Rebuilding 38 Years of History- Can it survive?

After 38 years of building a business it's now time to move on. John's Variety & Pets has been a major part of my life for the last 10 years and the catalyst for my love of entrepreneurship. We are now faced with the decision to move on or to re-build our  store. We are not ready to throw in the towel just yet. The biggest hurdle won't be packing up the store, finding a building or pulling off such a move but rather rebuilding the history in the walls.

Store Front: 2281 Commerce Blvd, Mound Mn

Excuse me, for those of you not familiar with John' Variety & Pets ( JVP ) it was previously a Ben Franklin. Pets, sewing needles, fabric, toys, seasonal, stationary, health and beauty, framing, home goods are only a small sample of what you can find on the shelves at JVP. As the saying goes "If you can't find it at John's You just don't need it." Early in 2011 a big box store,  Walgreens, put in an initial offer to purchase the property. After almost 8 months of negotiating and waiting for city approval the project is somewhat underway.

How does one craft a new location with the same nostalgic feel as the former location? Can You? It's questionable. I often ponder the future of the stores' integrity. Will this move damage the stores image or strengthen it?

The building is set to be torn down sometime late this year. I will continue to post updates on the sale of the store, learning points and anything worth sharing.

Connect with John's on Facebook.

Social Networking Sites

It's not what you know it's who you know. Chances are you have heard this phrase a time or two, but how true is it? It's a cheesy phrase but it goes a long ways. When you're in sales you quickly learn that people buy from people they know and trust. Social networking allows you to form relationships that you otherwise may not have had the opportunity to form.

Here are a few of my favorite online networking sites:

1. Focus.com
• Interact with professionals by posting a question or an answer. Meet individuals who share similar philosophies as you do.
• Benefits: establish a professional image, network with business professionals, access to research
2. Linkedin
• People buy from people they trust and Linkedin helps you achieve those trustworthy relationships. Network with colleagues in discussion groups or messaging.
• Benefits: get recommendations from your network, status updates, grow your professional network
3. G+
• Not an expert on G+ yet but understand the power of having dedicated groups to segment the data that I share with a particular group. Video chat option is certainly a great add-on. 
• Video chat features, separate who you share information with, your opinions show up in Google's SER algorithm
4. Empire Avenue 
• Just joined earlier this week but has quickly gained my respect. Meet new people withing the first 10 minutes. A social online "stock market" your network determines your wealth. 
• Grow your network fast, motivation to pursue new social networks
5. Twitter 
• Share messages in 140 characters or less twitter gives you access to news and information in short but frequent spurts on a live feed. 
• easy to use, quick easy post, user can retweet your post to their followers  
6. Xeeme

• Manage your connections and monitor your social footprint
• Allows you to share multiple social media profiles with one link. Check out my link below!

Connect with me: http://xeeme.com/SeanRoyer


There are many other sites out there that I didn't include in this post. I welcome your thoughts on this list or additions to the list.

Sean Michael Royer