Promotions Unlimited Retailer Section

Stores Talking

"Stores Talking to Stores" is a collection of candid comments made by store owners and employees while visiting our showroom.
Advertising		Hear what stores have to say about advertising and different ad vehicles. Also, hear stories about success with Circulars, Coupon Books, Direct Mail, and Internet Ordering.
Managing Your Store		Hear what stores are saying about the management of their employees. Get invaluable tips on getting the most from your staff.
Seasonal Promotions		Read seasonal protional ideas from other stores and the success the have had.
Merchandising & Special Departments		Hear about the many different special programs that Promotions Unlimited offers.

ADVERTISING
Chris Schanen, Ben Franklin, Campbellsport, WI "I think advertising is very significant to the success of our stores. Probably more specifically, effective advertising is very important to the success of our stores. We’re finding that as our stores grow and the markets change, our advertising needs to change right along with it."

Armon Kaehler, Ben Franklin, Paynesville, MN "I wouldn’t be in business if I wouldn't be advertising. I run a minimum of 2 circulars every month, thereby bringing in as many people as possible. Every time I open up a newspaper, I get nothing but circulars in my store or at my house. If I’m not out there promoting with everybody else, nobody’s going to know I’m here."

Mark Davis, Ben Franklin, Great Falls, MT "I think the words advertising and success probably could be considered as synonymous. With advertising you build your traffic, your trade and then eventually the bottom line profits that you make. Without advertising, you don’t have a store operation."

Jeff Smith, Ben Franklin, Minster, OH "Your competitors are always advertising, and if your name isn't out there with them, I think the aspect of loyalty has kind of gone down the drain. People want to be reminded that you're out there. So if you're not consistently advertising, you'll more or less be left in the dust."

Bob Wesselman, Ben Franklin Crafts, Evansville, IN "Consistent advertising is probably one of the hardest things we have to do. Even in what we call the slower months, you kind of have to force yourself to spend the dollars. Turn that slower month into something more positive."

George Price, Ben Franklin, Twin Lakes, WI "It's become very evident to me that advertising is an intricate part of keeping my business going. It's a way to keep people coming to my store. It's a way to keep my name in front of people. And it's a way to keep giving my customers value and a reason to come and shop my store. When they do that, then I can build a profit on the other end. I can build my gift department. I can build my import program. I can get the profitable merchandise out there, and I have people to shop. If I don't advertise, my customer count starts dropping, and then I'm just playing to no audience. So the advertising has built me a trade, and people are coming in. It's helped increase my volume, not only in sale merchandise, but in profitable merchandise. Even though I've done a lot more advertising lately, my profit margin has not suffered that badly, because my customer count has gone up."

Ronda Holst, Carley Drug, Avoca, IA "I'd like to get the other girls from the store here, because there are so many ideas. They're still in a rut. They don't want change, they won't do this, they won't do that. But each time I come or my boss comes, we've added a sale. We're up to a sale every month, and a couple of times, two sales a month. We just get so enthusiastic each time we come that we want to add another sale."

Bruce William Keller, A&H Drug Store, Seattle, WA "You don?t love your merchandise, you love to sell it. . . .Turnover is a really more important than the margin that you're talking about. . . . The amount of times that you sell something and make a dime, that's worth a lot more profit than having a $20 gift item that sells once a year. . . . The margin times the number of times you sell it, that's what counts. You can sell gifts and make 50%, but if you turn the gift department twice, you're lucky. You know, if you pack up Halloween gifts or Christmas gifts and you've got them in back room up on the shelf, you're killing yourself. Our goal is to not pack up anything. And if we have to throw something out--we don't throw it out, we donate it. And the schools go crazy when we donate something we couldn't work on."

CIRCULARS
Dan Atwell, Grottoes Phcy, Grottoes, VA "One of the things that I do with the circulars is I print up my own newsletter, and we insert the circular inside. It's unbelievable; customers come in and thank me for putting out this newsletter. I've had people come in and tell me, 'I save every one I get!' It works very well in terms of building customer loyalty."

