Brenda Burch Dumont's Blog

The 'A' Team

Much has been written and reported on about Champagne & Lace in Abbotsford, BC.  Check it out here -

www.champagneandlace.com

Their tagline is ‘The Glamour Centre’ and its a perfect description in a nutshell of a magical independent retailer in a growing bedroom community of Vancouver in the bridal gown and party dress business.

Their success is legendary and most of us in BC (yes, the whole of BC) and many in Western Canada can recall a favourite dress they bought there for their wedding, a graduation, as mother of the bride, etc. etc.  I’m told by my many nieces (I have 14) that live scattered across Western Canada that trips are planned to Abbotsford especially to buy those amazing graduation dresses.

Abbotsford is growing fast, but when Champagne & Lace was established in 1986, 24 years ago, it was, well……………. a sleepy town in the Fraser Valley created as a place for the dairy farmers to buy flannel shirts and gum boots.

Now that I’ve set the scene – here’s some extremely solid tips on retaining staff learned from Gerri Charles who is the owner and visionary of Champagne & Lace.

• The first retention tip is admittedly hard for every independent retailer to adopt and that is Gerri herself.  She is a one-woman phenomena.  I served over ten years ago with Gerri on the then BC Retail Merchant’s Association – now Shelfspace – and her enthusiasm for the retail industry, her eyes-wide-open thirst for knowledge, and her outgoing, downright sparkly outlook is infectious and genuine.  She is creative and innovative personified.  We occasionally shared a room at retail industry events and I wonder if I’ve ever laughed harder or enjoyed myself more.  Most importantly, Gerri had and has an unusually keen understanding of the importance of her employees.  In a time when high turnover was considered just part of the retail business in Canada, Gerri talked about ‘loving’ her employees to death.  Gerri herself is Champagne & Lace’s biggest asset and the key to the retention.
• The picture above best illustrates the second point which is employee recognition.  Without a doubt, Gerri carefully, carefully recruits new employees and thoroughly and consistently trains them.  These are important components of retention, but the recognition, in big ways and in small ways, has the group in the picture serving for over 10 years each! (Gerri is the beautiful blond in the back row second from the right.).  After ten years you get a diamond ring (they call themselves the Diamond Divas), but everyone got red mittens to celebrate their special Olympic promotion during the Olympics, each employee accompanies Gerri in rotation to industry events, and when a vendor comes in to show ‘new wares’ its a party where all employees opinions are sought and considered.  New ideas that work (like carrying tiaras) the originate from employees are richly rewarded.  If at all possible, employees personal schedules are carefully considered when scheduling is done.  I’ve met many of Gerri’s divas and they exude that special ‘ownership’ vibe.  They don’t see their work at Champage & Lace as a ‘job’, its a career and its theirs.
• The third point is just good retailing, but also plays an important role in employee retention at Champagne & Lace and that’s way-over-the-top customer service.  Recognizing that buying party apparel or anything to do with a wedding is hugely important, (and occasionally emotional and intense) everything is done to work with the customers in a cooperative, equal-footing basis.  There’s the fun stuff – champagne is ofter served at a wedding ‘consultation’, the staff often put on impromtu ‘fashion shows’ for the guests (oops, customers), the full accessory lines of shoes, gloves, tiaras, stockings, etc. make it easy to provide the whole deal for the client.
• Champagne & Lace is not only a good place to work, but a place you can be proud to work.  The company regularly donates to local charities, Gerri and some of the Diamond Divas give of their time to charitable events in Abbotsford, and as mentioned, the company has been recognized consistently for its 24 years not only for its excellent staff recognition/retention but for overall sales, merchandising, and innovation.

For a few more pictures of the staff enjoying what they do, check out the ‘About Us’ section of the website.

I love good independent retailers and Champagne and Lace is one of the best!

Filed under:
Retail, Retail Companies by cobblehillgarden