Episode 9: Passion and Perseverance: Danny Reynolds on Running a Retail Business Since 1931
In this episode of Main Street Matters, host Terresa Zimmerman sits down with Danny Reynolds, the leader of Stephenson's, a family-owned clothing store in Elkhart, Indiana.
Danny is a passionate advocate for the retail industry, and when he’s not at the store, or working in New York’s garment district, can often be found in Washington D.C., advocating for retailers across the country. He has been an outspoken champion of the recent Credit Card Competition Act, a bill that aims to reduce credit card swipe fees, for retailers of all sizes.
Join us as Danny shares insights on navigating the evolving retail landscape, the importance of community engagement, and why a personal touch remains crucial in an increasingly digital world. This episode offers valuable perspectives for both seasoned retailers and those passionate about preserving vibrant Main Streets across America.
Key Points:
-How Stephenson's founded in 1931 and now spans three buildings on Elkhart's Main Street
-How Stephenson's evolved from a women's dress shop to a full-service clothing store, including menswear
-Why building relationships and providing personalized experiences important in customer service
-How to balance traditional methods with digital innovations
-Community involvement: Supporting local causes, including the "United for Fashion" cancer fundraiser
-Retail challenges in the digital age
-Danny's work with the National Retail Federation and support for the Credit Card Competition Act
Featured in this episode:
Danny Reynolds, Stephenson’s of Elkhart
Elkhart, IN
https://www.stephensonsofelkhart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/stephensonsofelkhart/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/stephensons-of-elkhart-inc/about/
Other mentions in this episode:
Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce - https://www.elkhart.org/
NRF – National Retail Federation - https://nrf.com/
NRF - Credit Card Competition Act - https://nrf.com/blog/learn-truth-about-credit-card-competition-act
NRF LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-retail-federation/posts/?feedView=all
https://www.instagram.com/nrf/
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Host - Terresa Zimmerman:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/terresachristensonzimmerman
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Full Transcript:
Danny Reynolds:
When you're making those decisions, you really don't know if they're the right ones or not. And, you know, you can act like you know what you're talking about and know what you're doing. And maybe sometimes with some experience you do. But most of the time, you know, you're going on gut.
Terresa Zimmerman:
The store's been around since 1931. So you've had to change with your customers. And how do you ensure that you're making the right changes?
Danny Reynolds:
We have core parameters. It's the customer service. It's top notch fashion and style that they're not going to find. elsewhere, but never forgetting who we are.
Terresa Zimmerman:
This episode of Main Street Matters is brought to you by Wood Underwear, Marchesi Jin Frati neckwear, and Inspiro Tequila. I'm your host, Terresa.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Welcome to Main Street Matters. I am joined today by Danny Reynolds, the leader of Stephensons of Elkhart, Indiana. Welcome, Danny.
Danny Reynolds:
Thank you, Teresa. So glad to be here.
Terresa Zimmerman:
We're going to jump right in and talk to you about the store. So please tell us about Stephenson's.
Danny Reynolds:
All right. Well, Stephenson's of Elkhart obviously is in Elkhart, Indiana. We're kind of the northernmost tip of Indiana, just a couple of miles from Michigan, about 90 miles east of Chicago for reference, right next to a little Catholic college called Notre Dame, actually. And we've been here on our town's Main Street since 1931. So we're celebrating our 93rd anniversary this year. I know I don't look a day over 92. But yeah, we've been at it for a while. We actually started as a 1000 square foot appointment only dress shop in the 30s. And we served Elkhart's upscale female clientele for a lot of years. Personally, my parents, through a long story, got involved in the early 1960s came in eventually bought it and through the years kind of expanded in every direction. So I grew up a retail brat, and I actually, no real intentions of getting in the business as a kid, didn't want to, did not want to. I was destined to be a rock star, so all I really needed out of clothes was the right stage outfit. But it came in in 1994, and I've been here ever since. We now occupy three buildings, opened up as the one big one on our town's main street. We take up, I think, about 15,000 retail square feet. and we're having a blast doing it.
Terresa Zimmerman:
How did your parents get involved?
Danny Reynolds:
So my parents are actually from Lafayette, Indiana, the town of another well-known university in our state, Purdue University, where I have a son and send a lot of money right now. And right out of high school, my dad went into the army and got sent off to Germany. My mom got a job doing window displays at a store called The Fashion in Lafayette. Through a series of events, the owners of that store had bought Stevenson's because the original A couple, Norm and Esther Stevenson, that started this store were ready to retire. And the store up here was struggling. So my dad got out of the army, came out, and took a job at the same store in Lafayette and was doing a great job managing it. So the owner essentially offered him the opportunity, or my parents, the opportunity to come up here and run this store. And so the rest, as they say, is kind of history.
Terresa Zimmerman:
That's amazing. So you probably grew up working in the store, even though you didn't plan on making it a career.
