The next time you are visiting your favorite apparel store, smell! That’s right, stop what you’re doing and take a long sniff. Notice anything of interest?...

When you pause to think about it, a “Moment of Truth” is just that. It’s when a customer comes into contact with your store (or business) and experiences your level of quality...

Quick – in language that speaks to donor benefit, what is unique, compelling, and clearly distinguishes your store(s) from your competitors? Go ahead . . .

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review had this to say: "Our research into the role of marketing strategy in brand performance indicates that companies are paying too much attention to short-term data and not enough to..."

"Nonprofits have to recognize that they're businesses, not just causes. There's a way to combine the very best of the non–for–profit, philanthropic world with the very best of the forprofit enterprising world. This hybrid..."

Considering a retail thrift business? Impressed with the opportunity to make money while simultaneously helping your clients? Excited about the chance to do your part in reducing...

A nonprofit executive I met recently asked how he could get his board of directors to buy into the idea of starting a retail thrift business. He characterized his board as totally...

He had been with us only a short time when one of my vice presidents exclaimed, "Mission requires margin!" Though most of us in management have probably heard this tidbit of wisdom, I for one, had never...

Quick – for every dollar of gross revenue, what percentage do you pay in wages? This number should be tip of the tongue for every thrift retailer. In their informative book, Start and Run a Retail Business, James E. Dion and Ted Topping suggest...

Unmanaged time is opportunity lost. Distinguish your store with accountability in this all–important area...

I don't usually position myself to overhear conversations, but recently I did so. Two managers were discussing their store performances and I wanted to hear what they said. Both were excitedly exchanging percentages of sales growth and speaking of the bonuses they were sure to get at the year’s end. That's when I moved in for a bit more of the conversation...

We all know that our store's walls give us some of the best returns per square foot of retail space. The vertical dimension catches our attention...

It's ok to say it: the economy is depressing! You can't help but see these ominous warnings wherever you look...

It was a few days after Christmas. Some of the toys that our children had received where already broken or lost. We were all wearing new clothes. The four of us sat down for a good old fashioned game of Old Maid...

Well–run staff meetings provide a number of benefits for any organization, retail thrift stores included...

Here is a scenario that is all too common with nonprofits: it's the last month of the fiscal year and somewhere in the bylaws (we think), it's time to nominate our Board Officers...