Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
“I think dollar store services did a great job of picking products that aren’t handled
by the competitors in our location. You know, they tailored the store to not be in competition
with everybody else and that is what is giving us an edge.”
SETTING THE STAGE WITH DOLLAR DEALS “So we started looking at several different
opportunities after not being able to rent our building out locally and we decided that
we would try to open a type of dollar store business there.”
One of the conversations that we had with the owners knowing that the previous tenant
in the building was a Dollar General national chain was to determine how we would merchandise
the store. Should it be a true dollar store or a dollar-plus store.
“And Dollar General didn’t go away. They’ve built a new building within a half a mile
from this location. They just changed to a larger format store.”
After a good amount of conversation and analysis we determined together that a dollar only
store would be the most productive scenario for them. This format would enable them to
compete on a much firmer footing with the national competitor. They realize that they
would have a lot of product in their store that sold for a dollar whereas the competitor
would be selling that same product for over a dollar.
FIRST CONTACT WITH DOLLAR DEALS “We were searching the Internet and just
stumbled upon the Dollar Store Services website one night trying to figure out what to put
in the store and have had no problems with them since first contact.”
We started talking in February of 2012 and they had mentioned that they had a store that
eventually they wanted to convert to their own dollar store. We took it from conversation
to conversation and worked together for over a year putting their store project together.
“We loved that we were able to call them up and ask them any type of question that
we had. They were always ready and willing to answer anything.”
We concentrated on building a bond of trust and respect with them and held them by the
hand during each phase of putting their store project together.
“One of the great things about the way Dollar Store Services has their business set up is
if there is a product that you are not selling you’re not forced to keep ordering that
product, you know you can tailor the products that you have in your store to the needs of
the community.
MERCHANDISING DOLLAR DEALS We do the very best job of any developer out
there. Most developers just hand and owner the keys and say, “have a nice life.”
That’s a terrible thing to do to a store owner because after the first three days when
they are starting to settle down and they have no idea where to go and get their merchandise
they hit the big panic button. “Dollar Store Services put together our
initial order and I think they did a fine job of giving us a good mix of items. Even
though we’ve already been open for a few weeks they are still holding our hands and
helping us determine what to order and what not to order. They have really good support
from the merchandising end.” We are much better at merchandising than other
developers and most items that you will find at two and three dollars in the chains and
other stores we are able to sell for a dollar and still make a great profit on the item.
That is why Dollar Deals business has been so phenomenal.
“Stores like Dollar General those like it have corporate restrictions, heavy overhead
costs including upper management whereas we’re able to offer everything for one dollar and
make a pretty good profit off of it.” Only if the owners are comfortable after the
first 60 days of working with the new store supervisor do they move on to a permanent
representative who stays in touch with them on a weekly basis. This representative will
offer specials that they would never find on their own because a lot of these vendors
don’t want to make 600 phone calls or send 600 emails. Instead they contact us and say,
“Hey, we’ve got this special…” If we think its valuable we notify our stores
saving them time, energy, money and stress. “I think Dollar Store Services will help
you as much as you need help. Some owners may need a little more help because maybe
they’ve never been in business before and there is a great staff at Dollar Store Services
for those owners. We didn’t need that kind of help but with the ordering of merchandise
and what goes into that they’ll help you as much as you want.”
The Point of Sale System – POS System “The POS is able to give us instant feedback
on how the sales are and what products are actually selling. So we could be gone for
several weeks and still get all that information.” We trained them on the register function,
how to checkout customers and how to use it remotely to access detailed sales and human
resource information and all the reporting functions of the system.
“I think the POS is going to be very important over the long haul because we can see everything
from the labor, to the actual cost of the items, not just the gross sales of the items
at the end of the day. You know we can access all of it and it makes it so much easier to
order the product because they put the inventory in the POS to start with and when something
is sold it shows up as gone and we need to reorder. It is really simple to use.”
These owners were impressed with our POS system which was a little different from what they
had used in the restaurant business, it’s more dollar-centric being more specific on
skus (product codes) and it gives them a lot more detailed reporting than what they had
seen before on systems they’ve used in the past.
“The POS (Point of Sale System) is going to be a very handy item!”
DOLLAR STORE SERVICES vs. GOING WITH A FRANCHISE “A lot of times when you buy into a franchise
you are pretty much committed and you have to really make sure before going into it that
it is in fact going to work. The dollar store business is a good business to be in because
it doesn’t require a lot of labor, and the products can always be changed where you see
the needs in your community. What’s great about it is Dollar Store Services
will show you the way! They help you from the time you show an interest in opening a
dollar store to the time you open your doors and then they are there throughout the entire
life of your business offering support, ideas and consultation. And you know what is also
great is there are no royalties or advertising fees that you have to pay with a franchise
business. I love the concept of
the dollar store, the flexibility they offer and all the services are fantastic. They have
just helped us tremendously and it has really enlightened our future as far as giving us
a different opportunity than what we are used to having with the franchise businesses that
we own now.