Back-to-School shopping has become a huge event with big deals and sales to lure in all those parents and children to buy new clothes, school supplies, and anything else they might want (I once saw a “Back-to-School Sale” sign on an end-cap filled with wine!)

No matter what kind of retail you’re in, you can capitalize on the BTS craze, too—but to a different crowd. You need to get a hold of your teachers.

When we closed Toy House last December we started pulling all the old display racks, spinners, free-standing shelving units, etc. and put them out for sale. It was amazing to see how fast they got snatched up. It was also somewhat surprising to see that almost all of them ended up in a classroom.

I had teachers buying them. I had teachers sending in their spouses to buy them. I had teachers texting teachers about them. I had teachers coming in asking if I had any more of what their fellow teachers had bought.

You have old racks and displays cluttering your limited warehouse space. Don’t throw them out. Take some pictures and send out an email. Have a BTS Fixtures Sale just for your teachers. Not only do you get rid of clutter and make some money, you also make a classroom teacher happy by helping her organize her cluttered classroom. Plus, by getting rid of the old fixtures, you make your store look fresh and new. It’s a win-win-win!

FYI—teachers are setting up their classrooms right now. You need to jump on this idea right away.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Don’t think for one second that you don’t have teachers as customers. Don’t think for one nanosecond that your regular customers don’t know a whole bunch of teachers. They’ll spread the word fast enough if you let them know soon enough.

PPS We had most of our fixtures priced between $25-$50. Thirty dollars seemed to be the sweet spot. Since you likely got most of those fixtures for free, think of it as found money. And don’t ever think, “no customer would buy that piece of junk.” One person’s junk is another person’s treasure. We sold a lot of racks I never expected to sell.