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we projected that we would only do be-
tween $700 and $800 [in sales] a day,” says
Kane. “But it was unbelievable. Our first
year we did over $1,500 a day! It was cra-
zy—we grew so fast.”
Opening in Delafield turned out to be an
ideal move, because the location draws from
Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and even as far
as Minneapolis. In fact, some shoppers drive all
the way from Indiana every year to stock up.
The Kanes found out early on that part-
nering with manufacturers would help their
marketing dollars go further. “We started with
snail mail and we still continue with it,” says
Kane. “Manufacturers help us with the ads.
You wouldn’t believe how small a percentage
of our budget is for advertising because we get
sponsors for the things we do: signage, prod-
ucts, everything—we get sponsors.”
Mary Lynn Kane also brought her market-
ing background to bear in engaging customers
through events, both in the shop and at ex-
ternal venues. “We got involved with a lot of
different venues [local clubs and golf courses,
etc.], and our off-site events grew very big,”
she explains. “And our in-store events, we de-
veloped those over the years to be some of the
best attended, we think, in the country.”
DATA-DRIVEN GROWTH
The couples’ event marketing efforts also en-
abled the shop to create a database of custom-
ers, contacts and relationships. “We have nice
cards for people to sign in, and then we have
all their information,” says Kane. “And people
are willing to give it to us because we have a
philosophy that if you help us with the market-
ing, you’re going to get stuff in return.”
The Kanes use a multi-pronged approach
to reach their followers with news, announce-
ments, and events. In addition to snail mail,
they produce a [printed] newsletter every oth-
er month that goes to about 5,000 people, an
email blast that goes out to about 8,000 people,
a V.I.P. text program that goes out to 1,900 and
a Facebook page with more than 1,900 friends.
The shop prides itself on going above and
beyond to meet the needs of these loyal cus-
tomers. “If people have requests, or we know
that certain people like certain things that are
hard to get, or sizes that are hard to get, or
products that are back-ordered, we know those
people and we make sure that we keep a re-
cord of that so that we have a system to call
them back,” Kane explains.
All that effort translates into huge turnouts
for their events, who, in turn, are rewarded
with food and prizes. “If they show a text they
received from us, they get something for free,”
she says. “Sometimes it’s donated from outside
of the industry, sometimes from within the in-
dustry. They might get a free beer or soda that
night or a free cigar—although we can’t do
that anymore—or a free raffle ticket.”
The Kanes recently bought several Echo
Dots, the voice-controlled smart device being
marketed by Amazon, to use as prizes. “We’ll
buy an item for $40 and the way we present it
[gets] people excited about it. We’ll say, ‘Buy a
box, get a ticket,’ and they do it.”
EXCELLENCE IN EVENTS
Often, events are held in partnership with
another local business, such as a brewery,
coffee company or chocolate maker. “We do
evening events with fine jewelry for guys to
choose jewelry,” says Kane. “Sometimes on
Friday nights we have people who have un
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