Hania Whitfield

Hania Whitfield is an experienced retail executive with over 30 years of experience with independent, franchise, and specialty retailers delivering growth, superior financial performance, and customer service excellence.

Hania began in retail sales, then quickly moved into management where her retail expertise broadened across general retail to high-end sales and customer service stores. Operations excellence, customer service and troubleshooting skills have earned Hania a reputation as a turnaround specialist.

One of her early successes includes Britts Department Store where she managed the relocation from Fort Lauderdale to Kingston, NY, and significantly improved operations, merchandising, customer service and seasonal ordering for Cosmetics, Jewelry, Accessories, Handbags, Hosiery, Notions, Men’s Furnishings, Men’s Izod, and Men’s Sweater Shop.

Later, at Neiman Marcus Atlanta, Hania led sales and operations for Costume Jewelry and Handbags and culminating in the coveted Shoe Salon – a highly competitive and lucrative department. She also assisted in store fashion shows, weekly store meetings, designer events, and annual charity events.

Other management roles include Lillie Rubin, where she surpassed sales goals by 20%, and Storehouse Furniture, where she developed their team and addressed their waning sales and customer satisfaction levels.

One of Hania’s biggest accomplishments was the turnaround of a Strasburg Children Specialty store crippled by the removal of management for cause. She executed a complete turnaround by successfully addressing morale and a total defeatist attitude. Through her leadership, hiring, and training, the team made rapid progress to grow a loyal customer base and in just 3 months, IPTs (items per transaction) and $PTs (dollars per transaction) exceeded the company average to achieve bonuses for her and the team. Hania also went beyond her store responsibility to help create company training manuals.

Recently, Hania transformed a struggling training store into a corporate flagship for Foot Solutions, Inc. With that as a model, as Director of Franchise Communications and Affinity Marketing, Hania trained new franchisees (on operations, merchandising, product, marketing, and high-end customer service. Additionally, she initiated and executed improved internal and external corporate communications processes, and facilitated Constant Contact Email Marketing, and National and Local Affinity Marketing for Franchisees.

At this point, being sought after by franchisees to continue as their personal retail and marketing consultant, she continued to serve all types of retail business owners – especially regarding social media trends.

But her true passion is retail troubleshooting. So now that the social media realm has matured, Hania is laser focused on retail consulting, maximizing retail potential and helping business owners of all types take their business to the next level.