Danny Reynolds:
I absolutely did. Yeah. So I'm the youngest of five. Every one of us got to do our time in the shipping receiving department. We knew all about sorting hangers and steaming dresses and acid wash jeans in the mid eighties.
Terresa Zimmerman:
And the less glamorous breaking down boxes.
Danny Reynolds:
Oh boy, you got it. You got it. That's right. So yeah, before I like to say I've been wrapping gifts down our gift wrap department, since I could see over the gift wrap table. And we'll probably get into this a little bit more later. But one of the most exciting elements of the whole thing for me is that my daughter has now come into the business. She grew up in it 100%. And unlike me, she knew from the time she's about four or five years old, this is what she wanted to do. And She has retail running through her veins and has the brains that I never did, so together we make a pretty dangerous team. But she knows the business inside and out, so it's fun that we get to work together through this.
Terresa Zimmerman:
That's amazing. So you didn't design that then, that she would have that passion?
Danny Reynolds:
No, obviously, you know, there are many young ladies that if dad's in the clothing store, especially emphasizing women's special occasion, that's going to appeal to probably a lot of young girls but she was here and you know my fear is as you probably know this from the outside this business could sometimes look a little bit more glamorous than it is especially the pretty dresses, the special occasion, the prom and bridal highlights and the buying trips to fashion week in New York and all the things that people see on the outside but as you know retail is a little grittier on the inside It's a lot of work. It's six and seven days a week. I'm never really on vacation because we're kind of very involved in our community. So everywhere we go, people know who we are and like to talk to us about who we are and what we do. So there's just a lot more to it than what may meet the eye. very consciously wanted Lily to understand that. Yeah, we have some fun. We get to do the buying trips and all that kind of stuff, but there's a lot of work. So as I said, she's been here helping out, wrapping gifts, doing things like that since she was a kid. She's 20, just turned 24 now, and I like to say I'm training my replacement.
Terresa Zimmerman:
That's great. I love to hear it. I love to hear that there's passion in it from the next generation. Maybe she's the next after the next.
Danny Reynolds:
I think honestly in this business, probably any business, this is the only one I know about, I think passion is the only way to survive.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yes, agreed. Well, so you mentioned a little bit about your community. Who do you serve? Is it largely that base around Notre Dame? You mentioned the universities.
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, so you know, we certainly see people from there, maybe more faculty than students, but that is not a large part of our customer base. So our business is kind of, I guess you would say divisional for lack of a better way to put it, our bridal salon. Obviously, it's all under the Stevenson's umbrella, Stevenson's roof, but operates a little bit independently, just because that business runs differently than ready-to-wear, so to speak, does. So, to talk about who our customer is really probably depends on which element of the business that we're discussing. Bridal, for one, Bridal is an interesting business. It's a very expensive business to be in. It's high overhead, it's low turn, but it is a business that people will travel to. So our customer base kind of expands when we talk about where do our brides come from. We really serve a 300 mile radius and we're looking at where we are that obviously we're in Indiana, we're moments from Michigan, we're an hour from Ohio, we're an hour from Illinois. So we can really serve a four state, radius with our business model, especially the special occasion end of things. So the interesting thing about that, so I'll back up a little bit, as I came into the store professionally in the mid-1990s, 1994 as it were, you know, things were changing in retail. Retail was going through a tough time after the booming 80s. This store had really some of its best years in its history during the 80s and during the 90s things were changing. Retail was going through a tough time. The large mass retailers, the Walmarts of the world, were really moving into towns and changing dynamics and things like catalogs this thick were landing in people's mailboxes and so mail order was really becoming a thing. The Internet was really kind of still a distant dream but I think those of us in the business so early what that could possibly mean obviously nothing is gonna drop it would be what it is in our world today but we saw the writing on the wall so we can decided that for a business like ours to survive we really had to have a niche. a reason to be. And I think that's probably the case again with most businesses. So we kind of really started focusing on special occasion because that is something that people will still travel for. They still really want that experience. And if there's one thing that Stevenson's has always been about and we will never compromise, it's that customer service experience. I think it's the only reason we're still here. We treat our customers differently than the big guys are really able to do. So the bridal salon, and even before that, the prom business is really a great way to introduce people to the Stevenson's way of life. So it's a great way to bring in customers. Also, this I usually say off the record, but since this is a professional conversation, I'll go ahead and say it. We like to joke that brides are kind of like wolves. They travel in packs. So they, a bridal business traditionally is busy at times of year when the other rest of the business may not be so much. So, this is a way to bring groups of people into the store and really, again, kind of expose them to what we have to offer in our way of doing things. So, even though Bridal in and of itself only represents about 20% of our business, its scope is much larger because mom needs a dress, sister needs a shower dress, cousin needs a rehearsal dinner dress. So, you know, you can see how quickly it can reach out into other areas of the store.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, honeymoon outfits and then they end up knowing your entire clothing line.
Danny Reynolds:
And so we hope to turn them into lifelong customers. That's the goal. And that's something we work hard to do. Logistically, it's easier said than done. Sometimes tracking down brides after they change their last name and move is not always the easiest thing to do. But it's something that we're always working on.
