Operations Internship
at
Hey Rooster General Store
NASHVILLE, TN
From May 23 - July 29, 2016, I served as the operations intern at Hey Rooster General Store. The first store of its kind in Nashville, Hey Rooster is a high-end gift and food shop with a focus on U.S.A.-made, but especially locally-made, products. Through my internship, I not only learned the ins and outs of running a small business, but also how to connect with customers on a genuine, personal level.
Much of my time was devoted to the little, everyday operations of the store.
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Assisting and conversing with customers
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Receiving, unpacking, labeling, and either placing products on the sales floor or back-stocking them
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Watering the plants in the flower boxes outside the shop
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Stamping paper bags with the shop's logo
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Picking up supplies for the shop
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Trying product samples, giving opinions, and discussing them as potential new shop products
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Helping Courtney, the shop owner, prep her Porter Flea Market booth. This included:
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Organizing coloring pencils, markers, and crayons to be used on custom paper mural​​​
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Delivering Porter Flea Market posters to local businesses
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In addition to these daily tasks, I maintained the official Hey Rooster Pinterest page, and collaborated with Courtney to create a new e-commerce site for the shop.
On weekdays and most weekends, I pinned at least five items a day to the shop’s Pinterest. In two months, Hey Rooster's Pinterest followers doubled (from around 60 to 124 followers), and number of pins increased from zero to 295 pins.
While Courtney took the lead with the website design, I compiled all product information (descriptions, dimensions, ingredients, price, etc.) in one Excel file. I also found product photos from vendors’ websites, and uploaded those photos into Big Commerce. The website went live halfway through July. From that point until the completion of my internship (two weeks), 229 unique users visited the website.
Courtney gave me an extensive look into her daily decisions as a small-business owner, and the ‘why’ behind those decisions. We hit the ground running and Courtney used real-life situations along the way to teach me. I truly learned by example. I observed how she interacted with customers and vendors, how she made product decisions, and how she was involved with the retail community (both local and nationally).
I witnessed first-hand how difficult it can be to own a small business. There were days that not one customer stepped into the store, and some when people came in and bought nothing all day. There are so many external factors beyond your control that can hinder the success of a small store. However, there is joy in it. Knowing repeat customers on a personal level was such a treat. The small business community is passionate about their customers and passionate about the products they offer. Being a part this community, if only for a short time, was invaluable to both my personal path and career path.
Me, with a Matchless Coffee Soda, probably my favorite product in the shop.