Restocking parts store after fire proves challenging

Our parts store and warehouse burned June 6, 2013. What a journey this has been. Many of the things we have gone through I have shared with all of you in previous articles. Dealing with insurance companies, city code, county code, state code, fire marshals, inspectors, utility companies, and the onslaught of contractors and deadlines.

I feel like I'm giving an acceptance speech for having won a Grammy, not wishing to leave anything out. But I did, alas, all of my suppliers and the effort we now shoulder in regards to restocking, building and erecting shelves, displays and general merchandising.

Before I continue, let me first say, our new store is beautiful inside and out. In years past, during new store set-ups, after the basic infrastructure is set up, we hurriedly ordered a massive amount of inventory, and slammed it on the shelves and slapped it on the displays. It was never perfect but at least the task was performed quickly. We would always make adjustments later. Right?

Once a gondola or end-cap is full of merchandise it rarely gets moved. The same goes for other display shelving and your warehouse shelving. So, with a beautiful new showroom and a virgin warehouse floor, we thought we'd be gentle, thoughtful even, as if handling a blushing new bride on the night of the honeymoon. That being said, much forethought is required to encourage, coax or promote the desired outcome.

So we decided to focus our immediate effort on the showroom before we began erecting shelves and displays. Our plan was to get all of our hanging assortments and hang-tab merchandise hung on the wall. Why? Well, that's where it should be. On the walls. Not hanging on gondolas that have shelves for placing and displaying merchandise that won't hang. Not lying on other shelves in the showroom, or in a 'designed' pile cluttering up the counter. Worse, not just hung up on a pegboard wall in various non-sensible locations because it's the only place it'll fit, or the only bare spot in the room. To undertake such a task requires discipline, diligence and one ultra important item that we overlooked and took for granted.

Peg hooks. Copious amounts of peg hooks. No problem, call the warehouse, have some peg hooks shipped in on the delivery truck. Guess what, no warehouse that I deal with for supply of inventory stocks any peg hooks! In our case they are the most overlooked thing in the store. One of my suppliers was gracious enough to send us some used peg hooks to help stave off our hunger, but upon opening the huge duct taped box that looked like an army of silverfish had used it for covert maneuvers, I realized this gift of peg hooks had to have been used to hang items that originated from the Island of Mis-Fit Toys. What an eclectic mixture of twisted metal.

My store manager, Josh, chuckled, and said, “those look just like the ones we used to have before the store burned.” Sweet Mary, he was right. After 20 years in the same building, with the same showroom that had undergone so many changeovers, renovations, substitutions, dis-continuations, and overlooked obsolete clean-ups, my walls before the fire had to have looked like the smile of a large-toothed alligator in need of braces. It took three days of frantically searching for a peg-hook fix to arrive at the conclusion our re-boot would not be complete unless we invested in all new peg hooks.

Where, oh where do you think I had to go to find peg hooks? And more importantly, why don't two of my suppliers (whom happen to represent two different huge independent program groups) keep a reasonable stash of peg hooks?

I bought my first batch from Amazon. I was sick as I consider Amazon a manufacturer-subsidized competitor and hate buying anything from them. When my warehouse representatives arrived, I pointed this little fact out. Much to my chagrin, they miraculously and speedily rounded up a bunch of new peg hooks. I think they didn't want me to check Amazon any more fearing I'd discover they have a huge assortment of automotive parts as well with suspiciously low pricing. Too late. We all know what’s going on there, but I digress.

Neat new peg hooks really make your stock look a lot better. Uniform. Un-bent. Minus the 1.5 inch layer of pricing stickers that never get peeled off, and never fully cover up the old price sticker. By the way, the warehouses don't keep new catalog racks either. Mine will be here in four to six weeks as I refused to buy a cheaper one from Amazon. At least they matched the free shipping.

Subscribe to Aftermarket Business World and receive articles like this every month….absolutely free. Click here.