It is a dark, windy, raining night. Your store is filled with happy shoppers. All of a sudden everything turns black. The power is lost. Fortunately the emergency lights come on almost instantly. But they really don’t provide enough light to clearly see everything that is happening in your store. Shoppers continue to walk around your store. Then there is the sound of the rear, stock room door opening and several people leaving with what appears to be boxes in-hand. A shopper in a back corner of the store trips over a display stand hits the floor and starts moaning. All the while the on-duty cashier and stock clerk are standing there looking quizzically at each other. One shrugs her shoulders while the other suggests they better call you and ask what to do.
Almost every person running a dollar store has faced a power outage at one time or another. For some the event is a disaster filled with concerned shoppers, lost merchandise, and more. For others it is just another challenge to be handled. No-one is hurt. No merchandise is lost. Shoppers are safely escorted from the store. If you are running a dollar store, then read on. In this article I present 4 tips to prepare your business for power outages.
Tip #1) Prepare beforehand
Do not wait for the power to go out before you recognize you need a plan. Determine what needs to be done and the equipment and tools required to handle an unexpected power outage. Assemble the required tools such as flashlights and place them in a dedicated location.
Tip #2) Check critical equipment
Emergency lighting, flashlights and any other equipment required to handle a power outage should become part of your regular, routine inspection and testing. Your routine inspections should include a check that everything is in its designated space and all is working as it should.
Tip #3) Develop and document a procedure
Walk through the most likely scenarios and then document the right responses. With the procedure documented move on to train every employee. If employees are comfortable with their knowledge there is much more likelihood all will go as planned should a power outage actually occur.
Tip #4) Walk through various scenarios annually
Turn retraining into an annual event – it will only take a few minutes. It is important for every employee to go through this refresher. All store management and key carriers must know exactly how to handle every situation, so conduct periodic reminders with them between annual refreshers.
To your success when running a dollar store!
