When you’re launching a fleet of convenience stores or reimagining grocery store interiors, saving time and money is essential. So is preserving customer loyalty.
There are a lot of moving parts in a retail renovation. You have to select the vendors for your new store design. You need to identify the companies who’ll manufacture your store decor, including displays, wall graphics, and retail signage. You also need to know who’ll be responsible for installing those interior elements.
Even within the relatively small footprint of a c-store, and even for companies with past store renovation experience, the process can be daunting.
When selecting vendors, price is almost always the number-one concern. Most purchasing departments are adept at shopping for the best deals. There’s a natural inclination to choose vendors who can provide the best prices for drafting, decor production, retail signage fabrication, and installation.
But is price-shopping and vendor-hopping really the best way to get the job done right the first time?
Store Remodeling Delays and Disruptions are Expensive
Store closures and construction disruptions are costly. Today’s consumers have plenty of options, and the less downtime there is in your stores, the more likely you are to keep their business.
When trying to get the most from a project budget, ordering from an offshore store fixtures manufacturer can seem like a budget-friendly strategy. Unfortunately, post-pandemic international supply chain disruptions are showing few signs of abating.
That means your grand opening can be delayed while you wait (literally) for your ship to come in.
Strategy #1: Ordering from a vendor based in North America can prevent delays that push customers to your competitors’ stores.
Renovating a Store: Does it Take a Village?
On the face of it, ordering decor, displays, and fixtures from multiple vendors can seem like a cost-conscious approach. Vendor A is willing to give you that sweet deal on signage, and Vendor B offers good low-cost options for store decor. You’ve found reputable general contractors in each of the cities where your stores will be relaunched.
But purchasing is only the beginning.
- How will you track the arrival of the various pieces and parts?
- Who’s responsible for tracking them? The project manager, the purchasing manager, or the general contractor?
- Where will the decor items be stored while awaiting installation?
- How will the general contractor find what they need when it’s time to install?
- What happens when a decor item is backordered, damaged, or simply doesn’t show up?
- What if the measurements are off and that massive soffit graphic doesn’t fit in all the stores?
When you consider the potential for chaos, it becomes obvious that the seemingly practical “it takes a village” approach to store renovation is full of needless complexity.
One-stop store decor manufacturing in the U.S. is actually a budget-friendlier way to remodel stores.
Over its 50 years in business, King Retail Solutions has developed the capabilities to manage retail renovation projects from end to end. This “full service” single-vendor approach may sound more expensive than the “village”, but at KRS it’s not.
Value engineering is always part of the process, not something that’s done once an estimate exceeds budget.
Strategy #2: Consolidate drafting, fabrication, and installation with one multi-capability vendor.
Advantages of Working with a One-Stop Retail Store Decor Company
- You get exactly the decorations and fixtures you need for the physical plant. Brand colors are matched exactly.
- You can work with KRS’s talented in-house designers, or we’ll fabricate the designs that you bring us.
- You can select the best materials for the application. Is wood or metal better for that display case? Which is more durable? More affordable?
- Your decor items will be inventoried and warehoused off-site. No managing deliveries, or losing boxes.
- The store decor will be delivered and installed by an experienced crew specifically trained in that exact process.
- If anything is damaged, it’s reproduced and replaced quickly.
Expert Planning and Execution Aren’t a Luxury.
So you’re ordering your store decor elements from a US company. You’ve consolidated your purchasing. What else will get your project across the finish line with your sanity intact?
Excellent project communication.
We believe clients should have continuous visibility into milestones. (You shouldn’t have to wait for a weekly progress report to learn about a problem.) You deserve daily updates and total, buck-stops-here accountability from your vendor.
Multi-unit retail remodels are complex. We begin with a super-accurate, 3-D Site Survey of all locations to ensure that each decor element we manufacture will fit the specific store for which it was created. This also enables us to conduct virtual walk-throughs, which help keep everyone on the same page.
KRS uses a special software system to track every single deliverable and inventory item. And each client is assigned a dedicated project team with a single point of contact. You or your project manager won’t be bombarded with messages from the “village”.
Strategy #3: Make Excellent Communication a Top Priority.
A successful c-store or grocery store remodel is not just about getting the design right. It’s about getting it done on time, and preventing needless disruption for your employees and customers.
And it’s about making it all work within your budget.
And the pride of opening the doors to your updated, refreshed, and enticing new stores? Priceless.