Parkleigh: From Corner Drugstore to Cornerstone of the Community

Feature they can’t live without: Drag-and-drop Email Builder

Just engaging people in gaining their email and letting them know that they’re just going to get one or two messages a month from us has really helped us expand our awareness and we can see that return on investment when we find customers coming into the store saying, ‘Hey, I just got that email…’

Daniel Mejak, Parkleigh Operations Manager

When you walk into Parkleigh, an upscale boutique in Rochester, NY, you instantly feel at home. It brings with it a unique charm, personal touch, and sense of community — it’s a gathering place where you can stumble upon unexpected treasures and have familiar faces greet you with warm smiles. The store features a wide variety of items sourced from both large and small businesses and includes anything from Rochester-themed items to novelty candles, socks, plush toys, and gifts crafted by local artists.  

Although Parkleigh is now known as a high-end boutique, it began as a neighborhood pharmacy in 1960.  

“We were a very typical corner pharmacy, and we remained that way until maybe mid-eighties,” Jeannine Klee, the current owner of Parkleigh recalled. “What I was buying kind of pushed the toothpaste and the rest of it out of the store and we became a full-fledged gift store.”

Jeannine began working at the store on a part-time basis in 1970 and throughout the years her responsibilities expanded from employee to buyer to co-owner, slowly transforming the humble pharmacy into the cherished boutique it is today. She became the sole owner in 2004 and in 2015, Jeannine opened a second location to expand its Mackenzie-Childs collection.  

Adapting to constant change

Parkleigh’s growth over the years can be attributed to Jeannine’s unwavering commitment to both her community and customer service as well as her collaboration with Operations Manager, Daniel Mejak, to constantly adapt their marketing strategies to meet the needs of changing times. As a result, her customers, and the vendors Parkleigh supports, remain loyal and return year after year.

“Marketing has always, for us, been mainly word of mouth and it’s always what worked for us. Over the years [we have] dabbled in television commercials and radio commercials here and there, and those things never really seem to take hold for us,” Daniel explained. 

Jeannine and Daniel turned to email marketing as other marketing methods weren’t producing the results they needed, and direct mail was becoming expensive and time-consuming. 

“Constant Contact has helped us solve the problem of reaching very few people to reaching many more people,” said Daniel. “Just engaging people in gaining their email and letting them know that they’re just going to get one or two messages a month from us has really helped us expand our awareness and then we can see that return on investment when we find customers coming into the store saying, ‘Hey, I just got that email blast and I can’t wait to try this new coffee’.”

Parkleigh currently uses a blend of email and social media marketing, in addition to sending out a yearly postcard mailer, as their primary marketing tactics to drive traffic to the store. 

Finding the right balance

Now that Parkleigh has identified the marketing strategies that provide them with the most success, Daniel has turned his focus on ensuring their marketing messages are heard. 

With the reporting feature from Constant Contact, Daniel was able to find a perfect balance. The tool provided him with valuable insights, which he used to help fine-tune Parkleigh’s email send frequency and see what content or products were resonating with the audience. They noticed if they send emails too often, they see an increase in unsubscribes, and if they don’t send enough, their customers don’t get the information they are looking for.  This information allowed him to tailor his emails to better meet the needs and preferences of his customers and increase their overall engagement rates. 

In addition to email reporting data, Daniel also used the industry data provided within Constant Contact to compare their metrics with other retailers operating in the same industry. This allowed him to create benchmarks for their performance. By studying these benchmarks, Parkleigh is able to gauge the effectiveness of their marketing strategies and identify areas for improvement.

“We use Constant Contact reporting monthly because I like to see the results of how we’re performing, how many clicks happened, how many people were engaged, how we’re comparing in the marketplace with other retailers like ourselves,” Daniel said. “That’s always really exciting.”

Catering to audience needs

With two locations and multiple brands to manage, Parkleigh caters to the needs of many different audiences with different needs. 

“All of our guest lists we use for Constant Contact mailings are based on whether or not [customers] just shop here all the time and want everything that we have,” said Daniel. “We can also narrow it down specifically to our Mackenzie-Childs customers, our jewelry customers, our Stonewall Kitchen customers, so we can do very specific things.” 

By keeping track of the unique preferences of their customers based on their interests and purchase history, Daniel is able to segment his mailing list into separate groups. This allows him to send tailored offers and updates to customers that contain content that is relevant to their needs and interests. 

“We have a royalty program for our Mackenzie-Childs products, so they get very specific emails that are just of interest to Mackenzie-Childs customers, which is very different from the broader selection of customers that have shopped both stores for a variety of things.”

In addition to ensuring customers receive customized content, the ability to copy his existing emails to use as a template to start his next one is a helpful tool for Parkleigh in ensuring their communications are consistent and effective. It allows Daniel to focus on creating meaningful connections with his audience rather than getting caught up in the technical aspects of email design. 

“Our format needs to look like our format. You know, our name, address all the store hours, all those things don’t really change,” said Daniel. “So to be able to not have to keep copying that and pasting it into something … is very, very helpful to us.”

To keep things fresh, Daniel uses the templates available through Constant Contact as a source of inspiration for future campaigns, allowing him to come up with new and engaging ideas to appeal to their audience.

Local supporting local

Small businesses and the local community are at the heart of Parkleigh. Starting as a neighborhood pharmacy, their goal was always to make their customers feel welcome. This has been their guiding principle throughout their many years in business.

“[Our] personal connection to the community is outstanding. And it’s longstanding…” said Daniel. “Race, color, creed, LGBTQ … everybody got treated the same way. And that’s just kind of been bred throughout all of us over the years.”

The main store now sells over 400 different brands within its walls — many of which are proudly local to the Greater Rochester, NY area. 

“We’re a small business that’s supporting really small businesses…the micro-businesses.” 

Parkleigh plays a crucial role in the success of the numerous brands and businesses they support. This inspires them to keep improving by fostering personal connections, leveraging word-of-mouth marketing, offering the right products, and effectively communicating with their customers. In doing so, Parkleigh ensures both their own success and the prosperity of the companies they proudly support.

“Parkleigh has always been about making personal connections,” said Daniel. “Partnering with local makers connects us to our community, and our guests thrive on seeing those connections come to life in Parkleigh.”

Parkleigh has always been committed to their community, and in turn, the community has wholeheartedly supported them. They continuously work to maintain authentic connections with their customers and vendors while also expanding and developing their marketing efforts. With the help of Constant Contact, Parkleigh has amplified their word-of-mouth marketing, creating a positive impact on both their business and the local community. As a result, they are confident their customers will always, “Have fun. Feel good. Buy stuff.”