NTY Franchise hosted its first-annual conference for Children’s Orchard earlier this week. Many hardworking and inspiring franchisees joined together in Minneapolis, MN, for store tours at the Mall of America, sessions about the NTY point-of-sale system, reporting, marketing, hands-on experience at the corporate Children’s Orchard store and plenty of fun.
The following snapshots show just a few of the highlights from the 2016 Children’s Orchard conference.
Has it ever occurred to you that a classroom staple as iconic as the chalkboard could be reinvented over time? Believe it or not, the shifting landscape of education has been undergoing substantial changes since some of its earliest inceptions. Early 17th century classrooms quickly brought forth a number of unexpected innovations in areas as simple as the writing utensil, and the tail end of the 19th century was topped off by the revolutionary introduction of the “must have” chalkboard.
It’s difficult to imagine a time where schools lacked something as simple as a pencil, but the 20th century kicked off with the introduction of the convenient and money saving writing tool, and things only got more innovative from there. From experimental radio broadcasts to old standbys like the overhead projector and handheld calculator, the classroom has served as an arena for some of the most effective and widely used innovations in modern times. Check out our historical infographic down below to see how the humble beginnings of classroom innovation rapidly made its way from simple tools to the technological prowess of the smartboard.
Watch this video message from Chad Olson, NTY Franchise Company’s Chief Operations Officer, and be inspired to open your own resale business! Find out what makes NTY’s five resale brands unique as well as get a feel for our company values. Check it out now:
NTY Franchise Company’s VP of Clothes Mentor Ted Manley talks with NCR Silver about how to tell your story through store design. Check out the article below or read it on ncrsilver.com.
by: Deborah Nurmi
As a small business owner you are aware of how challenging it is to attract the customers you want to serve.
According to Pam Levine, president of Levine Luxury Branding in New York City, all good retail design is based on one premise: Retail shoppers desire an enjoyable and memorable experience.
She offered the following 5 tips for designing a winning store space:
Branding matters
Think of your store as an opportunity to develop your “Brand Culture.” Brand Culture, part magic and part lightening strike, is the totality of your relationship with your customers.
“Consider everything you say as your brand message, everything you do as brand engagement and everything you present as brand visual merchandising. See it all as an opportunity to communicate and engage with your shoppers,” Levine said.
Know your customer
Know what makes you different from your competitors and what your customers are seeking.
“Ask yourself what is important about your services or merchandise that will mean something to your customers?” Levine said.
Give your shoppers what they want then help them share it.
“Millennials and others will want to share a good experience, cool product or new store discovery with others. Encourage shoppers to photograph, tweet, use Pinterest, social media and more while inside your store,” Levine said.
Interaction is key
Harry Selfridge is the father of modern marketing, and his most important question was “Are you being served?” Use Selfridges’ philosophy and make shopping an experience.
“Hospitality and pampering goes a long way – respect your customer,” Levine said. “Interest matters. Invite them in, personalize the experience. Make them feel at home. Serve coffee, cookies or wine,” Levine said. “Remember names and get to know your customers.”
Visual marketing is your silent salesperson
Store design is all about visually stimulating your customer.
“In order to attract customers and keep them shopping longer, store owners must learn how to effectively communicate visually. If possible, hire a pro,” Levine said.
Use the concept of visual storytelling. “Remember, your product is the hero,” Levine said.
Ted Manley, vice president for soft-line products at NTY Franchise Company, believes all visual marketing is storytelling.
“Effective visual merchandising is the ability to communicate to your customer by allowing your product to be a series of storyboards to excite your customer,” Manley said.
Storytelling with visual merchandising is a four step process:
Preparation: Understand what your product mix will look like for the display you are planning. What products are best sellers or hot right now? Spend time looking at your competition and other stores’ displays.
Advertising: What products, events or promotions is your store planning? “Decide how you want to communicate that, and then decide how you want to carry that theme into your store,” Manley said.
