Thursday, Dec 16, 2010    Text size: 

KING 5’s Best of Western Washington contest, which is held annually, allows the city’s consumers to contribute to an interactive and online guide by voting for their favorite people, places and businesses in the Northwest.

Peekay Inc. owns the Lovers chain, which consists of 20 locations in the state of Washington. Peekay also operates seven A Touch of Romance stores and four ConRev stores throughout southern California.

“We are delighted and excited to receive this prestigious award and acknowledgement,” Phyllis Heppenstall, founder of Peekay, said. “We have been serving our customers here in the Pacific northwest for over 29 years. Our staff is the greatest, our selections unmatched. It is so nice to see that our customers agree.”

Heppenstall told XBIZ that she attributes Lovers’ success to the retail store’s educated, customer service representatives.

“If there is a brand we excel at, it’s our people,” she said. “We don’t just hire people; and the training doesn’t stop after they’ve been hired — it’s on a continuous basis.”

Additionally, Heppenstall said that the key to success for Peekay’s retail chains, which diverse as they may be, she described as “closely aligned,” is focusing on customer retention.

“It’s a major responsibility,” she said, “Listening to local customers, following their trends, tuning in with all of our store managers to establish an understanding and taking action.”

According to Heppenstall, all of Peekay’s stores average about 3,500-15,000 square feet allotted for lingerie products, which makes up about one-third of a store’s inventory.