STYLE WISE, By Colleen Heather Rogan: Emily to the Rescue!

In the business world, time is money - money is lost when time is wasted hunting down something you need when you need it most. Effective organization plays an integral part in the success of any business, and creating and maintaining efficient and orderly backrooms, workrooms, desks, and sales counters are all key components to a profitable retail business.

Luckily, Retailworks display artist and professional organizer, Emily Reyes, knows a bit about keeping spaces lean and mean. Even as a child, her passion for clearing up clutter was pretty evident. “I had so much fun putting things in their places,” she remembers.

“I’d even pick up toys at other kids’ houses.”  Her fellow workers, and boss at Retailworks’ saw Emily’s talents come to life after they moved into their new design studio. “She ‘Emanized’ the place”, said Lyn Falk, President of Retailworks. And the name has stuck. Emily’s skills are now available for hire, to help clients figure or reconfigure where and how things are kept in any number of places. But whatever the project, it all begins with the classic formula of dividing everything into piles to be kept, thrown out or donated. Then it’s up to Emily to find creative ways to organize and provide easy access to what’s being kept.

“When ‘I LOVE That Display!’ was hired to do merchandising and display work on a year round basis for all the Kessler Diamond stores,  I spent almost a week in their warehouse, organizing years of display props into ten categories. Now, when the display team arrives on the scene, planning and installing new displays goes much quicker. It’s more efficient for the display team, and more cost-effective for the client.”

To insure everything that belongs together stays together, Emily offered the following tips: “Make the labeler your best friend.” Her current favorite is the Brother Personal Handheld PT-70, “because it’s so simple to use.” She’s also a huge fan of slatwall. “Because it comes in all sorts of colors, patterns and laminates, and has so much more style than peg board. Plus you can get a wide variety of shelves, hooks and other accessories that easily attach to it.” (Available through Retailworks.) Though she loves using clear plastic containers in all sizes by Rubbermaid, when it comes to organizing, Emily also encourages thinking outside the box. For instance, a vintage wooden drawer can hold markers (see photo), or a line up of several metal pails to hold frequently used tools (see photo).  Hanging shoe and accessory holders with clear pockets, pant and skirt hangers, or tie and belt racks, are convenient and inexpensive ways to keep ribbon and string, screws, buttons, fabric swatches or papers where they belong. (see photo) 

Finally, Emily reminds us,  “Getting organized is only the first step, once things are where you want them, you’ve got to keep them that way.”  Taking those few seconds to put something back in it’s place not only restores order and flow to the workplace, it also leaves Emily “ Feeling happy and in control.”  

Last photo, courtesy of the Creating Keepsakes blog, January 18, 2011, ‘Organization Week: Products to Organize Your Scrapbook Supplies’.