Customer Story: Shade Tree Liquors in Northwood, Iowa

Testimonials
a graphic showing a business owner next to a liquor store

Teresa George-Zenz has spent almost her entire life in Northwood, Iowa. Growing up, her family owned one of town’s several factories. And she followed their footsteps by spending the first part of her career working with the family business. But when the factory was sold, Teresa decided it was time for a change.

First, she bought a local bar. She loved it, but after a few years decided the hours and stress were too much. She realized that the town didn’t have a liquor store. In fact, residents had to travel about 30 minutes to the nearest one. So she stayed in the industry and opened Shade Tree Liquors just down the street.

Teresa has been a KORONA POS customer since mid-2021 so we stopped by to meet her, chat about the store, and make sure everything was going well with her point of sale. It was a pleasure getting to know her and the town of Northwood. Teresa even gave us a full tour of the town!

Shade Tree Liquors

Located right on Northwood’s main drag, Central Avenue, Shade Tree Liquors is in a converted auto shop. Teresa had opened her original location a block away but in 2014 decided it was time for a bigger spot. When the auto shop went up for sale she knew it was the right spot.

The expanded retail space has allowed Teresa to improve her product selection and grow her sales. Her new location even had room for a drive-thru window which has a 4:30 rush every day after the local factories close.

Why Shade Tree Needed a Better POS

Teresa used a manual system for years. When she moved to her new location, she decided it was time to ditch the manual solution.

Unfortunately, the one she got wasn’t much better. Her legacy point of sale wasn’t cloud-based, didn’t come with any customer support, and featured archaic hardware. She was able to make it work for a few years, but when she paid for a new desktop register and it was never delivered she decided enough was enough.

Teresa looked at dozens of different options but found that she kept “coming back to KORONA POS.” The rest is history!

Why Teresa Loves KORONA POS

From her first interaction with our team, Teresa has been impressed. She never felt pressured during the sales process and loved the various demos from our product specialists. In the end, she knew she was making the right decision.

Since then, KORONA’s liquor store POS has helped make business at Shade Tree better than it ever has been.

Cash Register and Checkout

One of the first things Teresa pointed out was how nice it was to have a modern desktop POS with a reliable credit card machine. The checkout experience for both her cashiers and customers is so much faster and smoother. She doesn’t have to worry about terminals being down or long waits on transactions. And the sleek register makes her cash wrap area look cleaner and more professional.

eCommerce Listing

With KORONA POS’s integration to Pointy and mapAds, Teresa has been able to automatically list all of her products on Google. Through location-based targeting, consumers can now see what she has in stock when they search through Google. This has driven more sales and gained Teresa new regular customers in the process.

Inventory Management

No liquor store can run efficiently without strong inventory management. Teresa now can rely on KORONA POS to help her understand her products on a deeper level, optimizing how she does her ordering, pricing, and promotions.

And with the seamless back office, Teresa is able to access all of that real-time data from anywhere at any time of the day.

Customer Support

Like all of our customers, Teresa has been particularly impressed with our exceptional customer support team. She took full advantage of all demos and trainings before going live with KORONA POS. And once she started, she calls into support from time to time and always quickly gets someone to help her out. She’s never had to wait and feels confident that she’ll always have her questions answered promptly and in a friendly manner.

KORONA POS for Liquor Stores

KORONA POS has been designed for many retail verticals. And each of them have specific features to ensure it’s a truly complete solution for each. Find out why thousands of liquor stores across the country love KORONA POS by scheduling a free product demonstration. You can also start a free trial to test it out on your own. 

And if you’re in Northwood, stop by to see Teresa. She’s on the country commission, knows everyone in town, and is a joy to talk to. Plus, she gives a damn good tour!

Check out some of our other customer stories here:

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Written By

Michael Chalberg

Michael has long focused his writing on the world of retail and small businesses. He''s been a part of the KORONA POS team since 2018 and loves helping entrepreneurs find ways to adapt and succeed. In his spare time, you'll likely find him hiking somewhere in the Southwest.