The Gray Cat Blog
A comprehensive collection of blogs designed to assist small business owners and multi-unit operators.
“Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!” – – from The Treasure of the...
Recently, I celebrated my nineteen-year anniversary as a management consultant. It has always been a life-long dream of mine to be on my own and in 2004 I realized that goal. I had spent some...
“Oh, what a tangled web do parents weave, when they think that their children are naive.” – Ogden Nash
Children have been marketed to for years. Retail industry titans have...
When it comes to managing a profitable operation, knowing your key financial drivers of the store is paramount. Developing a “Four-Wall Analysis” is a helpful tool to better...
Labor management is perhaps one of the most fundamental aspects of running a profitable business. Servicing the customer with too few people on staff and sales will be negatively impacted as...
Upon opening their first store, many single-store operators come to an often premature conclusion that they are going to franchise. While this may be a noble end-game goal, what is often missing...
Eureka! A new product is born!
Created in your kitchen or the garage, it is your dream, your vision. It’s your baby. Now what? How does one go about selling the product through the retail...
“Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs the T-shirt. Spaceballs the lunchbox. Spaceballs the coloring book. Spaceballs… the flamethrower!...
As you have probably gathered from reading my other articles, I am a firm believer in planning for success. Whether it is operational excellence, de-branding a store or outlining your procedures...
Real estate site selection can be a complex web of evaluating store attributes within a potential store trade area. The process utilizes both a science and an art to the overall...
There comes a time in every multi-unit retailer’s business cycle that they want to launch a new product that requires a reconfiguration to their store. I am not talking about a...
It was the situation that everyone dreads. Out of the blue, the anxiety-filled request was made – the CEO had summoned me to his office. Thoughts raced through my head – mostly bad...
