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contacting people, and establishing that
chamber-of-commerce relationship in
each city, which I think is crucial to small
business."
There are, of course, drawbacks to the
franchise model and one in particular that
Stockeland says she still struggles with.
"You're giving up your brand," she says.
"You're putting it in the hands of other people
and you have a very small window. It's like
hiring a team. You have three interviews
maybe—for a total of an hour and a half—
and you have to figure out what that person's
work ethic is, what their mindset is. It's the
same thing with franchising. It's a longer
process obviously, but it's still very limited.
"You're giving them your brand that you
built and saying, 'Here you go. Make this
successful.' Having good systems and
processes in place really helps with that.
Good guidelines and parameters of, 'Here's
what you can do. Here's what you can't do.'"
And there are additional hurdles that newer
franchises face, Stockeland explains.
"With an emerging franchise, the difficulty is
that those who want to franchise with you
are most likely more entrepreneurial," she
says. "If we had 100 units, that franchisee
would be a different type of business owner.
They're very process-driven. But those types
of franchisees aren't going to buy into a new
brand.
"So you're bringing in people who have a lot
MODE University
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AUGUST 2016
"To us, culture is making sure our
employees are taken care of."
of ideas, and that's why they'll come on at
the beginning. But then you also have the
problem of a lot of ideas. It's a balancing
act."
NEVER COMPROMISE
Stockeland says the appeal of her stores is
simple: people are tired of choosing between
shopping in a warehouse or paying full price.
"What makes MODE unique is the small
boutique atmosphere," she says. "When
you have outlet or off-price, it's always a
big-box like T.J. Maxx or Marshalls. And
we said, 'Why can't we still have a beautiful
environment and comfortable place to shop
but then have the deals inside of it?' The
idea is to make women feel like they have a
comfortable and organized place to shop for
deals."
MODE's $40-$50 denim and $15-$30
tops—marked down from $90-$250 and
$30-$120, respectively—resonate with
Midwest shoppers, especially, who she says
have a unique appreciation for a good deal
and fierce brand fidelity.
"Consumers in the Midwest are very valuedriven," says Stockeland, who is currently
All MODE franchisee training is done in-house at
the company's flagship Fargo store and even has
its own postsecondary name: MODE University.
Stockeland says MODE U is the culmination of
years of planning, remodeling and space creation.
"When we have a new store owner, they come to
Fargo for a week," she says. "They train mostly out
in the store, but they also come back and do book
work. We set up their computers and all of their
focusing MODE's expansion on the I-29
corridor, from North Dakota all the way down
to Texas. "They like price and they're very
loyal consumers. To build a retail brand with
people who say, 'I love shopping at MODE.
This is where I'll always shop.' There's
something to that."
Stockeland senses that there's more to it,
though. She says that as a number of bigname brands have begun to manufacture
products specifically for their outlet stores,
consumers have caught on.
"We always like to say that we are a true
outlet," she says. "I think that's something
that customers have become very
disenchanted with is the idea of outlets.
Because you go to a big outlet mall, and we
all know that they produce now for those
stores. It's different than how they started.
But what you find (at MODE) was meant for a
full-price store and is deeply discounted.
"Coach is one that our customers always
complain to me about. When they used to
go to Coach outlets, they were buying things
that were from a Coach store. And now
they produce a lot for those stores, and the
production is going to be a little different.
They're not getting something that was
systems and then do whiteboard sessions. Eide
Bailly also comes in and teaches them different
accounting principles.
"It was kind of a dream I had because we used to
just bring them into this space, and they would
sit at a table while we would quietly work around
them. I wanted a place where they could come
and go back and forth between the store and the
desks."