Arnold Main, Jackson Drug, Fort Pierce, FL "We usually run about three circulars every month, and it keeps us pretty busy in terms of keeping merchandise flowing through the store. It brings a lot of customers in, and if we have a week during the month when we don't run a circular, customers will come in and ask, 'What happened? We didn't get a circular this week.'"

Mark Dowling, Ben Franklin, Burlington, VT "I feel that it’s very important to run promotions of different kinds – circulars, coupon books, in-store events, whatever. So in my store, we run a circular or a coupon book every month. I think it’s important to maintain that consistency for our customers."

Chris Schanen, Ben Franklin, Campbellsport, WI "We find that the Promotions circulars are hard hitting. They’re good prices; they’re nice color, and good quality."

Nevzat Ozbaltaci, Echo Drug, Flushing, NY "We are, as a store, committed to Promotions Unlimited’s circular program 12 times a year. We run them religiously. We strongly believe that it is a tool to communicate to our customers, letting them know what we have. You can have a lot of things in your store, but if you’re not telling your customers, they will not know. These circulars are already prepared for us. It’s easy to take advantage of them."

COUPON BOOK
Mike White, Jasper Drugstore "We hadn't done a coupon book until two years ago when like you said everybody said, try one and we did. And we increased our circulation to 15,000 from about 8. And the results were great. Sales were a lot better. It really helped. Coupon book, that's the way to go. We still do a circular occasionally but we don't get the results we do with a coupon book. And people tear the coupons out and bring them in the store. They've got a hand full. They still think of it, as even though we don't handle it as a coupon, they still think it's that valuable. They bring it in , like you say they'll shop it 3 or 4 times over the circular. They don't put circulars in a PO Box either, because they dump them in the trash. They'll shop 2 or 3 times with a coupon book, where they don't with a circular."

Jack Dunn, Jasper Drugstore "We went from 5, 000 to 11,000 square feet. The coupon book will bring you in new customers. The circular will not. Cause most of the time, we we're talking about this last night. You get a circular in a newspaper, how many times you get the newspaper and you set it on the counter? What you get in from the mail, you look through it. The women put it in their pocketbooks. They can carry it. You can't carry a circular. And the guys put it in their pocket. That's correct. And they bring it back umteen times, cause they want to always know what you got."

Maggie Jones, Family Medicine, Thomasville, AL "I've convinced my boss to do the coupon book, and now that he has, he will do nothing else but that. In the back of the book, they have something that they give away every month, and that's the kind of thing that we do in our store. In fact, this past back-to-school sale, we had a customer that I know, but they had never been in our store before. They came in, they registered for the G.E. Telephone Answering System, and they won it. And I feel like because of that and the good prices, they've been back in our store several times."

Marylyn Conrad, Village Healthmart, Hot Springs, AR "We've been doing the coupon sales as long as I've been there, which is almost two years, and we do them every month. And they come in with that coupon book in their hand, and I mean, they're ready to go. They're great!"

Kathy Charvet, Marty's Hardware, Mattawa, WA "Coupon books are wonderful. They sell out so fast that it's unbelievable. People keep coming in for two, three weeks with the same coupon book in their hands swearing they just got it in the mail today. If you're thinking about doing a Promotions program go with the coupon book and it will surprise you. You'll be pleasantly surprised."

Michelle Schmirler, Ben Franklin Crafts, Plover, WI "At my store, We run coupon book sales 6 times a year. Every other circular is a coupon book. There's something about coupons that make a consumer excited about a sale. They think that the items are a much better value when they're on a coupon."

George Price, Ben Franklin, Twin Lakes, WI "I use the coupon books, because they’ve been very, very profitable for me. They’ve really increased the traffic in my store. I can send out less coupon books and get more response than I can with a circular. The people bring them in, and they’re coming after the sale with them. They seem to keep my sales going longer and further. I’ve been very impressed with the selection in the coupon books. I’ve had nothing but good results, whenever I run a coupon book. I’ve gone to direct mail, and direct mail has proven extremely successful."

