Even Hurricane Katrina couldn't stop retail

"Staff was pumped. Lines were out the door. Sales exceeded the plans."
Even Hurricane Katrina couldn't stop retail
I'll never forget the call --- and what West Jefferson Medical Center has accomplished to date.

West Jefferson is located 15 miles from the heart of New Orleans. Just three months after Hurricane Katrina hit the city, Mark McGinnis, West Jefferson's former COO, phoned Simply Retail and said, "We want to think about how to move forward with retail." I was stunned and asked why. Mark replied, "Because we have to. We can't just sit idle. We have to move forward." He also added, "But you need to come back down because our city is no longer the same. We have a post-Katrina new city."

Eight weeks before Hurricane Katrina, Simply Retail had presented a customized Retail Discovery to the West Jefferson team. Now we were re-visiting the hospital and city to help West Jefferson figure out how they could better serve their community and staff with much-needed products.

Considering their situation, it was brave of them to move ahead with retail - to invest in something that was not traditional healthcare. And the results have paid off.

Sales have exceeded the estimated plans, and the staff is absolutely energized. Details are below.

Warm regards,

Mindy Thompson-Banko
President and Founder, Simply Retail, Inc.

Retail initiative: To begin, three concepts
West Jefferson Medical Center is a not-for-profit, 451-bed community hospital located in Marrero, Louisiana, on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish. Simply Retail partnered with West Jefferson to design and execute its retail initiative. To begin, West Jefferson chose to proceed with three retail concepts on site:

An expanded Gift Shop
Floral Shop
Women's and Children's Shop

West Jefferson viewed the initiative in multiple phases, starting with what was required immediately.

West Jefferson's staff, physicians, visitors and patients needed convenience items, readily available. An expanded Gift Shop allowed for a greater product assortment, including magazines, greeting cards, healthy snacks and hospital-branded products.
While providing a full range of clinical services, West Jefferson also has a PICU and NICU III nursery, a pediatrics emergency room, 1,200 birth deliveries a year and 13,000 pediatric emergency visits. Products, such as breast pumps, baby gifts and baby apparel, were needed.

"The hospital family, including our volunteers, and community have been behind this project," said A. Gary Muller, President and CEO of West Jefferson Medical Center. "I receive positive feedback each day from our employees and patients about the retail experiences our team is working hard to provide."

Strong results: The numbers tell the story
The soft opening for the Gift Shop and Floral Shop was January 19, 2007. This was an important date as the New Orleans Saints were heading to the NFL play-offs on January 21. Staff took this excitement, added the 'Fleur de Lis' (from the Saint's helmet) to a variety of gift products and opened the store with a bang. Staff was pumped. Lines were out the door. And sales were impressive:

The first week of business in January 2007: $25,000 gross revenue
In March 2007: 29% over last year; 10% over sales plan
1st week of April 2007: 42% over last year; achieved sales plan
Average ticket in March 2007: $25.00

Soft Opening for the Women's & Children's Shop was May 4, 2007. Even though the soft opening occurred during a bad storm, which caused a power failure, the Women's & Children's Shop still generated $1,300 for that day. The store continues to meet sales estimates and draw in patients and visitors.

Explains Tim Bracey, Senior Director of West Jefferson Medical Center: "Louisiana remains in recovery mode from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita... These shops offer an upbeat and positive sign of our recovery efforts. They also bring a projected contribution to the hospital's bottom line, which is especially important during these challenging financial times."

Fully engaged. Took recommendations to heart
"It's an incredible team at West Jefferson," explains Kathy Husu, Vice President of Consulting Services for Simply Retail. "They were extremely communicative and took our recommendations to heart. They really had 'buy-in' internally -- they knew how retail fits within patient care and builds employee satisfaction."

A significant reason why West Jefferson has been successful is due to the fact that their executive and retail team were fully engaged. Recommendations were understood and implemented:

The staffing model was followed. West Jefferson hired a talented Retail Director.
The customized product assortment plans were fully executed.
They used the Simply Products vendor network for sourcing and buying products.
Executive Retail Champion, Tim Bracey, led the retail initiative and communicated it throughout the entire system, continually soliciting input and feedback.
Marketing ideas were implemented through community networking, partnerships and events.
And, perhaps most importantly, the point-of-care integration was initiated early in the process. Even before construction of the stores, West Jefferson started speaking with clinical departments. They understood why the right players needed to be making product recommendations.

Conclusion: It's all about collaboration
For Simply Retail, it's all about collaboration. West Jefferson and Simply Retail have worked closely together to create an efficient Retail System, which lays the foundation for current and future retail growth.

Says Mindy Thompson: "With Hurricane Katrina, West Jefferson went through hell and back. If these guys were able to do retail facing that kind of situation, anyone can do it."

About Simply Retail
Simply Retail, Inc. was formed in 1994 and is the nation's leading provider of Healthcare Retail. Based in Minneapolis, Simply Retail is a retail consultancy and management company with expertise in both retail planning and implementation. Simply Retail integrates retail operations with patient care through customized Retail Systems.

For more information, visit http://www.simplyretailinc.com or contact:

Simply Retail, Inc.
227 Colfax Avenue North, Suite 150
Minneapolis, MN 55405
Phone: 612-659-8200
www.simplyretailinc.com