Article

Three specialty stores that stand out from the pack

When times are tight, experience counts more than ever. Here are three small retailers with singular in-store experiences.

June 4, 2009

As we've seen in recent months, a significant number of retailers have been on a cost-cutting binge to deal with the economic downturn. Among the cuts has been a reduction in the number of people working in stores, resulting in less interaction with customers and a deterioration in the quality of customer experiences.

Over the last ten years many national and regional chains have placed a great deal of emphasis on improving the customer experience in their stores. Retailers like Bass Pro Shops and Cabella's have built dozens of visually dynamic stores around the country with the goal of delivering a memorable experience.

In an attempt to compete with Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue and others have taken steps to deliver a better customer experience. All of these efforts may turn out to be wasted as some of these same retailers cut costs, eliminate staff and rely on price-driven promotions to bring customers into their stores.

Fortunately, there are a group of retailers who believe that providing a delightful experience for their customers is an essential part of their business — regardless of the economy.

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Jungle Jim's International Market

One such store is Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield, Ohio. While there are thousands of food stores in this country, there isn't another food store anywhere quite like Jungle Jim's. First, it is big — really big. While most supermarkets are from 30,000 to 40,000 square feet in size, Jungle Jim's is an astounding 300,000 square feet.

Within those 300,000 square feet, Jungle Jim's offers a tremendous selection in every category. This includes 1,600 varieties of cheese, 1,200 imported and domestic beers, 1,400 varieties of hot sauce and 32 different kinds of rice in bags up to 50 pounds. Among the things that delight customers most is the broad variety of foods from all over the world, including meats and produce along with packaged foods and canned goods.

Instead of displaying all of this in a boring, warehouse-type store, Jungle Jim's is among the most visually dynamic and interesting stores anywhere. There's a forty-foot boat in the fish department, a full-sized fire truck on top of the hot sauce display, an authentic ricshaw in the Chinese foods department, a horse-drawn carriage in the meat department and many more visual treats.

Estes Ark

Another store that delivers a great customer experience is smaller but no less dynamic. This store is Estes Ark in Estes Park, Colorado. As you drive into Estes Park along Highway 34 and look to your right at the city limits you will see what appears to be a replica of Noah's famous biblical ark. This particular ark is an amazing toy store that is filled with stuffed animals, with an emphasis on teddy bears.

Inside Estes Ark, merchandise is displayed with an old-time nautical theme with rope netting, some stuffed animals displayed in wooden barrels, and stairways with rope netting along the sides. The merchandise selection runs from armadillos to zebras and from the tiniest toy teddy bears to full-sized collectable teddy bears.

This is a store that truly delights people of all ages while providing an absolutely memorable customer experience.

The Junkman's Daughter

Atlanta's Little Five Points neighborhood has long been home to some quirky interesting businesses, including a unique group of restaurants and stores. Among the most interesting and unique of these stores is The Junkman's Daughter.

The store's departments include apparel, jewelry, gifts, shoes, art, posters, household goods and costumes. But that doesn't really tell the Junkman's Daughter story.

Yes, the store sells apparel but the selection includes lingerie that one might wear as an undergarment or as an outer garment; wigs in colors that include shocking pink, a lovely lime green and of course purple. There is equally provocative vintage and new apparel. I kind of like the shocking pink fur-covered dressing rooms.

The shoe department includes thigh-high boots; shoes and boots with heels far larger than the three or four-inch heels one might see on the street these days; and some of those colorful oversized shoes that clowns wear in the circus. The shoe department is up a staircase that looks like a giant red high-heeled shoe.

Also available at Junkman's Daughter is a wide selection of posters to decorate your home or apartment; beaded curtains that are often associated with college apartments and dorm rooms; and more quirky, bawdy and outrageous merchandise that you can imagine. Oh, and yes, there's a selection of smoking paraphernalia.

How to describe the store, its merchandise and its design? Funky, cool, unique, interesting, entertaining and outrageous. It is a customer experience unlike any national chain store.

George Whalin is the founding partner of Retail Management Consultants based in Carlsbad, California. He is the author of the new book "Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America," from which this article is adapted.