RETAILER FEATURE
Updated signage on the front of the building is just one part of Post Commissary’s recent remodel.
Inside, the store now has wider aisles, more organized assortments and a more cohesive look.
From the Ground Up
Blish-Mize Helps Post Commissary Expand Its Store
Expanding on History
Originally established in 1858 as a
Settler’s store, housed within the old Fort
Garland, Post Commissary served the sur-
rounding area with everything an Old West
Settler could need.
When the Martinezes first took over
ownership in 2001, they didn’t make too
many changes to the store’s retail layout.
But last year, Bill and Matt decided it was
time for some major updates.
“As we kept adding more and more
inventory, the existing space we had just
got more and more cramped,” Bill says. “It
was not well merchandised, either, so we
would have to dig through products to find
them for customers.”
The best solution was to make their
building larger. However, being a 155-year-
old store comes with its set of challenges.
Located adjacent to the Fort Garland
Museum and Visitors Center, the store
is an historic landmark in the southern
Colorado community, so when it came to
making the store larger, making any struc-
tural changes to the original building was
out of the question.
Instead, the brothers decided to build
on to the existing structure. Both Bill
and Matt worked in home construction
prior to buying the store, and, with fam-
ily members’ help, set upon building the
4,800-square-foot addition themselves.
An Updated Look
As soon as they made the decision to
expand early last year, Bill and Matt called
in their long-time distributor, Blish-Mize,
to help stock and reset the store. The Blish-
Mize team sprang into action with the
Retail Merchandising System (RMS) pro-
gram, one of the company’s best tools for
helping its customers find the best product
mix for their stores, and then display it in
a way that captures each shopper’s atten-
tion. In the case of the Martinez brothers,
the RMS process involved developing mer-
chandising and store layout plans.
The expansion plan called for a much
more open concept to appeal to the store’s
majority d-i-y customer base and to keep
shoppers from going out of town to buy
hardware items. Wider aisles; more orga-
nized assortments; a brighter, more cohe-
sive look throughout the entire store; and
updated signage on the front of the build-
ing also were planned to draw in custom-
ers, Bill says.
From initial project conception to
completion, Blish-Mize was there to help
move inventory and assist with updating
the store’s layout.
“Blish-Mize helped us from the begin-
ning, and without their help and without
the services they offer we wouldn’t be in
the position we are with this expansion,
and for that we’re grateful,” Bill says. “It
has always been clear that they are eager to
see us succeed as a business.”
A
s owners of one of
Colorado’s oldest
hardware stores,
brothers Bill and Matt
Martinez understand the
value of preserving a legacy
of delivering best-quality
products to customers.
That’s why they decided to
align with long-time industry
veteran, Blish-Mize, when
it was time to make some
big changes to their store’s
historic building.
8
Spring 2014 •
Hardlines
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