The Big Move - Was it Worth It
A review of the past year
Our big move has prompted an oft repeated question. "Was it worth while?"
As a community based business we consider our consignors and customers to be partners; so we feel it's important we share what's going on in the store. You've clicked this link so we're assuming this may be interesting to you too!
Since we took over the business in 2013, the number of sales we're doing has progressively increased at a rate of about 15% extra each year. The chart above shows an increase of 35% for the whole of 2018 (including the first quarter at our old location). In the 8 months that we've been at the new store, year-over-year business has grown a whopping 55%, however.
Of course our costs are higher too, and we invested a small fortune renovating our new space (at least by our standards) , so we're technically poorer not richer (and having to work a lot harder and hopefully smarter). That said, we believe the move was important to secure the future of the store. We feel growth is good for the community and the business in the long run.
So overall was it worth while?... A resounding yes. We feel we're on the right track! It means more hours for our employees, better selection and quality for shoppers, and faster and better returns for consignors.
A huge thank you to consignors for helping us meet the additional demand and for working with us in improving the quality of consignment. We know this has been a difficult transition. Your efforts have been been instrumental to this success, and we appreciate your unwavering support throughout the year.
2018 - The year in review...
2018 was a big year of change for Play It Again Kids. We went from being a destination store with lots of small rooms and stairs...oh so many stairs...to our spacious, newly renovated space, in a prime walkby location.
We were able to customize our layout to address all the design challenges we had in the previous space, and this has really helped the flow of our operations.
The physical separation of consignment from sales simply works better for customers and consignors, making us way more efficient.
We made a conscious decision to reduce the time from receiving product in, to getting it out on the floor. We are now reaching out to more visitors in Nelson, as well as customers who may never have considered shopping consignment before. Walk-by traffic is naturally higher, and our dedicated play space is also a draw for families with young kids.
All of these factors have led to some marked increases in sales during 2018.
Here are some of our key successes over the year:
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In 2018 annual revenues reached a 200% increase compared to when we took over the store in 2013
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In 2017, in the months August to October we had 10 high performance days. In 2018 we had 34 such days in those months!
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We received the Kootenay Business Magazine's, Best of Business Gold Award for 2nd year running for Best Children’s Store in the West Kootenays
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We added way more new products this year from carefully selected companies and local artisans (giving consignors even more great options for spending their credit in store) and giving us more control over what we supply.
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The chart below shows how local parents are increasingly able to use earned credits from Play it Again Kids to buy things for their little ones. It also shows how this jumped considerably this last year...
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In 2018 we put almost $80,000 back in the pockets of local families! This compares to just $45,000 4 years ago. Way to go consignors!