Jill Myers, Camelot Drugs, Lomita, CA "The coupon books have increased our sales by 25-30%. It's a lot of work, and a lot of my crew doesn't enjoy working that hard. But you've got to keep up with it. And we're learning. Our customer count is up during the ad time about 150-200 people a day. It's a very definite increase in sales."

DIRECT MAIL

John Slagle, Sheffield Pharmacy, Sheffield, PA

"We distribute our coupon books by direct mail. We've never done it any other way. We go in on a regular basis, at least once a year, and get a list of the zips and the routes that we cover, and we'll change them. Sometimes we'll purposely add one from outside the service area just to see if it's really outside the service area. And the people come in and say, "I've never gotten this book before," and they're all excited about it."

INTERNET ORDERING
Larry Taylor, Maddock Drug, Maddock, ND "Also on the Internet. I like that because I've owned the store for two years and my staff has pretty much carried on doing the Promotions. And this is the first time myself and my wife and have gotten involved. What's nice is that you can get it on there, get a history on there. You can look back and see what has been ordered. I plan on putting a computer, a workstation for my staff, and we'll start working on it there. Get a big screen make it pretty user friendly. Then we get the input from the staff, and we can come and look at it for maybe a half an hour or an hour, send it off and we're done with it. So I like that."

Kate Rice, Gibsonburg Pharmacy, Gibsonburg, OH "Actually the Internet site is one of the things that I'm most excited about, and one of the things that I'm trying to get my people involved in. And that's new for me, as I basically did the ordering and I didn't really involve them in getting on the site cause I thought it was kind of overkill. Now I've started to have them take a look at it cause it lets them look at the broad scope of the product, and see the pictures of it, and do it without the overwhelming flyer kind of concept or coupon book, or whatever the vehicle may be."

Lenny Purrington, Super Saver United, Pocatello, ID "I was impressed with those who have been brought here to teach and to train. Their degree of professionalism, they're experience in the industry has helped me to better understand what my responsibilities are in advertising and marketing. I enjoy coming and talking with other retailers. I'd like nothing more than to visit some other stores. I think that's very important. We do that as grocers. I went into grocery stores every time we went on vacation. My wife just hated it because we had to spend part of our vacations looking at grocery stores. And I think probably you do also, when you go into communities or other areas you're probably looking at the competition, the other stores and finding out what they're doing. I really enjoy this part of it, being able to communicate with other retailers."

Renee Mondik, Adzema Drug, Pittsburgh, PA "My third time here. I was in here in June and they had just started the whole Internet thing. And they didn't have a lot of nooks and crannys, they were still trying to work out. And coming back this time, Everything's wow. Like before I was, 'I'm not sure if I'm going to do it. There's too many questions still.' And this time, yesterday, I sat through it again; and it was just amazing. I'm really excited about that."

Dexter Spaulding, Swanton Rexall Drug, Swanton, Vermont "Your new Internet order system is great?I did both orders in two hours flat! It used to take me several days of prep, then fax. I will be truthful?I was getting bogged down and did not look forward to your order each time I did it for both of our stores. You have taken a large weight off of my back and have made it more enjoyable to order. Also, I even watched the video and feel that Promotions Unlimited is moving forward quickly into the 21st century. I hope I can be good enough to follow you."

Bob Wesselman, Ben Franklin, Evansville, Indiana "The web site, I can't say enough about it, how user friendly it is. Everybody comments. Usually you hear these negatives, like that's too much trouble. But even for people who have never been on the Internet it's so easy. . . . All the little details they've put into that thing in a short period of time. The history also is going to be a big benefit. I think we all try to make all those sale plan notes . . . but having that right there, what we did last year, and if we go through and put our notes with that from sell-throughs and so on, I think it's going to be a great big plus."

Richard Cohen, Silver Rod Drugs, Brooklyn, NY "We're also excited about the Internet site. I think it adds a lot of efficiency. It will give us the history. It will make us better retailers. I also like the fact that when you're ordering if you want to see the picture of the item, you can also do that. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, and it helps in the ordering. I'm glad that you added that to the site. I think that really makes it that much better."

EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS
Lori Dirks, Ben Franklin, Crookston, OR "The one thing that really sticks out in my mind, because this was the first time that we have been here. We made sure we went to every workshop. We got a lot out of every single workshop. And of course it really gets you fired up to want to go back and really jump in there again, and do this and do that, and you get your long list of stuff. So I think that is really of a great benefit, because lot of times you just spend a lot of time getting your clerks fired up. You know, your managers, your help, whatever. But there's not a lot of people there to fire you up and to get you excited about things again, and want to be really getting your hands in there again. So I think that was one of the big benefits for me."

Kim Anderton, Ben Franklin, Roosevelt, UT "Well, I just want to say that this has been a really great, enjoyable experience. And I love the way you take care of us. I don't have to worry about catching a ride, or my alarm going off. Less stress makes for a nice trip."

Barbara Davis, Hammer & Wikan True Value, Petersburg, AK "I just wanted to say that I think that this is the most accommodating group of people that I've ever worked with. I've been with True Value for 12 years myself personally. They're a good company to deal with. I've been to their market many times, but this group of people is the greatest to work with. I needed help with pricing because we're in an unusual area where the freight is very high. So okay, so your going to print me a flyer where I can raise the prices. There's nothing wrong with that. It seems like anything I've asked about, there's been an answer for. So I appreciate it. And I'm sure that the people back home will also. I'm hoping that I can take the enthusiasm back home and transmit that to them."

Lenny Purrington, Super Saver United, Pocatello, ID "Some of the things that I want to take home that I was impressed with was the Internet site. As a grocer, I never got the opportunity to visually see an ad before I ordered. You guys, I don't know if really appreciate how important that is. To be able to bring it up on the Internet and look at the ad, look at the emphasis, the placement of the items in the ad. Those who are ordering, that is key to their ability to order correctly for the ad. The emphasis, the item, the placement, the pricing, all of that is critical because what you see is what the customer sees. If they're not impressed, you shouldn't be buying a lot of product. If you see it, you're impressed, you'll buy more. You'll know your customers will respond just the same way you do. I also like the idea of giving the ad, I can print a copy of the ad before it even gets to the store when we need to order it. I can send that around to the employees and let those employees grade that ad individually, an 'a', 'b', or 'c' on each item. That would be very helpful. That's a wonderful idea for my people to be able to order more correctly for the products that we're bringing in on the ads. I'm very impressed with this. I appreciate the opportunity to come here for the first time, and I will be back. When I come back I will bring more people with me."

Jim Isenberg, Isenberg True Value, Baraboo, WI "This is one of the better meetings or seminars that I've been to. More informative. It seems like you're trying to get us on the right track to compete with some of the big boxes and we just appreciate it. We need the price perception the small stores are always perceived to be higher priced, and hopefully this can help overcome that perception."

Debra Jahnke, Parker's Trumm Drug, Parker's Prarie, MN "This is my fourth visit here, and I love coming here because I get rejuvenated. It's fun. I have evolved in the last seven years from just a sales associate to now a manager of the store. This couple of days has been extra special for me because it just kind of reboots me into my new position. And so for that I thank you."

Agnes Casanova, San Juan, Puerto Rico "This is the first time for me being here. I think it's wonderful. I think it's very good that we share our experiences and learn something, learn how to make our stores better, how to increase our profits, and how to enjoy it. Because they're our stores. If we don't do something about them, nobody is going to do it for us. . . . We came here and now we're going back to the stores all pepped up and full of ideas for our stores. I hope we put all of those in practice."

Lori Holt, Hi-School Pharmacy, Silverton, OR "I really appreciate that I feel like we're a team, and that when we talk and make suggestions or ask questions, that you are so willing to really listen, and you do something about it. I really appreciate that."

Ken Heimann, B & W Rexall, Inverness, Florida "This is my third time. Every time I come back with a new idea, something different. It's a great way of networking with other businesses. We all have similar problems, but this is the one location where we can come together, and get ideas, and go back and resolve some of the problems we have and improve my business. . . . This is my real opportunity to make a difference financially for myself, for my family, and for my community. I'm bringing into my store new products that have not been available to me."

