Operations

To view a PDF of the story, click here. Breaking In In the early 1980s, residents of Avenal, California, made what may have seemed like an unusual petition to their state government. The state was making plans to build one …

To view a PDF of this story, click here and to read a Q&A from an architectural color consultant about her insights and advice on color.  By: Jesse Carleton jcarleton@nrha.org  If you sell paint, you’ve got a lot of company. Specialty stores, other independent home improvement …

Employee Appreciation Day Every year at Dawson’s True Value Hardware, with two locations in Topsfield and North Beverly, Massachusetts, the management team hosts an appreciation event for its employees. Since many families and the store are extremely busy during the …

If it’s been a while since you updated your employee handbook, chances are you’re missing some changes in legislation that could leave your company open to legal trouble. In addition to changes to federal laws, states often adopt their own …

Working to increase your store’s average transaction size makes sense, especially considering that you have three primary ways to grow top-line sales. These methods are: Increase prices. Increase the number of customers who frequent your store. Increase average transaction size. All three strategies …

A key to excellent customer service is continuous improvement, and watching the businesses that excel at meeting shoppers’ needs is a way to assess how your staff is doing and potentially polish their skills. Department store chain Nordstrom offers lessons that …

“Price-match guarantee” and “We will beat any competitor’s advertised price by 10 percent” are common promises that pop up in retail advertising. These statements are used to tell consumers the stores are confident they have the lowest prices in that …

Hardware Retailing’s February 2016 feature story, “Anatomy of a Leader”, talked about identifying and developing future retail leaders in your company. Leadership development is an ongoing process that’s never truly complete. Whether you’ve lead your staff for years, are a first-time manager or are …