Terresa Zimmerman:
OK, well, Danny, you're sitting in a men's section, not a bridal studio. So I see 1931 in the back and 1931 men's is on your site. So how did you get from bridal into the men's business?
Danny Reynolds:
Mostly, I needed a place to hide from the women. This has been probably about 12, 13 years ago. A friend of mine in New York, who we do a fair amount of business from his women's section, kept telling me how good his men's business was. I'm like, yeah, well, I don't know men's. That's just not our thing. And he said, you should try just a little capsule, do a little Father's Day blowout kind of thing. Back then it was polo shirts and cargo shorts and see what happens. All right, how bad can it hurt? We did it. The stuff sold to the piece. So then we bought a little more, bought a little more. Next thing you know, we have a men's section and it just kept selling out. One of the things we really noticed for us is that we're selling at that time 90 plus percent of it to women. A lot of times, wives will do the shopping for the husband. That's not something he's interested in. And in our case, she's here anyway shopping, so she'll do some of the shopping. So anyway, 2019, we really just decided to go full on into men's. We opened a men's department, and that's where I'm sitting now, 1931, named after the year the store opened. And the reception has been phenomenal. We have way exceeded our expectations in sales, and it's just been a nice little additional traffic driver. I'm proud to say that we really have our own male clientele now. Wives still do shop for the guys, but some of them have discovered what we have to offer. and are coming in here now. So it's exciting, it's fun, and I still love the women's side of the business, but I've joked for years that it's kind of a young person sport, the buying part of it, and I'm getting old. So this being all new to me, and me after all these years, I am finally the demographic, it's kind of fun to do this and, you know, buy what I like. And so far anyway, it's worked out that the other guys have kind of liked it too. In our little trading area, there are a handful of more traditional men's stores and they're great for the clientele they serve, but I felt like there Like my demographic was a little bit underserved. I'm not really a suit and tie kind of guy. I may wear a jacket if I know I have to look nice and talk to Teresa today, but underneath the jacket's a pair of jeans. So more lifestyle kinds of things that we want to wear every day. And then of course, the pandemic came and now suddenly, you know, even bankers are wearing casual clothes. So maybe in that regard, our timing was decent too.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, and you've got that big Ramones poster in the back and a motorcycle over your shoulder. So have you found your stage outfits? Do you buy according to the stage outfits you want to wear?
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, so I actually grew up riding and racing motorcycles and motocross, and I've been a rock and roll kid, a punk since I was 10 or 12 years old. And I think I alluded to it in the beginning that my goal in life was to be a rock star. And it wasn't until I was probably 18, 19 years old that I had the attitude. I had the clothes. I talked my parents into the guitar. I had stage. I had everything you needed. Except for talent. I can not sing a lick and I'm too ADD to learn how to play guitar Well, you can't see him, but I have guitars hanging around here, dude, cuz I I still have a love affair with guitars, but I can't sit still long enough to get good. So it was actually then that I said, well, if I'm not going to be able to make a career playing my own music, I'm going to play other people's. So I got into broadcasting, radio, which then led to television. And then I ended up getting a degree in psychology and also journalism and ended up a rag peddler. But I like to say I actually use all those degrees on a daily basis in one format.
Terresa Zimmerman:
It is amazing how many skill sets you need to have to run a store, right?
Danny Reynolds:
It's so true. I would not have anticipated that. And I do think, and again, it's probably all business, but the only one I know is this one, but it's incredible how dynamic it has gotten and what is required these days. You know, in the old days of Stevenson's, if inventory was a little heavy on August 27th and you knew fall merchandise was hitting the floor, you run a clearance sale, you put an ad in the newspaper and they're lined up waiting at the doors when you open. Well, it doesn't work that way these days. So it's just all different. You do need a lot of different skill sets. And I remember reading a quote about a great retailer in time. And they said he was a poet and a grocer. And I always kind of remembered that. And then the other one was success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. And those are two that I've always kind of kept in the back of my mind. In other words, you have to be constantly evolving. In this business, if you don't change, you're gone. You always have to keep an open mind and looking for what you could be doing better and differently. That was really easy when I was young. The hard part was convincing the old guard. Now, I'm not so young and I find myself understanding that resistance to change a little bit. My hope is if I stay cognizant of it, I'll stay open. But I love surrounding myself with youth and people with fresh new ideas. And that's why having my daughter here and a couple of other young ladies that work here at the store, they push, they push. And I like that. I think it's a necessity in business.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, well, that that is absolutely somewhere I want to go. It's like, how do you decide what's next? How do you how have you evolved? I mean, the store's been around since 1931. So there's you've had to change with your customers. And how do you ensure that you're making the right changes? How are you ensuring that you're going to have a business to, you know, for your daughter to take over?
