Y&Z Kids is a clothing and gift boutique for children specializing in unique toys and clothing for ages layette to 12 years old. The clothes we sell come from some of the best garment manufactures in the business, including Tea, Hannah Banana, Sister Sam, Claesens, Agoo, Wes & Willy, Trumpette, and several other highly regarded brands. Our toy companies include: Plan Toys, Melissa & Doug, Mighty World, Automoblox, Ugly Doll, Calico Critters, University Games, Manhattan Toy, etc… We also sell several unique handmade gift items by local artisans.

We opened the store when we realized there was a need for this type of business in La Grange, Illinois. La Grange, and its surrounding towns, is a suburb of Chicago that is packed with young professionals, almost all of which either have or plan to have children. The town has a vibrant main street shopping district. Also, my husband and I were looking to do something more creative, while still trying to support our two children. So far we're making it work.

Who are your customers and how do you market to them?

Our customers come from many of the western suburbs of Chicago. They tend to be middle to upper middle class professionals that tend to want something unique or special when they are shopping for children. They seem to enjoy our bright green gift bags (backpacks) that say Y&Z Kids on the front. These bags are our largest attempt at marketing to our customers. They go to parties, see the green bags, the bags have our address on them. We have nurtured the growth of our business through our packaging. In our area of the world, you see our green bags everywhere you go.

Why did you originally choose to purchase POS•IM?

It seemed to be the most intuitive program available to people like us who are and will always be Mac users. Both my husband and I felt very comfortable with the system. It is very easy to figure out. I also wanted to work with a company that offered a comprehensive array of services. In addition to point of sale and reporting, we were able to have our credit card processing set up, gift cards made and purchase all of the peripheral hardware needed to start and smoothly operate a small business.

What benefits has your store received using POS•IM, and how did Point of Sale affect your retail store?

We just love how quick we can help our customers. The fact that we are comfortable on it makes all the difference. Also, since we are comfortable on it, we can train our employees with great confidence that we are showing them a logical way of processing our customer's orders. The way we see it, if we are comfortable and everything works smoothly, our customers will feel that they are in good, safe hands when shopping at our store.

Would you recommend POS•IM to other retailers? Why?

Absolutely we would recommend POS•IM to other retailers, because we would assume that other Mac users like us would find the system to be very logical and easy. Also, the company has been extremely helpful in answering any questions we've had over the years, though we should point out here that we've had relatively few questions, due to the intuitive nature of the program.