Taylor Prystawsky decided she needed a new challenge. An interior decorator by trade, she worked with builders to turn houses into homes. In her spare time, she brought on the bling, decorating upwards of 30 Christmas trees each season. She hung up her paint charts to raise her family, but after 14 years the itch to do something else needed more than a scratch.  Taylor began her new adventure in January 2020 when she answered an ad for retail space in historic East Dundee, Illinois and soon the River Street Collective had a new tenant, selling home décor goods in a 12’x12’ room. T ..read more

  When did you last make a major floor move? And we don’t mean moving product from over here to over there.  Your sales floor is a living, breathing entity that should change (frequently) in order to flourish. If your store is full of the latest product, but your sales are in a rut it, it could be because your customers are bored. They come to your store not just to buy – they come for ideas and inspiration. They come to be entertained, and even when they don’t buy anything, it’s the experience that brings them back.  The Target Syndrome  Think about the last time you sho ..read more

Photo Cred: Untapped New York by Michelle Young During the recent torrential rains in New York City my sister and I visited Bergdorf Goodman, a NYC landmark department store that is famous for designer clothing and accessories. And absolutely priceless premier customer service. Ya, huh.  I used to visit Bergdorf’s with my mother when I was little, she loved that store so we were there a lot. This trip? We were invisible. I understand that we are not their target customer, neither one of us are model tall or a size 0; we are not sample-size anything and that's okay. When I asked if a par ..read more

How often do you mystery shop your competition – in person, online and on social medias? Monthly, yearly? Never? Shopping your competition is an exercise that needs to happen at least once a quarter. Here’s what to do:  1. Make a list of everything you need to know about each competitor. When we mystery shop we carefully examine the operational categories in the store, and then rate each one on a scale of 1 to 10. It’s an opinion, but it’s a good one. Yours will be, too.  2. Begin by determining where you stand in your marketplace. Send someone you trust to a public place near your ..read more

Jayna Gedney wants you to be able to smell her store’s website.  Jayna is the store manager of Ben Franklin Crafts & Frame Shop in Monroe, Washington. The store is owned by the Taylor family, established in 1975 by Adrian and Deanna Taylor. A second store, located in Bonney Lake, Washington, is owned and managed by son Adrian C. Taylor, their son. The two stores are creative industry stalwarts. Industry legend is that Adrian, Senior was the first retailer to embrace scrapbooking, creating the trend we know and love today.  Now, we are talking with Jayna about all things “phygita ..read more

This is Georganne, reporting from Chicago.  After an amazing first day of leading "The Next Wave of Loyalty Track" at the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo I was excited to take Ian Scott and Jack Stratten, two of our favorite retail wizards from the U.K., on an exploration trip to Marshall Field & Company's flagship store on Chicago's State Street - now Macy's - was a must.  I began my retail career at T.A. Chapman's, a four store, indie-owned department store chain located in and around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Chapman's flagship store on Milwaukee's Wisconsin Avenue was ..read more

  Back in 2005 we were looking for ways to keep in touch with retailers in between trade shows, so when a group of indie retailers asked us to start a blog we jumped at the chance and KIZER & BENDER’s Retail Adventures blog was born.  Over the years our Retail Adventures Blog has been honored many time in the small business and retail categories, and has been listed among blogs you shouldn’t miss. This time is even sweeter because the acknowledgement comes from Shopify, a trusted and respected retail industry supplier. Even better we came in at number one! Here’s what Shopify h ..read more

Thirty-three years. Neither one of us thought that the first time we walked onstage to present our very first “Retail Adventures in the REAL World” presentation in Boston, Massachusetts that it actually would be the first of many. For that matter who knew that “professional speaker” was a real job? Back then neither one of us could have imagined we’d end up here. But here we are.  Our first presentation | Boston Convention Center April 17, 1990 Thirty-three years is a long time. Those few times we’ve been brave enough to watch the video of our first presentation (we paid a local guy wi ..read more

KIZER & BENDER’s 360 Degree Pass-By exercise To keep things in balance we recommend that you do our 360 Degree Pass-By each morning before you unlock the doors for business. This exercise should take about five minutes to complete. The first few times you won’t notice much, but the more you do it the more things that need attention will pop out. Store owners and managers should do a 360 Degree Pass-By each morning before unlocking the doors for business; store associates should do this exercise each day at the beginning of their shift. Here’s how:  1 ..read more

Click HERE or on the photo above to watch the video!  In this issue of the Retail Adventures Podcast the gang discusses NRF 2023, Descendant of Thieves, Fishs Eddy, Gentle Monster, and Camp, just a few of the cool stores Georganne and Ian visited while in NYC, the beauty of physical shopping, retail theft, robots vs. humans, and uses for ChatGPT. There is never a dull moment when these five get together! Follow our individual Retail Adventures on LinkedIn:   Georganne Bender, Rich Kizer, Jason Baum, Jeremey Sea and Ian Scott.       KIZER & BENDER 2023  |  ..read more