which. That's more on the data side. I don't measure it as much except in my head, like, okay, this is happening more than once or twice a day. I need to react to it, improve the process, fix what started from the beginning, ask for help from your, you know, point of sale or, you know, your loyalty program to get it fixed and then control it, make sure it's not happening anymore. It's been a really great thing for me.

I love it. It's so clear. And then how do you also take that process and mirror it with just team communication? So how do you make sure that is with as many part timers as you have? They're all coming in at different times. How does that process also integrate with just your team communication or maybe your meeting structure? Or what does that cadence look like to keep your team on the same page?

We have a Facebook group. Everybody utilizes Facebook, so it's okay for us. I know not all people utilize Facebook, and so I often post and, you know, a lot of times it's just a list of things like, this is what I need you to know. But to me, for personally, for me, I learn by doing, I learn by hearing. And so I can provide a list of 45 things, but they can read it and it can go out of their head. And so in the end, being clear and speaking to everybody very clearly about it and kind of watching it and trying to help with it, I feel like that teaches my. My leads to teach others. So I'm very fortunate in the fact that my team has golden hearts. They're so great and they really want the best experience for my customer. And so they get very passionate about making sure that everything's, you know, working and running and in the right place. So, yeah.

Awesome. I love that. All right, are you ready for some lightning round questions?

Oh, Lord, I'm ready. I got it.

Okay, get ready. Get sweaty and get ready. Okay, Holly, I give you two hours back in your day to work on income generating activity. What do you focus on first?

If I'm trying to do something new, I would try to do something event wise to get people in. But if I'm trying to get my bearings and really set ground on What I want. I'm standing in the store and, you know, just saying, hey, I know you went to that customer and said, what can I help you with? Just say hi to that customer. Just say, I'm around if you need me, and just try to coach through people through some things. I feel like a lot of times, two hours is definitely income generating for me on the floor because I hear the customer, what the customer says, I hear what my employees are saying, and I hear what I see what may not be working. And so I. I'm big on keeping the line moving, not having people wait in a line six deep, you know, very big on. On keeping everything moving. So do you have a.

Do you get a line of six people deep at your checkout?

Oh, my gosh.

I just have to pause because most people are like, I would kill for a line six deep at my checkout. That's amazing.

You know? Yes, we did especially, like, the big days, like Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve. We're open for, I feel like, five minutes, but they're huge day. Mother's Day on Saturday. It was a huge day for us. I was so grateful, but I actually had one customer say, I've never been in, but I saw so many people walking in and out of your doors. I had to come see what was. Was here. I was at Whole Foods, and I didn't know you were here.

Welcome.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. Okay. What do you think is the unsexiest process in your business that drives the most impact?

There are so many. Like, I. There's this video trend on videos that was going around, like your shop owner, how you walk in and how people. People think you walk in. Like, I don't usually have on makeup. I'm usually an athleisure. So the. The whole business is not glamour. You know, I think the most unsexiest thing is, like, UPS is going away, and you're trying to catch them with a box, and you're like, wait, I have a box. An alcoholic box. Please take it. You missed one or something, you know? Yeah, that's horrible. But when you, like. I think that with us, we have a warehouse that we have our. Our products incoming, and we store and we refill. Refill the store from. And so we hear a truck in the back, and we're like, oh, Lord, how many pallets is it? You know, so. So it's just like a process. Like, everybody's in the back warehouse going, oh, how many pallets is it? You know, and do they have a lift gate? Oh, you know, and so. But those unloading of the pallets, like carrying boxes, having a stack of cardboard six feet high that you have to get into the dumpster outback, all of those things, just not. Not as fun as you want them to be, but it's part of it.

Moments. The Sweaty Betty moments are the moments that make you money, right?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right.

What was that?

You got to do it. You can't get out of it. Gotta do it.

Amen to that. All right, what's been the best advice that someone's given you that always sticks with you?

