ONCE UPON A CHILD: MANKATO, MN
Owner: Renee Reich, discusses her Winmark journey
How did you come to own a Winmark franchise?
I bought my Once Upon a Child store in 1999. The franchise was owned by Grow Biz at the time which is now Winmark. (That’s how old I am!!!). The operations of the stores and the inventory we carried has changed vastly over the years!
I had visited Once Upon a Child stores for things for my own daughter, who was 2 years old at the time, and was interested in stepping out of the employee role and wanted to be my own boss. I considered the opportunity and it was a great fit for my family! There was an open territory in Mankato, so we took the leap of faith. Here I am still owning and running the day to day almost 23 years later!
What is one thing you know now that you wish you had known when you first opened your store?
There are too many to mention! I have learned so much from all the franchisees that I have met and the many Field Operations Managers that I have had. I don’t think I would have survived without all the great input and advice from everyone involved. We have evolved and implemented many changes and upgrades over the years. One thing that I have learned and had the greatest success with is managing advertising and social media. When I first started, I didn’t put enough dollars and effort in that area. Advertising is not where my strengths are so my key managers manage my social media along with J Miller Marketing.
Have you implemented any new tactics to keep your staff motivated and to help with employee retention?
I work very hard at promoting positive reinforcement with my staff. I feel it motivates them more than always pointing out the negative. I have had problems with phone use, so I installed a charging station that the employees can plug in their phones while at work. It has kept them off their phones and they are fully charged when they leave! I have also started a contest where they compete for the “Hustle Award”. The employee who puts in the most effort and works quickly and efficiently gets a gift card at the end of each week. They seem to enjoy that and I have seen some improvement with people being less sluggish. I also have a bonus program in place which we have actively used for several years. We set sales and buy goals for each month and post those so everyone can see them. If we reach those goals, each employee gets a bonus added onto their paycheck according to how many hours they worked in that month. It also encourages them to pick up open shifts.
How has the partnership with JMM benefited your business?
I have been working with Jennifer and her team for most of the 23 years that I have been open! I can’t say enough great things about this company! I have worked with the most talented and friendly people here and really appreciate the efforts they put into making advertising and social media work for my store. They are always on top of the latest trends and are great at taking charge of what needs to be accomplished. I absolutely hate dealing with advertising, so your people take that off my plate. They save me so much time and frustration so to me it’s worth every penny! They have been by my side and helped my store grow to what it is today! We made 1 Million in sales for the first time in 2021!