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, I've joked. In fact, I was having a conversation with my son-in-law about this the other day that, you know, he's a pilot. So that's a completely different world to be in. And I said, the nice thing about our world is that there's never that thread of a pink slip. You know, we determine our fate. The flip side of that is there are people counting on us. So I think you just have to keep on keeping on. You know, we went, we've been through tough times here. Hey, our store started during the Great Depression, Teresa. So you know, I like to say we were built to last in that regard. But it hasn't always been easy and you know we'll meet with people in the community and they'll say you guys are so lucky you have that loyal clientele and I think I wish it was luck that they just kept coming. We work and if there's a One fundamental difference, there's a lot of them, but one of them between now and let's say 25 years ago is that we work so hard for every customer that walks through the doors these days. And that didn't used to be that way. So you just have to, honestly, you have to evolve and you just have to continue to think of new ways of being without ever leaving who you are and how and who got you to being who you are and where you are. you have to continue to reinvent yourself. And that's something I think we've been fortunate to be able to do, but it's kind of one of those, the harder you work, the luckier you get kind of things. We've had a lot of long days, late nights, early mornings, figuring out what does Stevenson's look like? I tease with my daughter, I'm like, you know, I figured out the last 30 years of retail and grandpa, the 30 before me, that's 30 might be on you in our Amazon world. So, so, you know, what does the future of Stevenson's look like? And that's something We're always talking about, you know, I mean, if we go back to when I was a kid, my dad was in the peak of his career. Shopping malls were taking over and downtowns, I hate to say this, but in many towns, downtowns were dying. Downtown Elkhart had gotten quiet. One of the malls had come to my dad and offered him a lease. And he said, no, we're going to keep our roots downtown. They said, join us or you'll be gone. Well, I won't say that we were happy, but it was an interesting moment a couple of years ago when they bulldozed what was left of that mall. And here we are. So I think you have to stay true to who you are, but always be willing, open to evolve.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Have you defined those parameters? What are those parameters that are grounding you and that you feel like will ground things for the next 30 years?
Danny Reynolds:
Well, our core is that customer service experience that I talked about and building relationships with our customers, calling or these days, a lot of times it's texting people who are busy, who we know may need new things. We're working with them. You know, they like to call it personal shopping. Now we've been doing that forever. We know our customers names. We know their kids names. We might have kids on the little league team with them, you know, that kind of stuff. So, uh, we'll talk a little bit more, I'm sure about our, our, um, relationship with our community because it's a big one. We serve a great community, but we have core parameters. It's the customer service, it's top-notch fashion and style that they're not going to find elsewhere, but never forgetting who we are. Another thing I said for years in my buying days was that we like to take 7th Avenue and filter it down to Main Street, Elkhart. So all that means is that we understand our customer and who she is. And she's not necessarily, she wants to be on trend, certainly, but she's not necessarily concerned about the latest trends. She wants the things that worked for her lifestyle. So know your customer, serve your customer. I mean, those as your foundation are a great start. But I think outside of some basic core parameters, again, You cannot ever be too sad and this is who we are, this is what we do, because that needs to be always changing and you always need to be looking for new. Our business has really seen no less than four plus generations of customers come through here. At the risk of sounding morbid, we always have to be looking for that next generation because I remember early in my career when my parents' generation of friends and customers were starting to retire. They were snowboarding, moving to Florida, and eventually, unfortunately, people die off. We need to be intriguing their kids and turning our generation into our customer. We've done that, but how you do that has also changed greatly, too. Our generation isn't necessarily as loyal. as maybe the prior was. Our culture taught them to be loyal to the almighty dollar. So I think as retailers, we shot ourselves in the foot kind of by force about 25 years ago when we all started pushing sales, sales, sales, sales, clearance, clearance, clearance. as a way to get customers through the door. And then we wonder why they're not coming when we're not having a sale. But to compete with the mass marketers and department stores is something we all sort of had to do. So again, it comes down to kind of that balance, knowing your customer, serving your customer, knowing what you do well, but never being afraid to change and evolve and in the scope of who you are and what you do.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, I mean, knowing which which storms to weather. I mean, you mentioned your dad did it right when he decided not to go to the mall when everybody was going to the mall. I mean, those are those are big decisions. Those are hard to make. And I'm sure sleepless nights saying, did I do the right thing?
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, because you know, like this story, and I've been around long enough to now to have weathered some of my own decisions like that some good, some maybe not so good. And then the part that people don't necessarily understand unless you've run a business is that When you're making those decisions, you really don't know if they're the right ones or not. You can act like you know what you're talking about and know what you're doing, and maybe sometimes with some experience you do, but most of the time, you're going on gut. In our business, again, probably any business, but we don't know. If you take it back to fashion, look at the trends. We can talk about skinny jeans versus wide legs versus flare, you know, whatever it is, things that change every couple of years or seasonally, but you never know what the people are going to go for. So we call ourselves educated dart throwers. I mean, we look for the future by looking back at what has happened in the past. And so you're making tough decisions sometimes without knowing what the outcome is going to be. But we try to do our due diligence. We try to do as much homework as we can. I was raised, I was a military brat, I guess, so I was raised a pretty hardworking kid. I'd like to think I instilled that in my kids. And honestly, at the end of the day, if you're sitting around waiting for it to come to you and waiting for the people to come, it's probably not going to happen. But if you go out and get it, again, the harder you work, the luckier you get.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. A little bit of luck is a lot of hard work. Well, let's talk a little bit about how you do what you do. I mean, is there technologies or techniques or processes that you rely on, you know, day to day or, you know, season to season?
