rick segel

i just added a new link under the business links.... http://www.ricksegel.com/blog/ he offers so much good discussion on the retail issues and just business in general.....
hes very what i would call real world....its general but not totally generic...he is really interested in retail......not like the marketers who have the same generic advice for everybody from construction companies and gift shops....i see so much of that....
its nice to read someone who is really about stores and obviously knows tons about us......
enjoy....

this time of year is so wierd....normally, we dont really have lots of christmas gift sales.... .... and not much furniture going out either... so december always feel scary to me....this year with all the news it feels even worse....
we arent behind our normal pace....but its such a letdown compared to all the people who flow thru here in summer and fall....december always brings up feelings of doom and rejection... not good!!! especially with 3 or 4 workers most days and a very full store to juggle and make work.....
so after fluffing as best as i can im concentrating on some good projects....making signs....
they might not sell till summer....but i can look at someones pay for the day and figure we have turned the time into money ......
i want a giant jolly wanker sign....wonder if it would offend anyone?

also working on online selling....not sure on that at all...but trying to make a framework that could give it a try....

where we sell

1.store
2. mall, slightly
3. on line , slightly

problems/ questions

1. what works in a small poor county?

2.where can i find a cyber forum about brick and mortar stores?
not about start ups,
not about stay at home moms,
not about go girl,
not about web selling..
i need this for brainstorming and for sharing the thrills and chills of retail....im considering gift beat...but figure its more mall oriented than we are....im on www.giftshopforum.com , very nice and growing, but so far not much talk from stores like ours...also they have a great online magazine....,
im on www.small-business-forum.net , which is great for web and the tekk side but no stores like us..
..im on www.makeminepink.com , which is great for pretty sites..and web ,and pink encouragement, but not much for brick and mortar
, i used to be on country business but it changed so much and lost most of its conversations....
im on prim and rustic on delphi, so great for for cyber country...
im on victoria, but not many stores... lots of neat sites tho...
i dont want one with recipes , crafts or pushy christians,i love old fashioned christians like my devout grandfather , but i dont get the new ones, they can be kind of scary....im not against recipes or crafts either,...but not what im looking for in cyber business chat..

3.how to be a better destination store

4.where would be the best place to put effort and money to promote our wholesale?

5.what to stock that isnt cheaper at the big chains?

6.how should a store like ours use the internet ?

7.how to navigate thru the current economic turmoil?
8. how to be more useful to our customers?
these are the subjects i like to talk about and explore......any ideas ? you can comment easily here....i would really like to hear some discussion on any of these brick and mortar issues....private or not... ..if you are on a forum that discussed this kind of stuff please tell me where....

what worked this year...

1....the better the display the better it sold
2... the foo foo room.. this has turned into a real draw and favorite...pink white romantic ....i need more merchandise here...
3...black has sold more than white...
4...people need computer desks and tv stands
5...country is strong....or we are about the only ones stll around selling it....not sure....but its really selling for us...
6...the big draw seems to be the quantity and the seperation of categories in the store....
7. reasonable prices for good stuff...

this year...

our huge hurdle this year has been the fall of so many small stores and show dealers....stores we used to sell to....so many have slowed down terribly or closed...
now our survival depends on mainly retail....this is so hard for me because our first 20 yrs were mainly wholesale....now im having to do retail and im not good at it...im faced with all kinds of jobs im not qualified for....wholesale is so great....all i had to do was find it, show it, give a good price, and tell everything ,,,and then the store owner would decide...
and my old customers could see the thing whether it was on a dirt floor or fluffed up and dusted....
i would love to find a cyber home to talk to other stores and wholesalers who are still trying to make it ...i have never worked for anyone since a short stint in the 70s.....