Two Minute Tweaks w/ Lisa Uhrik

Just as a captivating book hooks us from the first chapter, our bookshops can captivate visitors from the moment they step inside. Plenty Downtown Bookshop uses an innovative dice game to creatively engage customers. This unique approach adds an element of surprise and enhances the shopping experience by fostering exploration and discovery. Join Lisa Uhrik as she explores how this small, yet impac...

We've been talking with a lot of people who are rebuilding after losses – and we want to help. This special edition of the Tweak is focused around Franklin Fixtures as unique assets with hopes of giving a workable strategy for all the rebuilders, as well as those looking to expand their operations. Three strategic insights, three paths to financing and one or two good ideas are all packed into thi...

It's a tiny word with a big mind shift: home.  We've long adopted the third space mindset, but Mindy Massey's use of a different word took it further and gave Lisa pause – and a useful insight for our bookshops. Click to listen now.

Omnium rerum vicissitudo — holding Edsel Fords Cufflinks and Leonard Snart's wisdom, Lisa Uhrik reflects how PLENTY Downtown Bookshop, during their second relocation in as many years, faced unexpected challenges during renovation and re-opening operations, and how the bookshop team embraced flexibility and improvisation to overcome obstacles.   Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to g...

Like Mr. Fred Rogers, you're creating a special sort of space for your neighbors. And there are three specific things you're doing that he did too. Let's think for a moment together about those things – listen now!   Audio credit to Fred Rogers and PBS, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

Join Lisa Uhrik as she shares an inspiring story of a real-life Christmas miracle, and reminds us that each of us has the power to move things — fences, mountains and hearts.  What are your fences that need moving in 2025?

Inspired by Robert Putnam's book Bowling Alone and Netflix special Join or Die, we're exploring the reason we'll likely have no Christmas parade in our small town this year... and importantly, underscoring the vital importance of the small gatherings we facilitate as bookstores.  As we navigate a world where traditional community bonds are weakening, we are reminded of the power of connection and...

Peter Miller's Shopkeeping book inspires a look at the way we greet each other in the bookshop. We all are subject to falling into our routines and this is perhaps the most profound tweak yet, rooted in the simplicity of a real "I see you" greeting.  Let this episode inspire you to foster real relationships and enrich the experiences of everyone who walks through your doors. Listen now!

As we think about and offer help to our colleagues hurt by Hurricane Helene, it's a moment to take stock of those things we don't think about every day: insurance, fighting for our rights, and how to get the payouts when we need them. Click to listen now!

If Indiana Jones went for the Holy Grail and found it in a heap of other stuff, it wouldn't seem nearly so worth the quest. Let's look at the power of creating feelings of specialness and scarcity in your displays this week with a great example from Madeleine Moore at Powell's Books.  

Inspired by the  NPR article on DJ Johnson's Baldwin & Co, we're thinking about telling the story of your store today. How is it possible for a person in TN to know so much about a store in NOLA – to know their story, their initiatives, their whys?  It's rooted in great storytelling, and inspires us all to think about our uniquely wonderful store's stories. Click to listen now!

A book display that is for everyone, is not really for anyone. We create powerful connections when we design for a specific person – or persona – that is your focus customer. Learning from an expert in persona identification, apply some simple techniques and identify your target person so that your display can really connect.

After seeing many great stores with some hungry-looking bottom shelves, Lisa brings attention to this valuable space with proven strategies that bring hope (and sales!) to the bottom. The key is visibility and connected content that sizzles. For visibility: if you've got Franklin Fixtures, you've likely got a the superpower of a tipped bottom shelf, or even a flared or tapered case, all designed f...

Join Lisa Uhrik in this week's Two Minute Tweak – a small shift in thinking that hopefully has a big result in your store. Though I cringe when I watch someone default to Amazon to order a book in the middle of a conversation, my hope and belief lie here: We're different. We are as different from that A store as fast food is from the best farm-to-table restaurant. Grokking that deeply leads to rad...

We're wrapping up the three-part series on shelving standards with a look in the middle of the floor, where we may see a lot of white paper edges from face-up books. We can do better. Waist high still counts, and so do all the visuals.  Listen now to continue the Shelving Standards exploration!

In part II of this "Shelving Standards" mini-series, let's explore what stops your customers from going all the way. What inspires the most casual browser to stop about one-third of the way in and leave? And how can standards help with that? We're looking particularly at floor fixtures and a tiered display in this episode, with three keys to success. Click now to continue the Shelving Standards ex...

Join Lisa Uhrik in the latest edition of 'Two Minute Tweak' and step into Brookline Booksmith with an overview of Lisa Gozashti's shelving standards – the specific "rules" that she uses to produce sizzling display on every shelf. Be inspired, start considering your shelves as your canvas, and master the art of display with this enchanting episode. P.S. You may want to play this one a few times as...

In part one, we were omitting signs that distract. Now, we're talking about writing that thing that can ONLY come from you. Something scintillating. Something that is charged with your energy and your experience. We're bringing good writing into our signs – worthy of the good stories on our shelves – and enhancing the experience for every friend and customer. 

We're exploring two principles of signage in our bookstores. In this first episode of two, we're editing the signs by reducing the quantity and helping people keep their focus on browsing and learning, rather than discarding and deciding. Join us on this journey of constant adaptation and discovery – where retail rules are bent and a whole new world of connection and creativity awaits!

Rather than measuring retention, here is an offering of four questions that may better define staff success today. We're building on our understanding of the sansdemic (without enough people) and how that has shifted so many things about our work with others. 

Each of our stores has a flame — an intangible essence that gives it unique life and meaning. And just as we might work to keep a physical flame going, our daily work in bookshops is rooted in tending this flame. Being in touch with the hearth — and the heart — of our store is such a rich way to begin each day. And it is where each day of display... each event... each cash flow report... starts. ...

Today's episode provides insights into an effective and simple method of analyzing your store's visitor journey using a low-tech heat map. Join host Lisa Uhrik in the latest episode of the 'Two Minute Tweak,' where she explores this idea and her thoughts about "putting the milk in the back of the store." 

What would happen if we looked at our bookshops like a publisher looks at a book? Take a mental walk through the store with me and let's consider how the things that we know so well about the best books can help us in crafting the best bookstores. 

Many of us lament our lack of display space in our book spaces. We know that when we elevate something and make it special it moves quickly into the hands of a happy customer. But what if we thought about this differently? What could happen if we think of our shelves as fixtures -- a kind of extended staff member -- and we consider it ALL as display?  

We're exploring a book club pick that is making a difference in the way we approach relationships: David Brooks' How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. It's a small and subtle shift that can make a big difference in your store. Click now to listen to this timely tweak.