Diana Leancu, Giant Eagle, Warren, OH "We have about 80ft. of seasonal aisle to fill, and we have a floral dept. We find that coming here and looking at your products really helps us to order. I've ordered a lot more by coming here than I would have just out of the book. Nothing against your advertising department, but it just doesn't do it like coming here and actually seeing the product. . . . We've been ordering for about a year and we've been very happy. We're very happy with the products, very happy with your service, and I was really impressed with your facility."

EMPLOYEES
Doug Smith, Smith Drug Center, Rutledge, TN "One of the best things you can do in your store is be good to your employees. Remember, your employees reflect the image of your store and how your employees treat your customers will determine if they will return to you or not return."

Nancy Princing, Princing's Pharmacy, Saginaw, MI "We have a store meeting before every Promotions sale. And at that meeting we give away lottery tickets for dumb reasons: you've got a red sweater on today, the sun is shining today, you made great coffee. But at least half of the employees get 5 lottery tickets at each meeting. We don't give them to every employee. Sometimes they have to answer a question, like what day is Valentine's Day on?"

Nancy Princing, Princing's Pharmacy, Saginaw, MI "The first day a new employee comes in, I do a tour of the store with them. You know, when you walk into a store for the first time and you see all this stuff, you think, 'How am I ever going to remember all of this?' So on the fourth day, after we've had a little ringing on the register and I give them a blank blueprint of the store, and I have a list underneath it. They go around and find out where are the products in the store and fill it in on the blank. Where are the greeting cards? Fill that in. That way, they have to go through the store and pinpoint these different areas."

Shirley Johnson, Hedden Pharmacy, Tenino, WA "I've been coming quite a few years, and I always enjoy seeing merchandise. It always helps to order it. But I think what helped most this time was the workshop on working as a team, working with your employees. We had several younger people, and they all decided to move on to a different point in their life at the same time. So we're training. Over half of our staff is new right now. And so I think that brought out a lot of points that you sort of get in a rut and forget about. It reminded me of a lot of things we need to do when working with new employees."

Kate Rice, Gibsonburg Pharmacy, Gibsonburg, OH "My biggest problem right now is staff . . . that's one of the reasons I'm very glad you've gone back to this workshop concept. I need to do everything I can to pump them up and get them trained and get them to view this as a job they're interested in and want to take pride in doing. At very little cost to me, them coming up here is kind of a thing for them. They get to fly up here, they get to stay overnight, they get to come to meetings, and it's kind of fun for them. I highly recommend that everybody try and send as much of their staff as you can because it's very, very good and they learn a great deal. And then once they come back, turn them loose and let them work. Even if it might not be the way you do it or want it done, let them do it."

Pat Nesbit, Blissfield Pharmacy, Blissfield, MI "What we do in our store is I give my up-front people each a book and ask them to write a suggested order. And then we sit down, and the discrepancies are just off the wall. But they usually come back with a reason, and sometimes they have not shared that before. . . . They'll say, 'Oh, well, she would have bought half a case had we had enough of it, but we didn't and it was the end of the sale.' Or we ran out two days before, and they hadn't made note of that. I think it's important for us to be able to give them the information a week ahead of time and say, 'Go through it, write your order, and then we'll sit down and do it.'"

EASTER

Betty Johnson, Johnson Pharmacy, Elbow Lake, MN
"At Easter time, we had an egg sorting contest with those little plastic eggs. You know, they always come packed in those Styrofoam peanuts. Well, we had a big laundry basket, we threw in the Styrofoam peanuts from all the packages, we took all of those eggs apart, and then we had a contest. We had a group of high school boys standing there, trying to out-compete each other! They had a great time! And how many eggs you put together in a minute determined the percentage off of your total purchases that day. We had everybody try, and everybody who tried at least one egg got some percent off their purchases for that day."

