Two Minute Tweaks w/ Lisa Uhrik

This week we  build on last week's tweak, The Daily Dose. As an owner or manager, how do you invite, excite and entice people in your store? In this episode, Lisa explores creating "buried treasures" in your store – little things designed to bring big results.

Today Lisa explores the idea that your store should have something that your customers need a daily dose of – a renewable necessary treat. Whether it's an actual special treat, a beverage, a newsletter or a Wordle-like game, we're thinking on ideas that become part of the fabric of our (and our customers') daily lives. 

A malfunction of our city's storm sewer leads to the flooding of our beautiful new store before opening. In this episode, Lisa shares what she’s learning in this experience and offers takeaways for you, should you be faced with a store disaster.

Franklin Fixtures recommends having at least 10% of your store's shelving be feature faceout shelves. Tried-and-true research shows that what you face out SELLS. There is no storage space behind a true faceout shelf, giving the title a feeling of specialness and scarcity. 

We're feeding and growing the spirit of hope and community with bookshelves inspired by well-known folks in our Cookeville community. Listen as Lisa shares how we're getting our community involved.

In this week's episode, Lisa confesses that after years of teaching others the mechanics and techniques of merchandising, pattern languages and displays, she was left feeling paralyzed and lost when trying to implement them herself in her own bookstore, Plenty on Spring.  Listen as Lisa describes the steps she took to step outside of her immediate, overwhelming problem, and how you can take those...

This week Lisa shares how you can make each shelf sing, from top to bottom. When successful, and your shelf's story really reads top to bottom, then you won't be selling just from the middle, you'll be selling from the bottom (line – ha!) as well. 

Two inspirational quotes plus an honest reflection about learning more only to learn there is so much more to learn. Join Lisa as she reflects on what she's learning on the journey to open Plenty on Spring. 

All the best shopping connections are at waist height. In this tweak, Lisa talks about how we missed having enough waist high shopping in our new store, Plenty on Spring, and how we plan to correct our oops. 

Our new phrase is "Count on me" — we are actively practicing the art of interdependence while opening not one but two bookstores. Click to listen about our continued new-store journey!

The more we see – the more quickly we comprehend what we're seeing – the more likely we are to touch and engage. Lisa details an experiment on visual organization with clear data on the benefits.

Find ways to save your energy and increase your effectiveness. In today's tweak we explore one of the 8 types of waste, as identified by Lean Six Sigma, movement. 

Today we're talking about the importance of touch, which is especially important after going through the absence of touch for a time. Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy, writes that people are 73% more likely to buy something they touch. Let's create those touchable displays!

This week we're taking a slight detour and starting a journey together where Lisa shares what she has discovered while on the path to starting a bookstore. We hope you find some nuggets of helpfulness along the way.

How do we do storytelling in displays and connect that with our event strategies, social media strategies, community building strategies and partnerships?

Tap into and claim the power of a good curated museum in your bookstore.

We humans feel good when there's something in the middle of a space … what's your something that's roughly in the middle of your store?

In this bite, Lisa describes her waist high experiment at a local silent book auction, followed by her discovery of the waist high pattern in Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language. Click to listen to her experiment's results!

There can be no community without communal eating … In this bite, Lisa helps you think of ways to share food and drink together in order to create culture and find community.

Republic, broken down, means becoming public again. Never has this been more true than now, as we emerge from the pandemic. And Indy bookstores are at the heart of this idea of becoming public again.  

A bite-sized lesson from Disma & Hope helps remind us to focus on the good and productive -- to focus not on the problems but rather the possibilities.

Looking at approach and entry, touch points and service methods that keep us all safe AND extend sales, we’ll explore practical ideas for customized implementation. Emerge with a plan of action that you feel is solid. (Converted from a workshop video.) 

Shelving and fixtures are the bones of your store. Planning a strong internal structure isn't something you can skip over. This 13 minute podcast (converted from one of our YouTube videos) focuses on helping bookstore owners understand and select their silent workforce: fixtures.

Host Tiffany Anton, Biz Foundry Director, interviews Franklin Fixtures co-owners Dave and Lisa Uhrik about their choices, challenges, celebrations and hopes as partner entrepreneurs. In this unscripted dialogue, conversation flows from unexpected romance to economic development to a love of supporting people and communities in sustainable ways through the manufacture of display solutions for speci...