The Gray Cat Blog
A comprehensive collection of blogs designed to assist small business owners and multi-unit operators.
Running a small, start-up business has it share of ups and downs. When I launched my company nearly twenty years ago, running my own small business has been both rewarding and challenging. It has enab...
In the convenience store marketplace, margins continue to tighten on core products such as candy, snacks and tobacco. Prudent operators are attempting to stem the tide by introducing foodservice items...
What is your branding game plan?
Not the branding media schedule – that is just part of it – but rather, your overarching strategic decision-making game plan on all of your branding initiatives? Most...
You own a bunch of stores all varying in size and age. Over the years, product assortments and sets have come and gone and you have ridden certain designs into the ground. Each of your stores needs a ...
“The nice thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.”
— John Harvey-Jones
Truer words have never been spok...
Budgets are tight, but you need to move top line sales – fast! What is a quick and easy way to expand your customer base? Partnering with noncompeting retailers to help your broaden exposure is a simp...
The winds of change can happen suddenly.
One of the worst days of my life was learning that my mother had a stroke at the age of 58. I was 23 at the time and was hardly prepared for a shock to my fam...
Nobody saw this coming. Â
Just two months ago, we were in our eleventh year of an economic expansion; unemployment was at a 50-year old low; and March Madness was right around the corner. Then the b...
Gift cards continue to grow leaps and bounds allowing retailers that have implemented a program for their stores to reap vast benefits. In fact, total spending on gift cards in 2023 is expected to sur...
The fight for share-of-customer by retail stores to effectively capture sales has never been fiercer. Retail stores that sit back and wait for their business to improve will have a very long road to r...
Well, we didn’t see that coming!Â
How many of us would have predicted that for the better part of two years, the entire planet has had their professional lives turned upside down due to the COVID-19 ...
Conducting a diagnostic store assessment is an excellent way to gain opportunistic perspectives for your location.  Walking through and evaluating your store – from the eyes of the customer – can prov...
