427 lessons taught only on the frontline of retailing. No academic theory—just the hard-nosed realities shrewd retailers discover through experience and use to build profitable stores. Retail truths like:

* Wholesale is the cost of the merchandise, not the cost of the sale.
* There is no magic close.
* Profit is not immoral.
* Expecting to get the sale is half of getting it.
* They hear what you say, but they do what you pay.
* A manager is not a referee.
* A return policy is a tool, not a rule.
* Be-backs don’t come back.
* Good management is an attitude, not a technique.
* He who underestimates his costs gets the sale.
* A sales presentation is not the place to give a business education.
* You’re not in business if you’re not in show business.
*The last few percentage points are the profit.
* Merchandise is for sale, not for storage.
* People like to do business where business is being done.
* Inventory expands to fill all space.
* A good salesman makes a bad buyer.
* Building a brand doesn’t make you its owner.
* A weak competitor is a useful nuisance.
* Good isn’t good enough; only best gets the sale.
* The measure of a competitor is the price he can get.
* A company is known by the people it keeps.
* A retailer’s effectiveness can be measured by the animosity of his competitors.
* The applicant pool is not a cross section of the population.
* Tell the job, don’t sell it.
* Low wages aren’t a bargain, good people are.
* All applicants are smart until they speak.
* If it’s important to know, certify that it’s known.
* Employees treat customers as managers treat employees.
* The only appropriate discipline is de-hiring.
* Growth doesn’t produce cash, it consumes it.
* Bankers want you most when you need them least.
* A banking crisis is always just a personnel change away.
* Two stores don’t make twice as much.
* All business is gambling, but double-or-nothing is soon nothing.
* A little success creates a lot of overhead.
* If at first you do succeed, try not to believe you’re infallible.

Chip Averwater is a third-generation, 38-year veteran of retailing. In Retail Truths he shares the lessons of a career, gathered in over twelve years of writing.