Development: Start with the store front. Your goal is to express the story you want to tell your customer. “Think of your windows or entry way as a billboard. You have 23 seconds to look at it and understand what that display or product is trying to tell you,” Manley said. Move inside and plan out your feature areas and endcaps and their stories. Consider color. “Color is the most dominating aspect of visual merchandising,” Manley said.
Execution: Your signage helps communicate key aspects of your visual story. “Signage is an art not a science. Be careful not to “over sign” your store, but don’t be afraid to tell the obvious in a sign,” Manley said. Next create in-store displays. “Demonstrate how an arrangement of merchandise can enrich a room or home. Help the customer envision the items in their homes or wearing a great outfit on vacation or at an event,” Levine said, “but don’t overdo it. Less is more – keep your presentations simple and uncluttered.
Visual marketing is an ongoing process. Be willing to review and change as often as needed. This will depend on your traffic pattern and how often your best customers visit your store. “Customers love newness, change and stimulation. A good visual merchandising program will deliver in sales,” Manley said.
Consider all customer touch points
Customer touch points include every contact a customer has with your brand from beginning to end. These may begin with seeing an advertisement for your shop or finding your website and continue through shopping and customer feedback. Touch points create a cumulative experience for your customers, so consistency is key. Service is imperative.
“Enthusiasm, care, sincerity and authenticity touches people on an emotional level. It’s key to building brand loyalty and is positively contagious,” Levine said.
See how much money a local TV host gets for her gently used items at Clothes Mentor Portage. Also, hear from a loyal customer about how Clothes Mentor differs from consignment. Watch the video now:
The latest Device Pitstop is opening its doors in Eden Prairie, MN, this week. Check out an article featuring the new store in a local newspaper below. Or read it online at swnewsmedia.com.
Device Pitstop, a national chain that buys, sells, trades, services and upgrades computers and mobile devices at low cost, recently opened in Eden Prairie, according to a news release.
The store is hosting a grand opening on May 5 at its location at 8252 Commonwealth Drive. The activities include $25 gift card giveaways and drawings for tablets, computers and other items. The business is owned by Chanhassen resident Jeff Kiffin.
“Device Pitstop carries a wealth of laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones and accessories including Windows, Apple, Mac, iPhone and Android devices and parts. They sell certified products well below original prices, backed by 30-day and extended warranties,” according to a news release.
“They buy customer equipment for cash or trade in. They also provide expert on-site repairs and upgrades. Whatever the need, Device Pitstop has a complementary product or service.”
For more information call 952-446-7168 or visit devicepitstop.com/edenprairie.
Clothes Mentor was recently named Franchise of the Day by Entrepreneur. Read the brief write-up here, or check it out at entrepreneur.com.
When it comes to style at a low cost, Clothes Mentor has got ya covered.
The chain isn’t the first resale franchise founders Lynn and Dennis Blum opened. Previously working on two others, Once Upon a Child and Plato’s Closet, the duo sold them to Grow Biz International (now Winmark Corporation).
Clothes Mentor opened its doors in 2001 offering a place for women to buy and sell shoes, purses, clothing and other delightful duds. It caught the eye of Grow Biz co-founder Ronald Olson, who had left the company in 2000. He began franchising Clothes Mentor in 2007.
Today, the franchise is ranked as No. 260 on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list for 2016.
Read this article to see one customer’s experience with selling items to her local store. You can also see the original article with more photos at springbargains.com.
I’ve never sold or consigned clothing before, but with trying to make sure that I’m only wearing clothes I love combined with the unfortunate event of gaining weight in the past year, I had some newer clothing that doesn’t fit well and I thought I’d try consigning it. (OK, not really consigning, where you don’t get paid until the store sells it, but taking it to a place where they give you cash for it up front. But I always think of it as consigning because I always think of these stores as consignment stores!)
