GREAT FALLS — As healthcare workers stay busy protecting the public, the owner of The Gittin’ Store in Great Falls, Kim Woloszyn, has been hard at work doing the same for healthcare workers.
When Woloszyn opened The Gittin’ Store over 4 years ago, she intended it to offer health care workers an enjoyable setting to shop for scrubs and themselves.
“I wanted to make it kind of more of a fun place to shop for scrubs,” Woloszyn said, “I was a dental hygienist for years and so I wore scrubs for years. and one of the things i found when i would go to buy scrubs was it was always at a place where it was kind of industrial. It wasn't a very fun place to shop.”
Fit with trendy hospital attire and Montana gifts, her store was more fashionable than industrial. But once coronavirus began to affect her primary customers, she knew she had to rethink her business plan.
“We have some great healthcare providers here in Great Falls and surrounding communities….now they’re in a situation where they're really in the front lines of this virus. And so protection is kind of an important part of their work to be successful in what they do,” Woloszyn said.
The business owner converted her personal, in-store shopping experience to a personalized, out-of-store shopping experience. Instead of allowing customers to search the racks, she took pictures of items she thought they’d like and prepared bags for drop-off or delivery.
“With their busy schedules, they don't really have a lot of time to come in and shop so being able to have them call me and say, ‘Hey, put this together' ...Even taking it to the hospital or a lot of times I've delivered some packages to their houses,” Woloszyn said.
She relied on past shopping experiences with her customers as a baseline for guessing their current shopping needs.
“I've really gotten to know the healthcare providers around Great Falls and up into Shelby and Browning and those hi-line areas that they have a hard time finding scrubs and things like that...I think once you get to know them and get to know what they like it’s a nice way to be their personal shopper,” Woloszyn said.
She may even continue her curbside and delivery options after the pandemic is over. “During this time it’s really opened up my eyes to providing more services to your customers than I thought of before: of deliveries and curbside delivery,” Woloszyn said.
While Woloszyn will continue pickup and delivery services in the immediate future, The Gittin’ Store will open to include in-store operations as well on Tuesday, April 28th.
The store will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. The Gittin’ Store is located at 1301 5th Avenue North in Great Falls. Click here to visit the Facebook page.