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, there absolutely are. And certainly, Teresa, we've gotten more technologically advanced, although in many ways, we're still old fashioned in how we do things. When I came in 30 years ago, everything in the store from the inventory, you name it, was still being done by hand on paper. And so one of the big early fundamental shifts that I had to convince everybody of was trackable inventory systems and digital POS. And in some regards, you would have thought that I was talking about turning the world upside down. Yeah, I credit my dad to this day, to being open enough to he really stepped back and let me do my thing. Let me make some mistakes. And that had to be hard to do when he knew I was making them. But I think he knew that that's how I was gonna learn how to be a better merchant. But we certainly have evolved over the years. And again, I'm getting to this point in my life and my career now where I'm suddenly becoming the old man. And it's fun to me to be able to watch Lily, my daughter, and her generation and coworkers really be able to take things next level. And I'm so proud when I see her find a way to make Stevenson's work in today's world. And one example I'll give you, and I won't pretend to understand it, you'll probably be able to tell that I can't, but the way that we communicate with our brides. It's all very digital how they find us, be it on our Pinterest page or obviously on our website or social media. Once we get them to our website, We're able to schedule appointments with them. She has put forms on there to find out not only the hard details about when the wedding is and this kind of thing, but also what are you looking for? What kind of dresses do you like? She asks them some questions that now we have information, we have data, we have intelligence on this bride before she ever comes into the store. It helps so much compared to the old days when they would walk in carrying a stack of Modern Bride magazines with bookmarked pages. I'm saying, I want this. Yes, and I remember those days. So then we do the appointment with the bride. She finds her things. We automatically send a follow-up email with pictures of the gowns that she liked. and kind of questions about your experience. What can we do for you? You know, that type of thing. Different follow up questionnaires based on whether they committed to address that day or still on the fence or didn't find anything they want. So again, that's feeding us intelligence back. And, you know, those were the kinds of things that we kind of really had to work hard to try to do and figure out. You never had this level of consistency back in the old days that now that this I'll call it automated, but she designed it all. It's a game changer. And we probably don't have time in this show, because you probably already discover that I'll talk for 24 hours if I let me. But coming out, you know, the pandemic was a very interesting time in the special occasion business, you know, weddings weren't being canceled, but they were being downsized, or in many cases postponed. And we kept working at we obviously weren't allowed to be open, but we were doing zoom calls. Most importantly, we were communicating with our vendors, For better or worse, most bridal merchandise comes from China, and communication and transportation from China was very slow in 2020. So our primary concern is that we get committed brides gowns here. I don't care when the wedding is, we want the gown here in our hands so we're able to have control of things. And we worked and worked and worked. I was here probably because my wife kicked me out of the house after day two of COVID, but I was here daily working on these things, and so was our management team. So coming out of the pandemic, our bridal business was through the roof. We set records 2021 and all of Stevenson's history was our record bridal year. And I just kind of thought, OK, well, that's how it's going to be. And then I start talking to people in the bridal business and it decimated a lot of companies and a lot of stores and a lot of them, you know, weren't able to survive. So I look back at that and I think it was all in sort of how we handled ourselves and our business relationships and communication on both ends, the wholesale and the customer end as we went through.
Terresa Zimmerman:
So feeling a responsibility to your customer to for such a big occasion.
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, you know, and they're more than just customers. You know, it's not like these are people that are coming in here, buying a t shirt and going on their merry way and we'll never see him again. Again, we serve a small community. we serve generations of community. So these are people we know. And you know, it's like, listen, this, again, this isn't just a t shirt, this is somebody's big day. And it's something we talked to our bridal consultants about never ever losing sight. It's easy when you do this day in day out, it can become a business, it is a business. But you can never treat somebody's big day, like a business, it's their big day. And so if you never lose sight of that, treat it like your own, then, you know, you're going to work on it like it is your own and and hopefully more times than not come through for the customers.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Now, does she get her hands on the men's side of the business as well, or are you keeping that as your domain?
Danny Reynolds:
You know, they all come back here and dabble a little bit, but they know this is my baby. I call it my hiding place, but it's really kind of even my happy place. And I guess that's almost why we ended up back here maybe for today's interview and that it's my baby. Like I said, after 25 plus years of buying women's, it's fun doing this because it's different. The customer's different. Again, I'm kind of the demographic. So, you know, in a perfect world as we sort of segue the buying and merchandising to Lily and her team on the women's side of things, I would love to be able to still, as long as they let me, I'll probably still do the men's part.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Do you do tuxedo rentals and stuff for the weddings as well? Yes. So you're serving the whole wedding party?
