Principle One:

Celebrate small. There is nothing wrong with small. We know we could fit 53 Tropical Stores into one Wal-Mart. But we don’t want to be Wal-Mart. We want to be the greeter, the cashier, and the one who thanks our customers for their purchase. We want to be the ones who hear the laughter of customers as they read a funny greeting card, listen to the “oohs” and “aahs” over our colorful tropical merchandise, and see the smiles on their faces as they find the perfect gift.

Principle Two:

Listen. We don’t just mean listening while our customer is at the register, but while they are wandering through the store. While some might call this eavesdropping, we think of it as an opportunity to fulfill a yet to be communicated desire. For instance, when we hear customers chatting to each other about their love for seahorses, we make a mental note of every seahorse for sale in the store so when the opportunity comes up, we are ready to place the customer in front of their desires.

Principle Three:

Communicate constantly. We see communication as a way to exceed expectations. We call our customers when new products come in, email them when we have our in-store parties, hand out our post cards at every opportunity and communicate with our online customers constantly.

Principle Four:

Focus on the unique and the new. We know shoppers are savvy and that we can’t compete on price alone. We shop our big box competition and inventory merchandise that they don’t carry. And if they do start to carry it, we close it out. We provide unique merchandise, price it fairly, and service our customers beyond their expectations.

Principle Five:

Make customers part of our sales team. Our customers know that “mom and pop” stores struggle to compete in this “biggie sized” retail environment and they want to help. We provide our “sales team” with our post cards (stacks of them if they want) to spread the word about their shopping experience.

Principle Six:

Be an expert on our community. We all know that an advantage of being part of a Main Street community is that our communities are full of “ah ha” experiences. Great restaurants and shops, historic landmarks, beautiful places to walk, and local entertainment venues. We make a point of knowing it all.

Principle Seven:

Turn every transaction into a relationship. Big Box stores rate their cashiers on how fast they can process a transaction. We would get fired on the first day. We want, whenever possible, to extend our face time with our customer. Do they want to know when our next in-store party is? Would they like to be on our email list? We use this essential time to develop long term relationships.

Principle Eight:

Extend our customer relationships beyond the front door. We are an 800 square foot store that serves the entire population of the United States and 22 countries. Our online store (www.thetropicalstore.com) gives us the opportunity to extend relationships with our customer no matter where they live.