Bonaparte Design...a unique furniture and accessories interior design company grows with Vigilant's Inventory Control, Job Costing, Integrated Accounting and Customer Relations Management tools

by Andy Shaw

Eclectic. Stunning. Elegant. Overflowing. These are the first impressions that strike a visitor venturing in the door of the Bonaparte store, a cornucopia of furniture and accoutrements found in Vancouver's groovy Yaletown district. You know instantly this ain't no Bad Girl's discount furniture. There won't be any trashy Midnight Madness, no no-interest-until-year-2020 sales of junk sofas here. This joint's got style. And, despite the youth of its five creative owners, a great deal of business sense.

Successful in their first six years of running a retail operation, Bonaparte's twenty-something owners now have serious designs on the commercial world. Soon, they're hoping to open up three or four more Bonaparte stores, primarily focused on interior design for homes, reaturants and offices. On both the commercial and retail expansion fronts, co-owner Chris Kean states that a key enabler will be Vigilant. Bonaparte has been running on Vigilant since shortly after the business began.

"We knew back then we had to have a program like Vigilant's to keep track of things. With about 5,000 items in stock, we knew we would soon be pulling our hair out without one. So we went looking around and found a software distributor. He showed us several point-of-sale packages but we found out his firm was using Vigilant itself," Kean recalls, "I liked Vigilant right away because it operated on the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Then we brought it in to the store for a couple of days trial and we've been using it ever since. We're very happy with it."

Happy, too, that Vigilant will help them grow.

"For instance, if we're doing commercial interior design work for a hotel, we could be dealing with everything from re-finishing walls and re-doing windows and curtains to supplying carpets, tables and beds," he explains. "Vigilant is very good at job costing and tracking all the elements of a job. And noting customer preferences as the job progresses. It's also something our bookkeeper and accountant find easy to use. So we know we can depend on Vigilant in the future. That's why we are confident about expanding our business."

Other aspects Chris Kean appreciates about Vigilant is the helpful customer service department. "If we were to ever have a problem, the Vigilant customer service is great. I can always talk to someone when I phone them. And even if my problem doesn't relate to the Vigilant program directly they will call me back and still come up with a solution. I've never been able to stump the bunny with them."


Andy Shaw is a freelance writer, broadcaster and journalist with articles in many business and technical publications