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, and actually the tuxedo element was really probably our first foray into the men's business. We did that even before we had a men's department. It just made sense from the bridal salon into things, but that has grown exponentially as well, and now we do off-the-rack suits and that kind of thing as well.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, cool. All right. Can you describe to us challenges? I mean, you've you've covered some challenges for sure. But if we talk about, you know, day to day part of your business, I mean, what is what is one of the things that is that you would define as your, you know, your most challenging for you?
Danny Reynolds:
You know, probably the the biggest single challenge that has been there for the scope of my career is just driving customer traffic. I alluded to it earlier, you know, it used to be you run a sale ad in the newspaper and they're lined up at the door when you unlock. That's not the case. So now we're just kind of always looking at ways to swing the doors. And we want to introduce people to that Stevenson's experience by getting them here. We feel like as opposed to a mall store or something like that, we bat a really high percentage. Once we get a customer through our doors. We feel like we do a pretty good job with them, something we're always working on, something we could always do better. But since we focus so much on that experience and the service, we do well once we get them here. But getting people here is a trick. People are so busy, so much going on, and they're so inundated and overwhelmed with information that it's tough to get your word out there.
Terresa Zimmerman:
How do you do that?
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, I made the newspaper joke and that, you know, barely even exists in our society anymore. So it's, you know, this omni channel method of advertising that, you know, you have to be digital and you have to be kind of everywhere to get people's attention anymore. You know, you have to reach them online, you have to email them, you have to hit their social media page, you have to send them a direct mail postcard. You know, by the time the third or fourth hit comes, They go, oh, Stevenson's is having a sale this weekend. But it takes kind of that constant ongoing push. And that's where, for us, it's been a blend of traditional advertising with digital. And so that's why it's nice to kind of have the youthful element here on the team with us, because they understand that better. We understand the traditional side, which isn't dead, but it certainly has changed. That's probably been one of the biggest challenges and issues and just kind of navigating our world through lots of change. And again, Pandemic was obviously a big one. And I joke with Lily many times through that, that if we survive this, we're going to be good merchants. And knock on wood, we have survived that. But even prior to that, retail was changing. I talked about mail order early in my career. Obviously, that became the internet way of buying. And then came our Amazon world in the last 10 years or so. But I saw something interesting happen. When I was a kid, you probably remember this, used to be a pastime. It used to be something that either mothers and daughters or families or friends would go and do. They'd go to the mall, they'd go to walk a vibrant downtown and shop. Well, really, in the last 10, 15 years, that was not a thing. Everybody was so busy, so inundated with things to do that shopping became a hassle. And so we obviously had to kind of alter our business and how we did things to find ways to survive that. But then, you know, everybody's able to shop online. So that's what they're doing. But then COVID came and we were forced to shop online. There was no shopping in stores and that changed things. The novelty of online shopping kind of went away and the hassle of reboxing and returning and all this kind of stuff that costs these stores a fortune and why I've never wanted to do omni-channel retailing, but that's a different conversation for a different day probably. It all just fundamentally changed. And now with something that we've been seeing in the store for really the last two to three years, is that shopping's kind of fun again. People want to do it. They love the special occasion experience. Our bridal parties have gotten bigger, those coming in here to help bride select a gown. But just we're seeing group, ladies groups, groups of friends out. They go out for a glass of wine, you know, at the restaurant across the street, come over here shopping. And that's something we weren't seeing nearly as much of in the last 10, 15 years. That's kind of changed. And to me, that's a definite positive for people like us.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Well, and I think generationally, you know, I remember it was always the story of Oh, look what I found, right? You can't just find things on the internet. The internet is a it's a destination shopping, right? I know I'm going to get this year. So that's where I go. Even if you don't quite know what you're doing on the site, but sites are pretty predictable. So, but you go into a store and it's like you bump into stuff you didn't even know you had to have.
Danny Reynolds:
Right, right. And that's the retail experience. Yes. The retail experience. And that's something that I think we've been able to provide successfully to people. And again, by kind of trying to curate our merchandise mix a little differently than the large stores can do. And something that happened again, I said I wasn't going to go down this trail, but I'll just touch on it. And this whole fundamental shift of retail, when all the major retailers were putting all their efforts, emphasis, and dollars into digital, they really neglected their stores. And I won't mention any names, but you walk into, you know, insert name of national department store here, and at best, they all look the same. At worst, you can tell which ones are just riding out the leases and this kind of thing, because they put all their money into digital. So, to me, that was an opportunity for us to step up, show who we are, offer what they're not willing and able to do, and that really gave us kind of a leg up. And I don't think that's changed too much. I do think the smart retailers of any size, a target or somebody like that who are there's still some smart merchants running that operation. They are starting to understand the power and the importance of their brick and mortar stores. If shoppers are researching online, they're still picking them up in stores. And that gives that opportunity for the add on sale as you alluded to. So I think the importance of the physical store was overlooked for a number of years and wise merchants are returning to it. We never left.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yes, love it. I want to pivot a little bit and jump back to community and the role you play in community. I mean, I can tell just by looking at your website, you guys are very civic minded and you play a role not just in your community, but in the broader retail world. So is there, maybe you can just talk to us about the role that you're playing in those places.
