For an upcoming story in INDESIGN, I asked Jim Rosenheim, CEO of Tiny Jewel Box (Washington, D.C.) and America’s Coolest Store in 2011, if he had any guidance to offer retailers trying to reach the eight-figure sales mark. Here were his six pieces of advice:
1 See yourself as a brand in your marketplace and work toward that end.
2 For each of your divisions (jewelry, watches, bridal, etc.), find strong brand partners, but supplement them with enough diversity to make your store unique.
3 Understand your market and buy for it while also trying to bring newness to the picture. What part of ‘what’s new and trendy’ will resonate with your market and what will not?
4 Discard your rose-colored glasses! Realistically look at your business and try to identify and fix its shortcomings. Take a close look at your operations and try to match your expenses to projected revenues. Develop budgets for your various expenses and maintain them if you want profitability and not just sales.
5 Commit yourself and your staff to serve the client’s needs first and foremost.
6 Identify your best-sellers and make sure that they are always on hand – or at least on order. The 80/20 rule is not a fantasy! I sold 63 rings of one style in a 12-month period, never having more than two in stock. The results were $120,000 in sales with an investment that never exceeded $2,000.
For more from Tiny Jewel Box – including the store’s “secret weapon”! – check out our “Eight Figure Independents” story, appearing in the March/April issue of INDESIGN.
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