day in the life
in changing rooms can get dirty from customer hand marks.
“Continuously throughout the day I keep an eye on the cleanliness of the store, mirrors in changing rooms can get dirty from customer hand marks”
A seamless day
Former driving instructor, Richard McConnell opened his Zip Yard franchise in Altrincham last year. Here he reveals his typical day
7:00am: I get up at the same time each morning, well I try to – my wife gave birth to our first child two months ago and sometimes I am up a lot earlier. Not much of a morning person I literally get up, get ready and walk to work and eat my breakfast on the way. I live about a 10 minute walk to work and normally get in about 20 minutes to 30 minutes before opening time.
8:00am: I open up half an hour before opening time mainly to make sure the shop is clean, tidy and ready for the first customers of the day. I use this time also to plan the work for the day ahead and prioritise the jobs for the day. Work allocation sheets are printed out for all the seamstresses and their rails are filled with the corresponding work. I check up on my emails and all being well I will have time for a quick cup of tea.
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Businessfranchise.com | February 2012
8:30-10:30am: The first customers of the day start to come in, some of which need their garments more quickly than others and sometimes a bit of juggling with jobs has to be done. One of our more regular customers comes in and between him and his wife they have been in about 20 times (and we have only been open three months). He wants a pair of trousers shortened by the end of the day so they are allocated to our one-hour express service.
10:30am-12:30pm: In between serving customers I keep an eye on the work done by the girls on the machines, firstly, and most importantly, to keep an eye on the quality of the work done and secondly to make sure they are hitting their targets and being productive. Continuously throughout the day I keep an eye on the cleanliness of the store, mirrors
1:00pm: A few days a week I have an assistant who comes in to help out and run the front of the shop for me. This allows me a bit of time to do certain things I couldn’t have done otherwise. In the time my assistant is here I normally do any banking or administrative tasks. Once a week I do a stock-take of zips, threads, receipt rolls and other such items to make sure we have everything we need. Also for about an hour or two once a week I go out and visit local retailers to promote the Zip Yard to them and the services we offer.
1:30pm: Normally lunch is just a sandwich out the back of the shop when I get time, some days lunch might not happen till 2.30pm if we are very busy.
3.00pm: My wife might pop in with our daughter to say hello and see how things are going. It’s great to see them and a welcome sight in a very busy and hectic day.
3:00pm-5:30pm: For the rest of the day it’s down to serving customers, keeping an eye on productivity levels and ensuring quality, and making sure customers are happy with the service we provide. We shut up at 5.30pm and will spend some time cleaning up, totalling up the tills and ensuring everything is ready for the next day.
6:00pm: I leave work about 6pm and walk home. With our daughter Darcy being so young my evenings aren’t as relaxed as they once used to be, but normally if I get time in between changing nappies and feeding, I try and catch up on all the latest football and maybe watch a match before heading to bed about 10pm, where after a long day it doesn’t take long to fall asleep. n
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