NovDec 2014 NGN Spotlight: Jordan Barrick

Next Gen NOW Spotlight

GETTING TO KNOW JORDAN BARRICK Chief Operating Officer Quality Furniture & Appliance Mesquite, Texas : You married into the retail business, right?

Jordan: Exactly. I took a job in GameStop

and moved up pretty quickly. I think it was seven promotions in a very short time. My father-in-law (Stan Pickett) was watching all of this and one day he came up to me and said, ‘Hey would you like to come work for us?’

RN: Did you feel any pressure, seeing as he was your father-in-law?

Jordan: No, not a bit. GameStop was a nice

place to work, but I knew that wasn’t where I wanted to spend the rest of my life, and it only took me a little while to completely fall in love with this place.

RN: Why? What’s so different between Quality Furniture & Appliance and Game Stop?

Jordan: It’s a world of difference in terms of customer engagement. Here you’re meeting and talking with people, helping them learn what it is they need or want. It’s so much more fulfilling.

RN: You handle your store’s online advertising. How has that changed your business?

Jordan: I’d say in the three-plus years I’ve

been here our company has grown by 50 percent. A lot of that growth can be attributed to our online advertising. We’re in front of so many more people who are already shopping.

That’s a big difference from trying to entice them into the market.

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Next Gen NOW Spotlight

RN: What would you tell another retailer who’s reluctant to invest in online advertising or doesn’t see its worth?

RN: You’re back in school studying business. Best business book?

Jordan: Jim Collins’ book Good to Great

takes the highest place in my required reads. Between my coursework and protime you invest in and stress over you’re fessional life it takes some discipline to print budget you’d be swayed. We were add time to read, but his writing is so spending 90 percent of our energy on get- clear, transparent and necessary I find it ting our print material together and distrib- much easier to come back to. After our uted. Online is so much more efficient and company has grown 50 percent in three you can easily track your (ROI). years, which is easier when you’re at our volume, it is tempting to keep pushing RN: What about the stores out the same rock uphill to try and keep these there who don’t have someone who’s results. However, Good to Great is all about tech-savvy? sustainable breakthrough—not one threeyear period.

Jordan: You mean like us? We learned it. Google and others are making it easier RN: You worked at GameStop. and easier to understand and use. Or find What kind of video game would the somebody you know has integrity and is furniture industry be? not going to spend a lot of money and who knows computers.

Jordan: There was an 80s game called E.T. that Atari made and people thought RN: Five years ago, did you see your- it was going to be great, but it was a flop. self in retail?

I’m not saying the furniture industry is a flop. Video games are constantly changing Jordan: Oh, absolutely not. I was going to and experimenting and a lot of times they be an actor or a musician. I also wanted to fail—but they learn from those failures go into ministry, but I love what I’m doing and become better. The home furnishing now. I love being around family every day. industry is so far behind the curve on some things. We’re afraid to experiment and fail, RN: And you’re not around just your but really that’s the only way we’re going father-in-law. Your father works for to grow.

Jordan: If you really measure how much

you?

Jordan (laughing): Yeah, I know that sounds

a little weird. People say it sounds like an Everybody Loves Raymond episode, but it’s been great. Watching my dad (Bill Barrick) work and the humility he showed after losing his job has been inspiring to me. He started here part-time, but the past few months he’s been full time. I’ve been very blessed to have him around and part of my life.

RN: Why did you join NextGen? Jordan: The relationships and friendships

I’ve been able to build are the biggest reasons. You shouldn’t be the smartest guy in the room and with NextGen, you never are—or at least I never am. We’re all learning from each other. We’re all sharing ideas and stories and even frustrations, but we’re also growing and getting better.

Top, Jordan Barrick, right, kicks back with his father in law and boss, Steve Pickett. Below, Jordan and his wife Caitlin.

Next Gen NOW (NGN) is a community of young, passionate, engaged industry professionals whose mission is to give a voice to the needs and goals of the up-and-coming future generations. NGN strives to educate the industry on how and why it should attract and keep young talent. The NAHFA supports NGN by facilitating meetings and educational opportunities and introducing the industry to its members through RetailerNow. Connect with NGN members at ngnow.org or on Twitter @ngnow. www.retailerNOWmag.com

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