In Blog 88 I talked about finding the next big brand. In this blog I wanted to talk about Quality Value and Selection.

Jean Claude wanted to put together a All Store meeting but with a twist. He had a vision of a magical land like the “Wizard of Oz” and the main character was looking an answer to a question. “What are customers looking for?”

I was nominated to be the “Tin Man”. My 1^st Asst. Derek was to play the main character. Alfredo from Ladies shoes was to be the lion and another person was the Scarecrow. “Ok, I forgot who it was alright”.

The store display team created the environment and we rented costumes for the characters. I wrote my lines on the back of the axe in case I forgot.

The play started with Derek going to the good witch asking what customers are looking for. His mission was to ask different characters for the answers. It was totally cheesy but we had a great time.

I tried to inject some clean humor when it was my turn to speak. People were laughing, whether it was with me or at me was a question but I was okay with either.

The Finale

The three answers were Quality, Value and Selection. Jean Claude was the wizard and at the end explained how important it was for our customers to find all three in our store.

This was right in line with what I was trying to accomplish this year so I loved it. I tried my best to offer great brands with a good value and have the best selection. That’s why I bought the Moda Spana brand in the last blog. There were other brands out there that had the style but were always on sale. This would put into question what the “real” price should be.

This new brand also offered sizes and widths that weren’t too common with other brands so it was a point of difference. I remember the case packs to this day. They have several in the regular sizes and special case packs just in sizes over 10.

A case pack is a pre-determined size run that some brands offer. It gets challenging as a buyer to figure out the correct mix of case packs to get the size run you want. This brand had quite a few so it was easier to mix and match to your needs.

This play was a great example of what we were trying to accomplish for our customers. We had fun in the process too!

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

Steve Jobs