museums&MORE Spring 2009

Store Room: Spring 2009

What product, invention or idea has made your retail life easier? What do you wish they would invent?”

Jon Loos
Washington Pavilion Management
Sioux Falls, S.D.

The Web has made retail life easier because I can do research on new products without going through boxes of catalogs. I just wish they would put even more information or cut sheets on their sites.

I wish they would invent more products that big-box retailers couldn’t touch or sell. The United States was founded on the concept of small businesses doing business with each other. When the big marketers like Wal-Mart and Target get a hold of any product, they totally destroy any value you can give that product. They either sell it too cheap or are not able to explain enough about the features or benefits, thus destroying the product’s long-term value.

Debbie King
Lake County Discovery Museum
Wauconda, Ill.

The one thing in our shop I appreciate the most is our P.O.S. system. We use TAM and our inventory is streamlined. I used to spend days counting stock by hand, but now it takes a few hours. Thanks to the scanner there are no more price errors and customers are checked out faster and more efficiently. I went for nine years with a cash register and a log book. My life is much easier now!

Mary Barnett
High Point Museum
High Point, N.C.

A company called “Amati” has made my life a lot easier and profitable.

One of our Museum members came in one day wearing a very attractive bracelet and I commented on how pretty it was. She told me she had bought it at an art museum in Alabama and that the lady at the art museum told her the bracelets just sold and sold. So, I called the museum and they were nice enough to share the vendor with me.

The vendor is “Amati” and they make some wonderful, beautiful things, but in particular, adult and child-size bracelets with beautiful inlaid shell. These are the best-sellers I’ve ever had — they sell, and sell and sell! So not only do I have something that is beautiful, at a great price point, but my customers are thrilled with the bracelets and buy them four or five at a time.

Karin Miller
Spring Green General Store
Spring Green, Wis.

My computer — how did I ever do business without it?

I wish someone would invent a price sticker that is EASY to remove.

Laurie Taylor
Knoxville Zoo
Knoxville, Tenn.

By far the single most used tool in our retail operation is a P.O.S. and inventory system. We use Galaxy as our point-of-sale and Dataworks as the inventory system. Both are consulted several times daily and have paid for themselves countless times over by helping us control our open-to-buy, keeping fast-selling items in stock and tracking profitability and markdowns by merchandise category and by supplier. In my opinion, no business is too small to make an investment in retail software.

George Bolton
Lockwood-Mathews Mansion
Norwalk, Conn.

What has made my life far easier is the credit card reader with keypad for debit cards. It really speeds things up at the cash wrap.

I wish I had something to make it easy to select products that are a guaranteed to sell with no markdowns!

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