Danny Reynolds:
Well, our community is very important to us, Teresa. I mean, who are we without it? We don't exist. I mean, they are our supporters. And I've always kind of believed in a circular economy of you support your community, they'll support you. And it just, the more they support you, the more you're able to support them. And now suddenly, my hope If I leave a legacy in retail, my hope is that when people think about Stephenson's, they think about what we've meant to the Elkhurst community and what we've done. A number of things, it's sort of countless, the different institutions and organizations we've supported in almost 100 years. Again, from little league teams to you name it, but a handful of things we've been very proud of. We've been involved with Go Red fashion show for the American Heart Association. We started a now very successful fashion show with our local Humane Society and been able to raise millions for them over the years. Probably our most proud initiative is our, what is now called United for Fashion. And it, this started, my mom is a two-time cancer survivor. And as she threw her first bout, this is back in the 90s, was going through treatment, going into weekly to get her cancer treatment. She kept running into customers and friends of the store. And It was really when it really dawned on her how many people this disease was hitting. Well, you know, fast forward 30 plus years and we all know it's even more so. So we wanted to do something about that. And what we've ended up doing, we did some things with American Cancer Society for several years, but we discovered a local organization called Cancer Resources of Elkhart County. They're 100% local. And they are there to help people and their families who are going through cancer, be it helping with a copay, helping with nutritional supplements, or just counseling and advice. And they, just like Stevenson's, are 100% locally owned, operated, and supportive of. And so we said, yeah, that's our organization. So we started this event. We are now in our This is going to be our 16th year doing United for Fashion. All of our models are cancer survivors or walking in honor or memory of a cancer survivor. We have a beautiful theater that was renovated about 14 years ago with an amazing ballroom in it that we pack. We absolutely fill this ballroom. We do this fashion show, this luncheon. We have raised millions of dollars for this organization. It all stays in Elkhart. And something that, it's a proud moment and every year it hits me like a brick wall how neat this event is because every year I get to see these people, these fighters who have survived cancer come together and the relationships and the bonds that they forged with other people who fought the same battle as them. And in many cases, best friendships have been formed through this event. So it's a lot more than just the money we've raised. I think we've helped people.
Terresa Zimmerman:
That's an incredible community build, Danny. That's fabulous. It's a long time to carry that that through.
Danny Reynolds:
That's that's that's been a fun one. And as I said, we've done a lot. We continue to do a lot. You know, we get a lot of opportunities to help in our community, and I wish we could do them all. We can't. But wherever we can, we like to feel like Stevenson's is there doing whatever part we can.
Terresa Zimmerman:
All right, Danny, I want to make sure that we get in some conversation and hear from you about some of the stuff you're more broadly involved with, with the NRF. I know you're involved with some national initiatives for retail.
Danny Reynolds:
Yeah, so I've been working with National Retail Federation for, I think, probably pushing 10 years now. Somebody made the mistake many years ago of nominating me as an America's Retail Champion. And I was actually awarded the prize of being one of them. And I didn't even really know what that meant. But I think it just means that I fight for retail, I fight for Main Street, I fight for business. It's important to me and, you know, this is how we feed our family. So through working with the National Retail Federation, who is an amazing organization, and I encourage any retailers out there who are not affiliated or involved, there's no expense necessary. There's nothing required, but there's a wealth, a load of information out there for you, if nothing else, just to learn from other retailers.
Terresa Zimmerman:
You can put some links in the in the notes for sure.
