With starting back in early and late February at Dick's Sporting Goods, it was time to make the transition from Winter, to Spring...according to the game plans, not mother nature of course, so that meant expanding the fishing department, making it grand and illustrious since fishing is one of the biggest departments and bases of business for Dick's. With that being said, it had to be perfect, in order to get the customers, keep the customers, and getting out the most product, because other then the website, you can't sell product that they cannot see. So with that being said the big issue was getting the most product on the floor, and making it easy for customers to find and get what they need, and fast.
When designing the Gameplan, it was quick to decide what the first products that were going to be seen first when the customer walks into the isle. After some thought process, there would be 4 major pieces, with each having one side each of major fishing equipment. Gondola 1 was going to have knives and scales and other accessories on one side, the other being bobbers and weights. Gondola 2 was going to be a major piece with one side being hooks and leaders, and the other side being predominately reels, and miscellaneous items to fill the empty space. #3 is big in that it had a lot of items on each side, with fishing line and salmon and trout tackle on one side, then the other with half of all the soft plastic baits. Lastly, the 4th and final gondola would be the rest of the soft plastics, and then the other side being all of the Hardbaits and minnow traps. On top of each of these 4 gondola's, would be the fishing rods, Baitcast rod and reel combo's, Spincast rod and reel combos, and then spinning rod and reel combos. The importance of these features is to make sure they are all together, so that when the customer comes in, they can compare the different styles and brands, in order for them to make the executive decision that best fit them.
With that being organized, it was going to be time to figure out what brands would be featured and in what places. The brands that we carry large portions of are Eagle Claw, Rapala, Berkley, Zoom, and Yum. These were going to ultimately be the brands to lead into the isle, since they were the most desired. So with the knives and scales, we made it a showcase of Dick's brand, Field and Stream, leading into the isle. On the other side, bobbers led the isle with Eagle Claw, and then it led into the weights by Eagle Claw and Gremlin, which were the most desired. After the knives and what not were put out, the hooks and leaders were to be set. Eagle Claw is easily the highest desired and highest rated series of hooks and leaders so of course we are going to put out the most of that brand, and then went onto Triton hooks and leaders and then other small brands to finish it out. With that being done, itt was time for the reels, and we led in with the most expensive and highest quality, with Shimano, Abu Garcia, and Lew's being the major focal point. Filling up the rest of the isle, we went on to the least desired such as Zebco and then Field and Stream. From there, onto 3, we led with Berkley line, and monofilament which is the bare basic and most desired line, and then led into the Stren, fluorocarbon, crystal, and then lastly, the braided line. From there, we put the spoons, fake eggs, and other tackle for salmon and trout which are popular forms of fish that are fished for in Wisconsin. With finishing up isle 3, we checked what the most desired soft plastics were and so we then led in with Gary Yakamoto, Powerbait, Missile, and then half of Zoom, with the other half of soft plastics being on the other side, followed by Yum, and then the spinner baits from Strike King, and Lunkerhunt. Last but not least, was the Hardbaits, which of course started by Rapala, which is the top selling brand of bait that Dick's carries, the second highest sought after was is Strike King, which we then put in front of Lunkerhunt and Jawbone.
This is a lot of information and trust me, it took a great deal of time and strategy, but with everything being where it was supposed to be, it made it much easier to maintain and take care of. Following this, life was much easier, but those couple of weeks were difficult with trying to help customers, and Gary and Clay and myself being the only ones really working on it, but the project was done, and the Gameplan was set.