The man with the plan

Or, you could just contact Perry Upchurch. The veteran gift store consultant has been righting wayward retail ships and turning potential into profits for a variety of stores for more than three decades. When Nicholson-Hardie, the “talk of the town” upscale garden center in Dallas, came calling nearly two years ago, he decided to expand an already impressive resume to include the garden center market.

And the rest is hi$tory.

Upchurch, who has created retail environments for the gift and home décor market since 1969, has a list of credits that ranges from practically every “here” to virtually every “there” you can imagine. The first project, the opening of 55 Shops of John Simmons franchises, ultimately evolved to a focus on independent retailers and corporate stores, such as Kirklands.

In the process, the job description ran the gamut: designing/opening/servicing stores, planning promotions – the works. “This led to creating syndicated catalogs for gift operations and wholesale lines to serve the gift industry,” Upchurch said. “After that, designing independent retail operations, wholesale showrooms, and working with overseas manufacturers to create giftware items and lines became the evolution.”

The road to Dallas. Upchurch’s four-year stint on Koh Samui, a small island off the eastern coast of Thailand, spawned an interest in the tropical plants, trees and orchids that were used to enhance the multi-million dollar villas he was promoting – and eventually a move to the garden center market, specifically to Nicholson-Hardie.

“I was enjoying a simple life on that small island 11, 858 miles away and a 48-hour trip by air,” he recalled. “Finally, we obtained e-mail ability and I received an e-mail from Mary Ann Day, who had recently been advanced to gift buyer for Nicholson-Hardie.” She told him she was experiencing a 30-percent increase in sales and wondered if Upchurch was ever interested in coming back and if so, interested in helping her keep the momentum going.

“We had been friends for years,” Upchurch said. “I invested in a ticket back to the U.S.A. and to Dallas to visit with Mary Ann. I met with the owners, Michael and Josh Bracken, and we established an immediate rapport. Also, the store manager, John Allen, seemed to like my ideas and energy.”

Upchurch worked with the N-H officials for a few weeks and persuaded them to repaint the 30- year old, faded-yellow walls with a “deep taupe” color to make the product alive and make the space have fewer boundaries to the eye. They loved the results and continued painting. “We made a deal to work on the gift area over time, on a part-time consulting basis,” he said “We established a display concept that allowed us to put all stock on the sales floor (no stock room). We’ve been successful, and it is because of the teamwork involved and the spirit of the team and staff.”

Upchurch said giftware and home décor sales at Nicholson-Hardie have grown from around $580,000 to more than $2 million in the less than two years he has been consulting for the garden center. The success, he said, was keyed by working closely with the gift buyer and the ownership, who have been supportive of the ideas presented to boost this area of business. “We’ve created a new look for the exterior,” he said, “ a new shopping bag approach [design], and a new fixturing concept that was economical, but fit the ‘garden center’ presentation and that is very, very flexible for all seasons of the year.”

Upchurch said the normal garden center has to display things low and horizontal. “We go vertical for our displays within the gift area,” he said, “and focus on strong lighting and focus in this area.”

In the process of changing the look/presentation, the store has seen its giftware margins increase by about 15 percent overall – “a huge profit potential for all owners.”

The ‘Blending Approach’. One of the staples in Upchurch’s philosophy is what he calls “the blended approach.” One of his wholesale showroom clients gave him the title of “chief blender” because he could take so much input from so many people and come up with something that made most people happy. “My style is to investigate the successes of a business over time and to blend them with the new ideas I might consider to be workable for the operation,” he said. “There is no reason to reinvent any wheel, but to add traction to any progress. With Nicholson-Hardie we were able to work together as a team and generate a very lavish business that performs daily – in spite of the weather, the season, or the reasons.”

Nicholson-Hardie had a 110-year history to explore. “We had computer systems that had been in place for 15-20 years with many things already established and difficult to alter easily,” he said “We took that backbone and worked to present merchandise in clever ways, then adjust systems to match the needs of the expanded volume. This momentum leads us daily to new changes to meet the needs of a growing business. Again, a cooperative team effort is to be applauded.”

Smart strategies. Upchuch said the Nicholson-Hardie success story is achievable practically anywhere – provided you follow the “map.” “I think having a great professional buyer, and using ‘perception pricing’ are the keys to a huge success, along with financial support to the growth, along with an upbeat leadership by the consultant,” he said. “We approach everything as an experiment. We plan the product and merchandising well in advance. If we need to alter the exposure, we do. If we fail, we eliminate the test. If we succeed, we figure ways to grow the area. ‘Perception pricing’ is where we toss out all formulas for determining retail value and assign a value when we purchase the item, and plan the actual merchandising of that product.”

Naturally, some items require very simple margins, but many can be “upgraded” perception-price-wise when combined with other enhancing items. “This is what I mean by having a ‘professional buyer’ and not just a relative or family member acting in that capacity for the store,” Upchurch said. “We plan for this to be a big part of the overall sales daily, not just an add-on department.”

Upchurch said gifts and plants generally are complementary parts, so the challenge is simply finding a way to make the most of both in the store’s purchasing and merchandising scheme. “Gifts and home décor are a natural add-on purchase for someone interested in plants,” he said. “We only have 3,800 square feet in a 20,000-square-foot location. Lifestyle presentations of all types enjoy accessories and décor. We expanded this to include photo frames, candles, fragrance, casual entertaining, wall décor, sculptures of all sizes, garden décor, and many other types of products to enjoy in the home and in the garden.”

The store now also sports “fashion” for men and women, along with soaps and home care products. “We built a checkout gazebo that houses a massive amount of impulse merchandise that is geared to the season and to the customers,” Upchurch said. “This has expanded our business and made the checkout process a very profitable area and experience. Our customers even stop to thank the owners for new look and expanded areas.”