HALLOWEEN
Don Heaton, Drug Care Discount, Grandy, NC "One of my employees created this Pumpkin Man for Halloween. We put out the word that on Halloween, we were going to have a Pumpkin Man at the store all day. It was a great big old pumpkin head with a stuffed scarecrow-type thing. Nobody was in it. I had this fellow behind the door with a microphone, and there was a speaker in the head of the pumpkin. My son would spot the little kids, and when they were coming in, the man would speak into the microphone and the Pumpkin Man would 'talk'. Before you knew it, you had a thousand kids in there who wanted to talk to the Pumpkin Man. They were all in there milling around, and they all had their little outfits on, taking pictures and just making it a lot of fun."

Kim Phillips, Doanes Valley Drug, Cashmere, WA "For Halloween, we take pictures of the kids in their costumes. We develop them and then the parents come back and pick up the pictures. That's something we've done that worked for our store."

CHRISTMAS
Chris Schanen, Ben Franklin, Campbellsport, WI "We run the gift circulars in the Christmas season. We’ve found them to be very effective. It’s usually areas where we don’t have to compete with the Wal-Marts and the K-Mart’s out there. They’re areas where we can stand-alone, and they’re unique products. We find them to be very beneficial. It’s something different to put in a customer’s hands, and they seem to respond to it."

Isabel Hudecek, Medical Clinic Phcy, Mars, PA "We have a Christmas store for the kids every year. We take one aisle and block it off with a little house that is made out of cardboard with a door that only kids can fit through. No parents are allowed to go into the house ever. All employees dress up like elves and we go in and help them shop and then wrap their gifts for them. Some parents give their kids $50 to shop with. This has really been a successful promotion. Many families make appointments with us so they can bring their kids to shop in our Christmas house."

Kathleen Hebert, Manhattan Pharmacy, Seattle, WA "The first week in December, Santa Claus comes to our store. The photo finisher provides the photographer. We have people lined up from the front of the store to the back of the store. They bring in their kids, and they also bring in their pets. We get them in twice. They come in to get their picture taken, then they come in again to get the picture and negative, plus a coupon for reprints. A lot of people order Christmas cards and pictures. Santa is a neighbor or ours, and my mom made the suit, so it's not a big investment. We give each child a candy cane after they talk to Santa."

Sonya Popp, Seaburg Drug, Carrington, ND "Our customers can shop free every week during the Christmas season in our store. Customers put their receipt into a box by the front checkout. We draw at the end of the week, and that customer gets that dollar amount to shop free in the store."

Jody Sellers, Aldrich Pharmacy, Council Grove, KS "We live in a small town, and the day after Christmas, everyone sort of leaves town and goes out to the malls for the big department store sales. So this year we decided to try something different. This year we tried a dot sale, and we dotted everything in the store. We had dots ranging in price from thirty to sixty percent off, and a different color dot was a different price. We had signs all over the store explaining what the dots meant. The success was wonderful. It was the biggest sale day that we've ever had."

George Price, Ben Franklin, Twin Lakes, WI "I try and give the store a theme that presents to the customer not only through merchandise, but through display, what the season is all about. At Christmas last year, we went and bought PVC products to decorate poles. We hung Christmas trees from the ceiling - the spiral trees - and put large ornaments on them. We put lights on all the poles, on the windows, and we made the store a Christmas atmosphere – the whole store. In our gift shop, we decorated 18 Christmas trees. We go all out to try and make the store tell the people that we are a part of the season, and the season is happening. They can enjoy shopping there and kind of have fun in the store."

SEASONAL PROMOTIONS
Gale Schriner, Mike's Mercantile, Toledo, OR "At our store, we took the odds and ends that you have from sales or just discontinued items, we put them in the back of the store, and started an area that we call 'A Garage Sale'. In our town, everybody loves it. They come in to look at it, and they have to go clear to the back of the store, which is where our gift department is so that gets looked at. We've had a lot of comments about it and people have a great time at our garage sale."

Carolyn Cumberlin, Hurley Discount Drug, Hurley, MS "We do something at our store a few times a year called 'Crazy Hat Day'. All the employees wear really strange hats; we had one girl last year wear a size 52 triple D bra on the back of her head with a bow that spun! But I'll tell you what: all the people in our community came in the store to look at those hats and vote on the best one. What would happen was, they'd go and tell their friends, you've got to go into the store and see what this gal's got on top of her head. We had people in here in droves for five days. Every one in the community came in the store to vote for 'their' girl. It was a wonderful money making scheme and it probably didn't cost three dollars to make any of those hats."