Danny Reynolds:
So I you know, I think through my years of working with them, we've we've joked that they found out that I'm not afraid to go on camera and tell my story and talk about what matters to retail. I have a history in TV and media. So I'll stand up and make a fool out of myself anytime and So they've taken advantage of that quite a few times and I've actually become kind of one of their small business spokespeople and we've done everything from national TV interviews to did a press conference with two of our great senators on the steps of Capitol Hill last summer and that was for the Credit Card Competition Act, which I think you know, you and I have discussed that something I'm very passionate about. And for those who don't know what I'm talking about, all you have to do is think about those credit cards, surcharges and fees that you're seeing other retailers take if you haven't yourself. And that's because the rates just keep going up, up, up. We really saw it through pandemic when, as I discussed earlier, everybody had to shop online. There were no cash transactions. Guess what? The credit card companies knew they had a captive audience then. So our, like most retailers, processing rates went up 20 plus percent and have continued to do so. And the reason for that, Teresa, is that the credit card processing world is essentially a duopoly. run by Visa and MasterCard. It's a closed system. There are different processors out there and we all use different processors to run our cards, but they all run through the Visa MasterCard systems and they refuse to open it up to competition. I am not a government over regulation kind of guy. I am a free market competition kind of guy because we all know that competition breeds price and we all know by open That's exactly right. So although we're not asking for caps, we're not asking for anything, even we saw what the debit, the Durbin Amendment did for debit cards back in 2011. It costs all of us a lot less to run a debit card than it does a credit card. We're not even asking for that. We're just saying, hey, open this up to at least two competing processors. Other countries have shown it to be just as secure, if not more so. It eliminates any bank outside of the largest 20 in the country, and all federal credit unions are eliminated from this, so it's not going to hurt. Contrary to popular misconception, it's not going to hurt the small banks and credit card unions. They're not involved. It'll open it up, and there are no guarantees, but we know that it will drive rates down to more manageable levels. This has become, outside of inventory and rent, become the third largest expense for almost all retailers in the country. Inventory, we can negotiate on. Rent, we can obviously negotiate on. We can decide, hey, if we don't like the rent, we can move or, you know, whatever we got to do. This is the only large expense in our businesses that we have no negotiating power, and that's just wrong. So the Credit Card Competition Act was started by two senators. I'm gonna leave it with this, because as you can tell, I get passionate. Two senators are the primary authors of this bill. We have Dick Durbin from the Durbin Amendment on one side, and I'm reaching over here with my left hand, because he's known as a pretty, left-sided liberal senator. The other primary author is Roger Marshall of Kansas, who is a pretty conservative right-wing senator. If those two can come together on this bill, I think that ought to tell everybody in America how common sense this bill is. Yeah, there you go.
Terresa Zimmerman:
We'll make sure that we put all the links so people can find out more, too, in both the notes and also the summaries everywhere we post.
Danny Reynolds:
Yes, thank you. Absolutely. And nrf.com, I think will get you there to or Google Credit Card Competition Act. And again, it's something that hits all of us from consumers to retailers, everybody in our society. They have estimated costs of the average family around $1,000 a year that it wouldn't have to in these credit card fees. So
Terresa Zimmerman:
It's crazy. That's phenomenal. All right, so we're running out of time, and I don't want to take up more of your time than we need to, because you've also got a business to run. But a couple of final questions. One is, if you think about the future, we talked about this a little bit already. The biggest thing you think you're going to face in the next, I don't know, 2, 3, 5, 10 years, and how are you preparing for it today?
Danny Reynolds:
That's a difficult question. I think the easy answer would be it's the same as we've been facing for the last 90 plus, and that's change. The day I said it before, the day you're opposed to change, you're done. So I think you have to stay observant and open-minded and ready for whatever the world brings you next. And I also joked about me doing the last 30 years and my daughter the next, I think that's going to be our and then her big challenges. You know, it's the question that I've asked for years is where does Stevenson's fit or live in the retail world? But the larger question is, what does retail look like? I mean, I would love to know all of your viewers or listeners answers to that question. What does retail look like over the next 10 years? I mean, consider retail of the last 10 years. Who of us could really ever guess how it was going to change and how it has even changed since then through some of the things we talked about. So the only constant is change. So I think that's what you have to be sort of the most ready for. The other thing, kind of interesting, I heard myself say this. I was fortunate to be asked to speak on a panel through our Chamber of Commerce last week, a business impact panel. Why, they asked me, I have no idea. But as often happens, I heard myself say something that I didn't even know that I knew, and it was that as AI really begins to sort of change our world fundamentally and take over a lot of the things that you or people used to do. What does that mean for retail? And the thing that I think it means for we small retailers is how much more important our personal touch is going to mean. Because AI can do and be a lot of things and it can only continue to get smarter. but it can never have that human and personal touch. And I think as our world gets more digitized and people get more just numb to all the information coming at them, I think that personal touch and in our world, that personal customer service experience is going to become more and more important. So all that to say the world has changed a lot in the last 93 years since Stephens is open on Main Street. But the mission and the fundamental path to success, I don't really think has changed at all.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, that human connection, that relationship-based service, that is absolutely something I hear all the time, and I hope it doesn't change, because that's what I love. My final question is why, to you, Danny, why does Main Street matter?
Danny Reynolds:
Main Street is the heartbeat of our communities. Main Street is the primary bloodlines of our communities and our nation. Without Main Street, there's no personality to our towns, and there's no personal touch. And we learned that when the world went to the malls we talked about, the world went to the strip malls, downtown's got quiet. Now downtowns are alive again. And I think because downtowns, the big retailers and a small community don't have the nerve to try to set up a shop downtown. So downtowns are run by local merchants, people in your communities who have a care and a passion for your communities. They are invested. So Main Street is invested in the greater community, and that's why it's always going to be essential part of any vibrant community.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Thank you, Danny. Appreciate you being on.
Danny Reynolds:
Thank you. That was fun.
SPEAKER_01:
Thank you for tuning in to Main Street Matters. I hope you found today's episode insightful and inspiring.
Terresa Zimmerman:
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