I chose to consign at Clothes Mentor, because it seems like a lot of the other stores in town (Plato’s Closet, Seven Status, Hut no. 8) cater towards a younger crowd and my clothing is likely not hip enough! I’d been into Clothes Mentor once, and thought that the clothing I wanted to sell was on par with what they sold.
So, I took a small box of clothing in to see how it worked and if I’d actually get anything for it. They paid me about $2.50 per item the first time, and then after realizing I really wasn’t going to fit in a few things in the near future, I sold clothing a second time and got closer to $3.00 per item. Here’s what I learned.
They really won’t take anything that’s older than about two years, even if it’s still theoretically in style (according to my finely-tuned sense of fashion – ha!). I had a couple of dresses from Banana Republic that were really cute, but several years old, and they passed on them and everything else that was older than two years.
I did figure out that you can look at the tag on your clothing to see when it was manufactured, so you have an idea of how old it is. The tag on side of the garment on most name-brand clothing has a date on it, like this:
I haven’t found that off-brand clothing has the date on the tag, but they also will not take anything that’s not a name brand, so for purposes of selling clothing, it doesn’t really matter. I personally wouldn’t even bother taking in something that’s not a name brand, no matter how cute it is, because in my experience they really aren’t going to buy it.
(By the way, if you are going off the date on the tag, I think that they have a little leeway with it, because clearly stuff that was manufactured in July for a fall line of clothing would be in stores for awhile, so I would guess that it’s probably 2.5 years after the tag date.)
Frankly, I was a little surprised at a few of the items that they rejected, because I knew I’d seen stuff in the store that was older-looking than what I’d brought in, but they clearly know how to run the shop, not me, so I wasn’t upset or offended that they didn’t take some of my items. 🙂
They don’t seem to like items that have any sort of damage, even a minor thing like a pulled string that could be easily be cut off and be as good as new. So, I would definitely check your garments over well, and clip any loose threads. (I also think that it doesn’t hurt to bring in clothing that’s folded neatly and not horribly wrinkled.)
This one surprised be, but I learned the second time I sold items that they won’t take anything with “high necks” (in my case, it was a turtleneck). I asked why and they said they just don’t sell well.
When they pay you for the items, they give you a receipt that shows what they purchased from you, but it doesn’t say how much they paid for each item. In my case, the first time I sold items, they bought a pair of shoes, some tops, and I think a scarf; and I got an average of about $2.50 per item.
The second time, I had a couple of pairs of pants and some tops and got just under $3.00 per item. I’m totally speculating here, but I think they probably paid more for the pants and less for the tops, because some of the tops were just t-shirts.
I’m sure if you brought in some really nice dress apparel, you’d probably get more per item, but I wouldn’t expect to get too much more.
One other thing that I will mention is that you drop off your clothing and then have to come back to pick it up and decide if you want to accept the offer that they give you for the clothing that they do want to sell. The first time I did it, they were really busy with drop-offs and mine wasn’t done until several hours later. (You have to pick up the items they didn’t want in 72 hours.)
The second time, they told me they’d have it ready in about 15 minutes – I chose to go run another errand instead of sticking around, but just keep in mind that it could be a really fast process or it might be a few hours, depending on how busy they are.
Overall, I’d say that consigning/selling at Clothes Mentor was a great experience. Since they pay you on the spot, it’s a great way to get extra cash quickly even if you won’t get rich doing it. 🙂 I would totally do it again – hopefully next time because I’ve lost a little weight and can sell items as I’m sizing down! 🙂
Have you sold or consigned clothing?
I’m far from an expert! Please share your tips for consigning or selling adult or children’s clothing!
Check out a post from Sarah, a Pittsburgh college student and style blogger, who recently tried Clothes Mentor Wexford. She was delighted with the selection and created three amazingly stylish outfits on the cheap. Keep reading to see what she found. Or check out the post on Sarah’s Pittsburgh & Pearls blog by clicking here.
