Store name: Highland Ice Arena
Number of stores: 1
Specialty: sporting goods
Location: Shoreline, WA
Established in: 1962
Using CounterPoint since 1993

Founded in Shoreline, Washington, in December 1962, Highland Ice Arena is the realization of the dreams of the Stephens family. The premier sports facility combines the best aspects of a family-run business with cutting-edge technology, offering a large supply of high-quality rental skates kept in the largest heated lobby in the Northwest, full rubber flooring in the lobby, glass windows for viewing both inside and out, the first computer-controlled air-quality management system in the region, and the first Zamboni in the Northwest.

Yet, it wasn’t until 1993 that General Manager Rick Stephens, Office Manager Diana Stephens, and Accounting Manager Terry Green were able to find a state-of-the-art computer system to run their impressive operation. After researching software packages for sport centers, they turned to CounterPoint.

The Stephens were impressed by CounterPoint’s simple user interface. “Due to the highly transient nature of our workforce, we needed a system that could be handled by inexperienced users with a minimal amount of training,” says Diana. “We needed to enable our employees to provide a high level of customer service and public interaction, rather than having them spend time grappling with computer equipment.”

CounterPoint quickly became the backbone of Highland Ice Arena’s operation, which includes point-of-sale terminals, softpads, barcode readers and printers, and devices integrated with sophisticated accounting management tools.

In addition, CCS customized CounterPoint to handle admission and class cards with barcodes — a key to making the system work for Highland.

Reliability and performance are key components for Highland, where a high-volume of transactions occur at peak times. Says Rick, “CounterPoint is well-suited to our type of application. It yields a high-performing, stable system with the flexibility to meet the requirement of providing a simple user interface for employees and powerful tools for management.”