Armagh Testimonials

Mike Jacks Goodness Me Natural Foods RetailerGoodness Me has come a long way since installing its first Armagh cash register 30 years ago The Hamilton based health and nutrition retailer ran its business with regular “cash registers” for more than 20 years, and through two moves to larger locations, before seeking a more advanced POS solution in 2003. “We were late comers in making the move to point-of-sale,” says Michael Jacks, son of founder Janet Jacks, a former teacher who launched the business after researching ways to manage husband Scott’s diabetes through diet and nutrition. “When we installed the Catapult system with Armagh, the big thing for us was the introduction of scanning. That allowed us to streamline customer check-outs, and eliminate the time-consuming process of applying price tags.” Today, Goodness Me is putting Armagh and Catapult to new challenges with the addition of three new locations including Burlington and Waterdown. Scott Miller joined the company as its IT specialist to manage the company’s growing POS and information systems management challenges. “What I like about the Catapult POS system is its reliability,” says Scott, noting that he also appreciates the ‘around-the-clock’ availability of Armagh’s technical support. “Even if a file server goes down we can still get customers through our check-outs because Catapult’s redundancy system allows each machine to run on its own copy of the database.” While Catapult is pretty much flawless at the front end, adds Scott, it also delivers many strengths in the back office. “The reporting capabilities in delivering real-time information for each of our stores is invaluable.” Scott and his team are working with Armagh’s specialists to introduce criteria-based auto reordering based on Catapult’s powerful inventory management capabilities. “We are fast becoming a big business, and this system has the capacity to grow with us. Auto reordering will take the emotion out of product purchasing, saving us time and money.” Michael notes inventory management and good ordering is more difficult in the natural foods business than conventional food retail stores. “The bigger companies want to simplify their product lines and supplier lists. We keep expanding ours to meet the unique needs of our customers.” To download a PDF copy of this onsite report, click here.

Armagh delivers happy ending in search for POS solution. Independent retailer and LCBO Agency Store owner Deborah Clarke says she would have saved a great deal of expense, not to mention aggravation, had she been introduced to Armagh: The POS Specialists three years ago. Her bustling grocery and fast-food business in the near North became more complex than ever when she was awarded a five-year contract to be an LCBO agent in Eugenia, a small community at the southern tip of the Beaver Valley – gateway to Ontario ski country. The move to a new, larger location to accommodate the new liquor and beer store meant she needed a more robust point-of-sale management system rather than just cash registers. “We bought our first system before we truly understood what we needed it to do,” recalls Amanda Batchelor, assistant manager at Top of the Rock, the retail outlet Deborah has operated for more than 20 years. “The second system we purchased was on the recommendation of our bookkeeper.” Deborah and Amanda quickly realized neither system would do the job. That’s when they met Larry Wolfe, Retail Specialist at Armagh. “Larry came to meet us, and we knew from the questions he was asking that this was going to be a different experience,” says Amanda. “He brought a complete system with him and demonstrated all the capabilities. It was very impressive.” Has their search ended? “Definitely, we are both confident this system will meet our needs for many years to come,” enthuses Deborah. “It’s easy to use, even for staff members who are not computer literate at all. And the support we get from Armagh is amazing.” “This Armagh system enables us to manage our inventory in ways never before possible. I can’t believe I used to come in every Sunday night to count inventory. And we are just now getting into the auto-ordering component, which is going to save so much additional time.” Now Deborah is thinking growth. “This system also has multi-store capability – the possibilities are endless!”  

When Druxy’s Famous Deli Sandwiches needed a POS system to manage their continuing growth, they called on Armagh … TWICE! Harold Druxerman, Vice President, Finance, Druxy’s Franchising Inc., says the decision to go with Armagh was easy on both occasions. “Armagh has always been very professional in their approach to discussing our needs and their proposed solutions,” he notes. “Their sales and support teams are very competent and responsive.” Armagh delivered exactly what Druxy’s needed six years ago in a system-wide roll-out that made each sale more efficient, but more importantly, ushered in an era of tracking and reporting like never before – both for store operators and for the franchise system as a whole. With plans to expand the network by six to 12 stores yearly over the next five years, Harold felt they needed to make the system even more robust. And after considering all the possibilities, Armagh was his first choice again. “We found that a lot of companies say yes, yes, yes during the sales process. But then when you talk to their inside design team, you find out they were overly optimistic about what they can actually provide. At Armagh, they have great product knowledge and deliver on what they promise.” Superb centralized reporting, strong in-store reporting to help franchise owners manage their businesses, and strong technical support 24/7 were among the factors that tipped the balance in the most recent competition. Mr. Druxerman says his business can’t settle for less than the best when it comes to POS – no wonder, Druxy’s has served more than 209 million customers to date. For a pdf version of this article click here.