Contents
Your Competitive Edge
pg. 4
Blish-Mize offers you dependable
inventory and reliable delivery.
Retailer Feature
pg. 8
Read how Blish-Mize helped the owners
of Post Commissary with their remodel.
Retailer Feature
pg. 14
Learn how Blish-Mize worked to give
A&H Building & Supply, Inc. a makeover.
Market Preview
pg. 18
Find new opportunities and big savings at
the Blish-Mize 2014 Spring Buying Market.
SmartBook
pg. 28
Use the SmartBook to make the most of
your time at the Market.
Retail Pricing
pg. 30
Learn how the Retail Pricing System can
help you develop a strategy designed
specifically for your market.
On the Cover:
Bill Martinez of Post Commissary in Fort
Garland, Colo.
THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Advertising Information
Hardlines Strategies
is published twice every year
by Blish-Mize. Copyright 2014. For advertising rates
and deadlines, please contact:
Blish Connor
Blish-Mize
223 S. Fifth St., Box 249
Atchison, Kansas 66002
Toll free: (800) 995-0525
(913) 367-1250
(913) 375-2505 (cell)
(913) 367-0667 (fax)
e-mail:
Blish-Mize isamember-owner
ofDistributionAmerica
Smarter Retailing
Y
ou put in a lot of time to keep your business
running successfully. In any given day you
could spend hours ordering inventory, adjust-
ing prices or developing new merchandising displays.
But with limited time and unlimited demands on
that time, are you being as productive as you can be in
improving your operation? Are there ways you could be
working more efficiently?
At Blish-Mize, we’re here to help you make the most
of your time and become more profitable, productive retailers. That’s why we
developed a set of strategic tools to equip you with all the information you need
to make the smartest business decisions.
The first tool is our SmartBook, designed to take the work out of preparing
for our Buying Markets. Within the SmartBook, found online and in print,
you’ll find individual preprints by participating vendors. Listed first are “Market
Featured Items,” followed by any new items added in the past year from that
particular vendor.
Following those two key areas of information will be items you’ve purchased
from us in quantity order, largest to smallest. This information is based on your
out-of-warehouse purchases from the last year, followed by ordering amounts
over the next three- and six-month periods. The last page summarizes your total
possible savings for the three and six months’ purchase amounts.
As you will see, our new SmartBook is a “smart” new tool to ensure you’re
taking advantage of the best pricing and terms available during the Market.
Read more about how the SmartBook can help you on Page 28.
When it comes to pricing, Blish-Mize is equipped to help you set smarter
retails with the Retail Pricing System (RPS), a benchmark retail you can use as a
guideline for your market. Learn how RPS can work for you on Page 30.
In conjunction with the new SmartBook and Retail Pricing System, you can
also use the sales data already available to you through the Annual Review
Reports your Blish-Mize sales representative has prepared and reviewed with
you. It includes all your Blish-Mize purchases in 2013 compared to 2012.
Your representative will also review with you the full range of programs and
services we offer to make sure you’re not missing any opportunities.
Many of you are already taking advantage of the tools Blish-Mize has to offer,
with impressive results. For examples, read about two recently completed store
resets at Post Commissary in Fort Garland, Colo., on Page 8 and A&H Building
& Supply, Inc. in Humphrey, Neb., on Page 14. Both turned to Blish-Mize to
develop new store layouts and merchandising plans. Now that the transitions
are complete, we continue to help keep their operations running smoothly.
Another Blish-Mize customer, Steve Belshe of Richland Hardware in
Richland, Mo., was recently recognized for his outstanding achievements in
retail. Belshe was presented with an Estwing Gold Hammer award for his 50
years of service to the industry. Congratulations to Steve and his team for his
continued success.
Let us help you make the smartest business decisions. Take advantage of all the
opportunities Blish-Mize has to offer. We’ll see you at the Spring Buying Market!
Jonathan D. Mize
CEO and President
Hardlines
Strategies
•
Spring 2014
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