DECORATIONS & KITS
Rick Waldschmidt, Ben Franklin, Oregon, WI "I use every decoration package that Promotions Unlimited offers. It adds great highlight to my stores merchandising, and I would recommend it to any store."

Merle Honerman, Ben Franklin, North Platte, NE "We try to utilize decorations in our store appropriate with the particular season. We have storyboards all through the store, for example, right above the seasonal offerings. We try where we can to have the girls wear something appropriate with that season."

Bob Wesselman, Ben Franklin Crafts, Evansville, IN "Decorating your store and maintaining your store is really important. It’s one of those harder things that you would like to put off. Promotions offers the in-store décor packages which is a big help to us. We make sure we buy those and implement those along with the apparel for the clerks."

George Price, Ben Franklin, Twin Lakes, WI "I try and give the store a theme that presents to the customer not only through merchandise, but through display, what the season is all about. At Christmas last year, we went and bought PVC products to decorate poles. We hung Christmas trees from the ceiling - the spiral trees - and put large ornaments on them. We put lights on all the poles, on the windows, and we made the store a Christmas atmosphere – the whole store. In our gift shop, we decorated 18 Christmas trees. We go all out to try and make the store tell the people that we are a part of the season, and the season is happening. They can enjoy shopping there and kind of have fun in the store."

Nevzat Ozbaltaci, Echo Drug, Flushing, NY "We use Promotions Unlimited’s decoration kits to promote our store, to update our image, and to give the excitement that the customers need. You have to make your store “alive”. That’s going to make your customers buy."

GIFT
Armon Kaehler, Ben Franklin, Paynesville, MN "The gift department has been a very good program for us. We maintain a gift department in one of our front windows. When you get into the seasons – whether it’s Easter, Valentine’s Day, or Mother’s Day, we just need all those types of things. It’s just another reason for customers to come into our store."

Mark Davis, Ben Franklin, Great Falls, MT "I’ve always considered gifts to be extremely profitable. You are keystone or better on almost everything that you can buy in the gift department. That allows you to go ahead and achieve margins that are necessary to go ahead in those areas where you don’t quite make that mark-up. They compensate for the other areas of the store."

SEASONAL PROGRAM
Denise Bell, ADL Food & Drug, Terreton, ID "I liked the import program. I was really impressed with that over there. It looked like it was really a lot of quality things and not just a bunch of import junk. It was really nice, and I liked it because it was so close after Christmas, I can remember what I put back for Christmas, so I know what to order for next year."

Danny Cottrell, Medical Center Pharmacy, Brewton, AL "The Import Program seems to be an ideal source for merchandise that otherwise sort of falls through the cracks. What I saw at the show this year was very high quality merchandise that I'm not able to get from a wholesaler or my regular sources. The pricing is reasonable, and so we look forward to having a nice seasonal mix from the import catalog this fall."

Rick Waldschmidt, Oregon Variety, Oregon, WI "I’m very impressed with the PVC that is being offered and very impressed with the entire line of imports being offered. When you compare this to other import programs, Promotions Unlimited is on their way to being the leader in the Import program business."

Russ Hunter, Ben Franklin, Dubuque, IA "For my store, Promotions Unlimited will be a large amount of my Import business this year. The freight savings alone are phenomenal. To be able to get it in when you want it in the amount that you want, I think is excellent."

Steve Floding, Ben Franklin Crafts, Helena, MT "We’re excited about the Early Buy Craft Import Program, especially with the dating. We’re still able to bring it in early and give an entire season to sell through it before having to pay for the merchandise."

EVERYDAY DOLLAR
James Berry, True Value, Dumas, AR "I'm excited. You know hardware people kind of have to evolve into this. You know we sometimes think were we're just a little above dollar stuff you know. Yet we'll sell someone a nickel screw to someone, or a 70 cent a pound of nails you know and go in there. Dollar, sometimes we're just a little above that. So it's made me realize that if we want to survive and stay, and our business has grown every year, that we have to find those things that work for us."

