Know your niche

What are the challenges of leadership?

We're not necessarily going to be affected that much by what's going on in the financial area today. The Lima area and the areas that we're in, unemployment seems to be pretty steady. But we're continually fighting the minimum wage increase, increases in [Workers' Compensation], increases in the cost of carrying an inventory.

Is the minimum wage something that's a big deal for a business like yours?

It is for our smaller stores. For our bigger stores, we're OK. For our smaller stores, where our sales are limited - in Ottawa and Van Wert - they're being affected by layoffs, floods, so our sales were having a tough time in those towns. And every year the minimum wage is going up. It's just a very difficult environment and everyone's sales are going to suffer, including ours.

How do you move your business forward?

We're a mature business. We're in the business of satisfying our customers. Going forward, we're not going to grow. We're actually a little bigger than we'd like to be. So it's a matter of continuing to service our customers with reduced sales. We don't anticipate layoffs.

How do you keep your associates motivated?

We're fortunate being a Hallmark Card Shop. There's just a lot of people who like to work at Hallmark Card Shops. We hire a lot of high school and college kids and the parents like their children working in a nice environment. It's kind of a happy environment. We're selling feel-good products.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

Actually I'm retired, but I still help out where I can. My son is the president of the company now, but it's just fun and it always has been to run the best stores we can. He has the same philosophy, and we just all pitch in and do the best we can.

How does the current downturn compare with other challenges you've faced in your career?

I think our biggest challenge is going to be this year, next year. You have rising wages, falling sales. It's kind of a disaster pattern. But in the last five year's we've concentrated on reducing debt, we have our debt in a good position. We expect to come out of this fine.

Is there anything you've done to compensate for how things have been?

We haven't done a thing. We like what we're doing and it's the only way we know to do it. And we feel it's the best way. There's things that can be done, but we're just not going to go that way.

Does being well-established help you ride it out?

Yeah. We have a clientele that likes us, and hopefully they'll continue to shop our stores. And being mature, we know what we need to do, so we're not starting from scratch.

You mentioned that you sell feel-good products. Is that something one cuts out in hard times, or is it something that people might go ahead and buy because it's going to brighten their day?

Most of our products are inexpensive. Most of our customers are going to continue to do exactly what they've done. They're not going to change. The news has totally overdone the exposure on how bad everything is in my estimation. I don't necessarily think that applies to Lima, Ohio, although we're seeing cuts in the administration. Sales tax is down, less income is coming in, but it's not a disaster. It's just things they have to deal with. Everybody's got to deal with it to a point. But they're not going to change that much and neither are we.

Any advice for someone looking to open a business?

They need to take their time. They need to know what the costs are, wage costs. They really need to take a good look at everything, or they are not going to survive.