Retail Star spotlight: The Lemonade Stand

Home Accents Today’s Retail Stars list recognizes independent brick-and-mortar retailers of home accents – including furniture stores, home accessories boutique stores and interior design showrooms – that merchandise creatively, have a positive presence in their local communities and stand out from the competition.

View the complete list here.

To nominate a retailer for our 2021 list, email Thomas Lester at [email protected].

The Lemonade Stand

Yankton, S.D.

1 store

Estimated 2019 total sales: Less than $1 million

lemonadestandyankton.com

Home accent specialist, founded in 2014. Key suppliers include Creative Co-Op and K&K Interiors for decorative accessories and wall décor; Creative Co-Op for soft goods. Attends Las Vegas Market. Store features a cozy, warm and lived-in look due to proprietary line of handmade, custom built furniture. Offers an unofficial in-store design service, which allows customers to bring pieces from their home to help with styling and visualizing store merchandise in their space.

In their own words

Please describe your visual merchandising scheme.

We carry our own line of handmade, custom-built furniture using reclaimed materials. So, the store reflects a very cozy, warm and lived in look. The visuals are kept very simple and clean, to let the furniture stand out, but it also gives the customer the ability to move about with ease and touch and feel and play around with arrangements.

What is the best retail idea you have ever implemented that helped improve your store’s sales/profits?

We offer an “unofficial” in-store design service. We encourage customers to bring in pieces from home or pictures of areas in their home that they need help styling. We pull things from around the store and create centerpieces, gallery walls, seasonal arrangements, etc. Customers love the one-on-one help and being able to visualize everything together.

Thomas Lester is Digital/Managing Editor for Home Accents Today. A graduate of Emory & Henry College’s Mass Communications program, Lester spent a dozen years working for newspapers in Virginia and North Carolina covering an array of subjects, ranging from community news, government, education, ACC sports, professional baseball and more before joining Home Accents Today in 2013. Reach out to me with your story ideas, tips and more at [email protected].