I worked with Dan Holman with Canadian Retail solutions for from 2020 to 2024. And then I switched to Margot Cotman with Project Retail. And I feel like having those two different perspectives on inventory management has been really interesting for me. I miss Dan so much, but I'm glad of the change because it gave me a different perspective. They're both amazing people, but in the end, the hardest thing I've learned is keep your inventory moving. You know, don't let it sit. If it has dust, it needs to go away at whatever price it can, because if it has dust on your shelf, it's going to take one special person walking in to buy it at this point in time. Yeah. Get it out. So was that your question?

Yeah.

Well, okay.

The best advice you've gotten, and I mean, really, what I hear you saying is inventory is not fine wine. No. You might as well move that stuff out. Or we like to. And this is, you know, they all are Management One affiliates as well. And I always hear from the Management One team, inventory is bananas. Like, when it comes in, it's green. The second you put it out, it's yellow. And if you don't move it, it's brown. And so if you have a bunch of brown bananas, you've got a major problem. So what is the strategy to get it out?

Love that. Yeah. Turn it out. And gift, I think that gift is very different. And the fact that you gotta have the same Nora fleming platter for two years, so it's just a matter of not having 20 of them in the back room and having four and getting four more in before you are sold out. So that's the balance there.

Yeah, it really is. And I think that's important to note for everyone listening, because those are two different perspectives. In apparel, I mean, we're talking about six weeks, and you're just like turning and burning, which feels exhausting because it is. And in gift, it's a lot Slower, but how slow is too slow.

Right.

So it's really a balance of managing inventory and being able to have kind of both perspectives. What do I have in that I know can go fast, but what do I have in that I can really like re merchandise so that I don't have to mark it down because it's dusty, you know, but still like the value out of that at the turn rate that's appropriate for it.

Yeah, we, we've learned we have brought in apparel. I said earlier that I didn't even put in fitting rooms, but we have brought in apparel and that has been crazy. I never have newness coming in on a regular basis because I'm used to just picking something and reordering it for a few months before the brand has new, new, newness out. You know what I mean? And so I never have newness coming in on a very regular basis and a good balance. And so, or that I'll get, I'll place an order with a company and it's supposed to have four shipments dates with apparel. I'm like, cool. I'm covered for four months and they ship it all at once. And I'm like, what? So it's that decision. Do you leave it sitting in the warehouse where it's taking up money, kicking up cash flow and not making you money on the sales floor and release it when you thought you were going to, or do you take it out and just figure it out later? So that's a totally different animal. But.

Yeah, it is a whole animal. And I wish there was like one perfect strategy and this is how everyone should do it. And it's not. It's not. It's a little bit different for everybody. All right, Holly, what is the best advice you have for retailers listening? And I'm going to break this up into two parts. What's the best advice you have for retailers listening that are feeling stuck wherever they're at? And what's the best advice you have for retailers listening who are just excited to grow and diversify and to just create, create an awesome, long term sustainable business.

I feel like, I personally feel like the universe takes what you put out there. And so if you are feeling stuck, then really stop and think in your heart what brings you passion, what you love, and don't just hold it in your heart, but talk to your employees about it, talk to your customers about it and just get them to love it too, because you know your passion will flow. You know, you, you love a brand, you love a dress, you know people, people do listen to that. And to me it's so worthwhile when you get stuck to just stop and reset and just pause and take apart your business and find out what brings you joy and what doesn't and then try to give somebody the part that doesn't bring you joy, the part that gives them joy. Because there's always someone that loves doing something. You know, we all have our, our passions and so find a person that, that fits their passion.

And I love that. And ironically, this is so ironic. Yesterday I had a one on one coaching call with someone and we literally just walked through that exercise. She was feeling so stuck and it was just putting on a matrix, like a joy matrix of what are you good at doing and what do you love doing? And when you look at the top matrix, the top right matrix of what you're good at and what you love, like you have to go all in on that quadrant. And yes, you know, there's two other quadrants, what you're still good at and what you still love that you're going to mix in. But then it's ultimately about getting rid of the bottom left quadrant with, I'm not good at this and I hate doing it. Like, I better get some help somewhere. And so I think even just clarifying it that much gives you so much clarity of how you're going to get through and break through the feeling stuck part. The second part of the question was, what's your best advice for retailers listening who are just ready to scale and just have a long term sustainable business? They're in it for the long haul. What should they be focused on?