John Anderson, Dollar Etc., Sioux Falls, SD "I was here last fall and was a little skeptical if this was going to work. There's a lot of promotional companies out there or just plain other companies. If there's five components to anything, it seems like a lot of them will do really good job at 4 components, but the one that they let you down on ruins the whole promotion. Maybe the merchandise isn't there, or the selection isn't there, and on and on. I'd like to compliment you and your staff for putting this all together. You can't fathom, or an outside person can't fathom the number of details that goes in to make all of this work. And the way it works from the sales staff that we deal with, down to the guy who drives the truck who delivers the merchandise, and it's there when you say it's going to be there. And the stickers and the shelf talkers, and all these little details that a company would just have a devil of a time doing themselves. Our company- we operate 18 dollar stores across the Midwest, and we're a growing company. To try and do something like this ourselves, especially in the dollar store business where you're dealing with a lot of closeouts and items that are available for a short period of time only at a price. To put a circular together and then have the merchandise there coming from many different sources to support the circular, and to not be out of it by the time the circular comes out is a nightmare. Like I said, last fall I was skeptical. Because of the lead time this is our, March is the second promotion we've done with your company, and everything has gone smoothly and it works. And we're back. I've brought one of the store managers with me this time to get some training and we're going to continue to do that, and just say thank you."

Danny Cottrell, Medical Center Pharmacy, Brewton, AL "Everyone should look at implementing some type of Dollar Days program. That dollar sales point is very important in the consumer's eye, and it's very important that myself as a consumer be able to get products to sell, whether it be in a 'dollar section' or a 'dollar table'"

Merle Honerman, Ben Franklin, North Platte, NE "Dollar customers are very unique in that if they go into your dollar section or your dollar store, most of the time, they’re never going to just buy one item. They’re going to leave with 6 or 7 items. We’ve even tried a coupon in a dollar store where if you buy 5 items, the 6^th item is free. It’s never difficult to entertain a lot of coupons with this, because most of their purchases are multiple purchases."

Nevzat Ozbaltaci, Echo Drug, Flushing, NY "The Dollar Days Program is Promotions Unlimited’s new approach to entering a new market. In the West Coast, dollar stores are doing phenomenal. The same thing is happening in the Midwest, and the east is catching up with it. This Dollar Days sale will NOT reduce your store’s image. By having a quality item for a lower price, think of it as another promotional way to approach your customers. The Dollar Days Program will create multiple purchases. Some of our customers, especially the baby boomers who are getting older and becoming senior citizens, have very limited incomes. They have certain dollars to spend for their needs. The Dollar Days Program will give more product to the $1 in their pockets. Therefore, it will create more sales. Those people will count on you more, because they will know that you understand them."

Frank Quigley, Quigley's Store, Iron City, TN "What we're seeing a lot of in our area around Tennessee, and probably nationwide, is the big grocery chains with a dollar store next to them, either a Dollar General, a Family Dollar, or something of that sort. I'm not much on chains, I don't particularly like chains, so what I'm looking to do is I've got a lot next to me about 7500 sq. ft., and I?m going to build a dollar store. This is why I was interested in coming up here to get some ideas."

PUC STAFF

Rajeb Ali, Dollar Store, Phoenix, AZ

"You know I don't buy anything on telemarketing. I have to tell you this story. I don't buy anything, I don't even answer any phone calls. But your staff, Ben, got me here today. I don't know how. This is something I have to tell you because nobody has ever sold me anything on a telemarketing and he got me here over the phone. I'm very excited, very thrilled to see the kind of programs you have. I run mostly dollar stores. I have 16 locations in Phoenix. I'm trying to work out a program, an advertising program with your company. This is my first time, I think the ads are going out this week. I'll find out, and if I'm successful, If you see me back over here, that means you're doing a good job."

Promotions Unlimited reserves the right to limit quantities on any items purchased and correct printing errors in our catalogs and web site. Prices and terms subject to change without notice.