SPECIALTY SHOP RETAILING
HOW TO RUN YOUR OWN STORE
CAROL L. SCHROEDER
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
SPECIALTY SHOP RETAILING
SPECIALTY SHOP RETAILING
HOW TO RUN YOUR OWN STORE
CAROL L. SCHROEDER
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada. Copyright © 1997, 2002 by Carol L. Schroeder. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. Cartoons © 1996 by Mari Stein. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4744. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, (212) 850-6011, fax (212) 850-6008, E-Mail:
[email protected] This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: ISBN 0-471-21264-4 Specialty shop retailing: how to run your own store/Carol L. Schroeder. p. cm. — (National Retail Federation series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-471-14721-4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Retail trade—Management. 2. Specialty stores—Management. I. Title. II. Series. HF5429.S35566 1997 658.8'7—DC20 96-41395 Printed in the United States of America. 10
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PREFACE
Thirty-some years ago, I spent my junior year abroad studying Danish and English literature at the University of Copenhagen. During the long, dusky Danish winter days, the lights of Copenhagen’s specialty shops cast an inviting glow out over the dim sidewalks. With idle hours to fill between university classes, I often succumbed to the lure of fine design and friendly European service, wandering from shop to shop along Copenhagen’s winding pedestrian streets. As I browsed through displays of colorful handcrafts, candles, flowers, and furniture, I imagined someday creating a welcoming haven full of well-designed products back in America. I never envisioned rivaling Sears or Wal-Mart. Their bottom-line oriented style of retailing held no appeal for me. Nor was it my dream to be at the helm of a fleet of twenty-five stores, with employees I’d never met and managers who reported to the home office via computer. My vision was much simpler: to create a shop that would sell merchandise to enrich peoples’ lives, through form, function, tradition, or amusement. I wanted to market this merchandise in an environment that would be pleasurable for customers and staff alike—a shop I would look forward to going to every morning at 10:00. (The fact that retailers don’