I think that your processes make all the difference. I think that how you restock your store, how you do all of those things, you have to come up with a system that works for you and your store and really stick to them. Like, you know, this is what we do, this is how we do incoming, this is how we do transfers to, from the office to the store. All of those things just have your processes in place and that everybody knows the process. But really I feel like the only thing that I can say in this business or any business really is that you have to be ready for change. You can't say that this is how we do it. Like you can have your processes, but as soon as a piece of that changes, you have to be ready to change it. You can't be stagnant in this business. You know, it's, it's a really tough balance for me because time is money, but time is what makes this business grow. And so you've got to figure out the balance, and I'll forever be figuring it out, and then when I figure it out, it'll change, but you just gotta go with it, you know? Yeah.

Oh, that. I mean, you couldn't have stated it more. True. And if you get to a point where you feel like, oh, I'm comfortable here, will you get ready? Because something is about to come around the corner that you are not expecting, and that's okay, rather than be scared of it, embrace it. Because change is what keeps this business going forward. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And I. We talked about this briefly before, but the tariffs, you know, and you talked about people being afraid of right now. I mean, we've just discovered that it can happen, and then it can go away, and then it can happen. And so basically, you just have to find what. What works for you and. And keep going. And, you know, people have. A friend, a friend of mine called me, she's like, should I take all my inventory for the rest of the year? And I was like, well, from 2020, I realized that that may not be the best idea. So we might be making ornaments in October, November, but we'll have something to sell. We'll figure it out. We'll find it. That's what we do is we figure it out, period. You know? Yeah.

I think that's the best advice. And to your point, you know, the more the tariffs are a whole conversation on their own. But the best advice I've heard is we've been through 2009, we've been through 2020, we've been through all these highs and lows of seasons, and you're going to be fine. Everything is figureoutable, and what's, you know, here today might be gone tomorrow. So you just wake up and you do it all again, and it will all work out.

Yeah. Don't lose that connection to your customers, because in the end, they are loyal to you as you are loyal to them. You know, don't make buying decisions based on your opinions. Make buying decisions based on what you know, your customer will go gaga over and in love, and that will keep them coming back to you.

Yes. And like you said, your energy, you've got to be the energy you want to attract into your space. And the more positive you are, the more you're going to get that in return.

We try.

All right, well, I have one last question for you. This has been awesome. I appreciate you so much for being on the show today, but I always end with a big overarching question because I think it's the real reason why we're here. You sell a lot of gifts. We all sell a lot of different things, but that's really not the purpose of life. So when you fast forward, you know, 20, 30 years down the road and let's say you've sold the business or someone's, you know, taking it over, whatever you've decided to do with it, and you're looking back at this journey and the life you lived, the people you touched, the businesses that you had. What's the thing you want people to remember the most about you, Holly, and how you lived?

That's a big, broad question. It could be very broad. I'll just leave it at this. I hope that people know that I try to do unto others as I would have done unto myself and that I live with my heart and that guides me. Sometimes it guides me a little too passionately in a direction, but for the most part, you know, my intentions are very good. I'm in the business of joy, and that's where I want to stay.

I love it. Well, it all ties back into my awkwardness of telling you that I love your smile at the very beginning of this. So you are in the business of joy and you do lead with your heart and it leads to you having a wonderful smile. So thank you for that.

I agree. Thank you.

All right, Holly, thanks so much. I will link up all your information in the show notes today, but I sure have appreciated getting to know you so much this year and having you on the show today. This is great.

I'm grateful for you and the petite cup. You're very much big bright rays of light to help us all through stiff. So thank you.

Thanks for listening, guys. I hope you took away all kinds of nuggets and new ideas from from this week's episode. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review. We love to hear your feedback and give you a chance to be featured on the show each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and to access guest downloads and bonuses and all the resources we talked about on the show, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.