JMR Chalk Garden

We asked Debbie to tell us about JMR Chalk Garden and their success with Retail Pro.

Tell us about your stores.

Debbie: We sell mens and womens clothing, shoes and accessories. Our customer base is young men and women between the ages of 15-25. Our stores are located in malls. The stores are approximately 1,500 square feet with about 6 employees at each store. Our specialties are high-end jeans and other fashion trendy merchandise. We pride ourselves in selling items on "the cutting edge."

How long have you been using Retail Pro?
Debbie: JMR Chalk Garden started using Retail Pro in 1991.

How do you think Retail Pro has affected your POS and inventory control?
Debbie: I think our POS and inventory control has been improved. Each time an upgrade comes out, Retail Pro is fine tuned even more. It is easier for us to pin-point problems. With Retail Pro, we can easily locate when inventory/sales are wrong. We can find the problem and quickly fix them. Each morning we know the sales and inventory from the day before by store, vendor, style, size, and color.

What do you find are the most useful aspects of Retail Pro?
Debbie: I am working more and more with the purchasing side of the retail business. The purchasing feature of Retail Pro is my favorite part, because it allows us to keep track and control of our orders. We get information on what we are receiving, where it is going, and where is it selling the best. We can tell if an item isn't selling well in one store and transfer the item to another store where it will sell. We get information on the ordering, reordering, and sale of each item. The ability to communicate from store to store and get information from all 5 stores is great!

How do your employees like working with Retail Pro?
Debbie: I try to make sure that our employees are "on their toes" when using Retail Pro. I make sure that each store is using it the way they are supposed to. They are learning that Retail Pro helps them personally, because it helps keep track of their commissions and sales. We are in the process of teaching our sales people to look up their sales per day/per hour. We want them to learn how to do the intricate things rather than just how to do an invoice. This may give them the incentive to work harder, because they can see their progress and whether or not they have reached their goals. This has made our employees more productive.

What future plans do you have for your stores?
Debbie: I think we will be adding more stores in the future. We have five stores and as Utah grows, so can we.

How do you think Retail Pro can help you achieve these future plans?
Debbie: Installing Retail Pro in another store and training the staff will be very easy. It is quite simple to figure out even if you don't have someone there to show you how it works. I speak from experience. I walked into this company not knowing anything about Retail Pro and was able to figure it out on my own. Many aspects of the store can be operated through Retail Pro. Without Retail Pro expansion would be difficult.

How do you think Retail Pro benefited you financially?
Debbie: I think Retail Pro has been cost effective for our company. We keep up with the upgrades which keeps us up-to-date with all the new features. These new features continue to give us control of our sales and inventory. This is very important to us, because we have so much inventory and it is very detailed. Retail Pro helps our purchasing and improve our sales, because it tells us what we are selling, where we are selling and what the trends are. We can capitalize on hot sellers and parlay them into big profit centers because we get detailed information so quickly.

Thank You.