A MORNING AT CLOTHES MENTOR WEXFORD
All college girls love a great deal. Free pizza? I’m in. Even if it means attending a meeting for a club that I’m hardly a part of. I was beyond excited when Andrea from Clothes Mentor Wexford asked me to visit her store and shop around. Mention the words “J.Crew” and “Kate Spade” and “discounted” in the same sentence and I’ll try and be there as soon as I can.
Clothes Mentor focuses on buying gently used better brand-name fashions and accessories, and their selection is fantastic. Some of my favorite finds were pieces from J.Crew (shocker, right?), Kate Spade, and Banana Republic. Not to mention that everything in the store is in great condition. It’s perfect for college girls who want to incorporate trendy and high-end products into their wardrobes without having to deal with the prices that usually follow. Trends may come and go and wardrobes are always changing anyways, so why spend the full price when you can experience high-end resale?
Andrea proposed that we try a challenge: to see how many fabulous outfits we could put together for about $100 — we ended up picking out 3 ensembles (dress, shoes, & accessories) that are perfect for spring events.
Look #1: Little Black Nanette Lepore Dress
Guys, I am absolutely OBSESSED with this entire outfit. I actually ended up buying the dress and heels since it took me a little too long to stop twirling around in them. My go to trick for styling little black dresses has always been to incorporate a pop of red, usually with red lipstick and shoes. In this case I decided to switch up the pop by using a bold pattern in the same neutral color palette as the rest of the outfit with my choice of shoe.
The Betsey Johnson choker statement necklace was also a really bold move for me since I usually opt for simpler accessories with this kind of neckline. I loved how edgy and young it made the dress feel, while remaining extremely classy.
Dress : Nanette Lepore – $45
Necklace : Betsy Johnson – $35
Shoes : Nine West – $24
(bonus: Dolce & Gabbana handbag)
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Total : $104
Look #2: Blue & Yellow Eliza J
I fell in love with this dress from the second I walked into Clothes Mentor. I usually don’t opt for pieces that are incredibly bright, or yellow, but when in Rome, right? Inspired to create a look that was bold for spring, I contrasted a royal blue necklace and matching suede shoes against the lemon color (a little hard to see, sorry!) I also really loved the texture in the dress, which made it feel incredibly appropriate for spring and summer. I also fell in love with these heels, which have a navy pleather accent on the toe and felt like a modern take on a vintage design.
Dress: Eliza J – $14
Shoes: Ralph Lauren – $24
Neckace: Talbots – $10
Bracelet: Nordstrom (x2) – $6 each
(bonus: Lenvin handbag – $750
& Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses – $99)
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Total: $60
Look #3 – All Pink Kate Spade
My dream world is entirely Kate Spade everything. I seriously wish I had a lifestyle where I could wear their dresses everyday. I was so excited to have found this dress as it combines a few of my favorite things; Kate Spade, tweed, and the color pink. It reminds me of Elle Woods or Jackie O, and the second I tried it on I felt so chic. Adding all pink accessories, including the Kate Spade handbag made me feel like Barbie, and I loved every second of it.
Dress: Kate Spade – $85
Heels (not pictured, but here): Julianne Hough – $24
Bracelet: Talbots – $12
(bonus: Kate Spade Handbag – $40)
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Total: $113
I ended up leaving with the Nanette Lepore dress, two pairs of heels and two bracelets for exactly $100! I was beyond excited, and can’t wait to style these pieces with my own wardrobe for you in the future!
For more information on Clothes Mentor Wexford, you can follow them on Facebook and Instagram, or visit their website at http://www.clothesmentor.com/stores/wexford/
On Earth Day and beyond, remember to recycle the electronics that your family no longer uses. Better yet, Device Pitstop will pay you for items that still have some life left in them. They’ll give you CASH On-the-Spot for your gently used computers, tablets, smartphones and more; then they’ll spruce them up and sell them to other customers for a great deal. Watch this video featuring Device Pitstop Overland Park to learn more:
