whats working this week......

this week our fall is selling great..
some things that are working...

~~~on the the harvest tables, the long candle holders with garland around them , are selling

~~and im so glad i bought lanterns...we have been putting the battery tealights or tall candles in them with some fall foilage...and the are selling....

~~~~lots of wire and metal pumpkins are selling...

........we have a whole new section of fall....

its refreshing

..i think our customers hope for something nice seasonally from us....even tho they can go almost anywhere....

facebook and shoptalk

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Rochester-IN/Green-Oak-Antiques/128260302593?ref=nf

well, im trying it..... i love blogging and dont plan to give that up,and i dont quite see how facebook would be different...but im giving it a shot.....its a different venue i guess....

im also doing a personal page....ann burton wootten furnivall....or just ann burton....... AND HOPE SOME PEOPLE over 40 or business people OR CYBER FRIENDS find me and want to be friends....oh gad, i think one of my kids did just hit 40..... so far its mostly family and people my kids age......... lots of my antique buddies dont even have a computer!!

so IF YOU NEED/want A FRIEND COME SEE ME/ FRIEND ME???!!! weird words.

and from my class of 1962 only 4 are on....so im kind of lonesome on there....

but im trying to listen to Rick segel and others telling us businesses we should give facebook a whirl..so im doing a fan page for green oak...

ON MY MIND

1. THE ECONOMY...i think its getting better but will be different..... and i worry about the big stores and All their constant sales.... this is so against us....as small retailers...
2. NEED A NEW VENUE...the things i tried this year didnt work.... 2 mall booths..... we continue to have all our eggs in one basket, THE STORE, and that scares the @#*&&^ out of me....weve always had something major on the side... ..... oops i forgot about etsy....its another basket but only about 1 to 300$ a month...we cant do shows.... no people...we cant move......i dont see the Internet working at the level im talking about...... im loving junk art..and like what we are making.....but where to sell it is the question....also thinking about offereing trunk shows... with the garden iron...
3. NEW CUSTOMERS...scary thing is i dont quite get them... i dont have the seat of the pants intuition about them like i have always had about my old customers..i dont have the code words to attract more of them....they are young and like our stuff but i dont know what they do with it or how they decorate or what their ideals are....
4. PRODUCTIVITY.....we have a workforce...and i have to keep us making money not just dusting!!! but what...
5. INTERNET DECISIONS..we have a new selling site ...laying dormant....i see so little evidence of a site in my field making money...to me making money would have to mean at least 5000$$$ a month.... i cant make us put out the effort to give it a try on the info ive gathered so far........ do you know anyone making that amount on line? would love to hear...
6. WHAT to buy .....thats always a fun problem.....im going for the new girls ....and they sure arent like me in their choices............so im trying to figure it out...the good thing is they really seem to like our store....im thinking its about style, recycling, quality and saving money....AND they are kind of adventurous and outside the box...so that still feels right...

road trip

we went to saugatuck michigan..... such a neat town....and a yearly get away for dh and i......full of arty shops and clothes....and several antique stops on the way.... its always inspiring to me to see others stores and how its going and whats working......
the whole town was having its sidewalk days...thats why we went.....huge crowds...nice loud band playing in the middle of town.... some kind of sale about everywhere...end of summer and its on the lake....
we went to our favorite restaurant....and they forgot us, they sat us and never came back....and they werent busy at all....... in 2 places someone said hi....both were the owners.... have you ever been waited on by a guy from india!!!! its almost always a great example for what to do right...
lots and lots of closed shops on the way up on the red arrow highway......you would have tons to choose from if you wanted to be up there........ but we did see 2 nice busy antique places....
what i brought away....besides way too much totally bored young girls representing businesses....trying not to do their jobs...was.....
*****a big funky art sign....hanging in an art section..that might be fun here ..IM THINKING OF AN ART SECTION...OR JUNK ART SECTION
***a cute pic of little kids....in the big family restaurant that forgot us.... labelled ...FUTURE OWNERS....we have jons kids pictures on the door anyway....they might like that..
***the most gorgeous place was marco polo..in harbet.... closed for the day, but i could look in the window....it was fabulous...the total gallery affect...showing how the pieces would look in a fabulous home.....wouldnt work here we have way too much stuff but it was very impressive...kind of a mix among industrial cottage and mission...
***outside displays...one place had wonderful tall metal fountains and used arches really well...
i get so bogged down with our different spaces....i love seeing how others arrange theirs.....

not to be braggy....but our workers get compliments all the time for their friendliness and helpfulness..... i know we have awful problems like any store....but hardly any customer has ever been here and not been spoken to...at least once!!! anyway, thats always our goal....and its sincerely bought into by our workers.... we just dont sit around and look bored with you and keep talking about the party, the kids, the whatever....we know our money comes from our customers....

after we got forgotten at the restaurant we headed down to south haven and ate at clementines.....totally packed with diners and a gorgeous building all put back into its antique glory........and super super service....and reasonable prices.... it was a huge place and just doing great.....

im so into junk art now and was sorry not to see more of that.....

another business part of the day was listening to npr on the way up...... lots of talk about the economy....and how its getting better but we americans have lost equity in our homes , lost our 401ks etc etc...so we are grumpy and not in a big hurry to spend like before......and dh and i acted in the way they were describing......we like nice expensive sheets from the outlet polo store so we stopped there on the way up, at michigan city....we like high thread count but are too cheap to pay full price.....but there, at discount, the pillowcases were 69$ and the whole set would have been almost 200$....i guess we could still afford that if we just had to have them...., we bought there before, but it felt too extravagant and we didnt buy ...

big changeover

now its all about fall.... we went to offingers and bought lots of great stuff....this week we will be bringing it all out....garland, pumpkins, great signs, big handmade things, some barnwood frames..... the fall season is pretty short....but i love it....

i bought lots of lights and lots of block things....

we went to offingers in Ohio.... a big one day cash and carry....i love cash and carry... no shipping, no bad catalog decisions, no back orders, big stuff, ....and lots of competition so good deals... they were packed and lots of happy vendors....

lots of big orders coming in too.... so we will be super busy for a week or two...

my work list is huge....but we have lots of help....moving a whole section today...to make room for fall....

im on facebook...kind of weird.... so far its mostly personal but im hoping for some business friends....since my main life is about this wonderful business adventure....and my family is out there with me....my personal is under my name...annburtonwoottenfurnivall.....and the store fan page is greenoakantiques... im not too sure how this will ever relate to sales at the store....but its kind of interesting and fun....im hoping t find some old college roommates....

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1421037692&v=feed&story_fbid=1127355110339

and heres the stores fanpage..... i dont wuite see why....the blogs seem bigger and better....but its a different venue i guess...and rick segel says to do it....i like him a lot...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rochester-IN/Green-Oak-Antiques/128260302593?ref=s

found and enjoyed...

usually i dont care for anything written just for women..especially when it comes to business,,,...but i just got a wonderful book....BLOGGING FOR BLISS.......BY TARA FREY...heres her blog http://www.bellapink.typepad.com/

the book is laid out so nice...kind of like a blog i guess....lots of eye candy and great info too..it gives a lot of basic advice and introduces a lot of wonderful blogs.....i want to see every blog in it....looks like some will be a little sweet and tame for me.... the ones about family and entertaining and cooking and sewing and soccer practice,,,but im looking forward to reading on lots of new spots....

its a beautiful book and im really enjoying it.... its written by a real blogger, not a tekk guy....

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its nothing like my favorite cyber business expert... http://www.ittybiz.com/ .who plainly talks about making business work right.... especially web businesses...its a huge site but somewhere in there she walks you thru her launch of a web book or whatever it was .......where she made 175,000$ in a short time..

.whenever i think about web selling i have to remind myself that this ittybiz woman is one of the few i know of who, imho, im pretty sure is actually make a great wage off their web efforts...lol... ..if i ever try a web thing i will go to her and try and soak up as much as i can.. shes very cool and knows a whole lot....lots too tekky and webby for me......its full of really great ideas and practical info......

watch it...she cusses .......

what amazes me is im all location and inventory....and her thing, thru my eyes, has no location and no inventory.... and she got to move to england because it sounded fun...i assume her business fits into a laptop...... mine needs 10,000 sq ft....plus jons yard!!! and we work like dogs dragging it around..

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also found this week, over on http://www.rhubarb-reigh.blogspot.com/ ... this exciting artist, http://www.maggietaylor.com/ .....a beautiful website with the wildest pictures......

i love her work...

~~~~~~~~~

rick segel....i really like him for retail advice....today he was talking about the new economy....like it was going to stay kind of down or at least different and not ever back where it was....but it could still be good...

he was also all for facebook for stores....i dont quite get that , but thinking about it...

AND he said a store was a love it or leave it situation.... heres his blog... www.ricksegel.com

its over.....

we had a great sale....even better than last year..up about 10%.....one lady scraped her leg, a glass disaster, about 10 goblets crashed to the floor mortifying a nice shopper.... a scuffle in the road when the traffic jammed... 90 + degrees..and at least 2 people there on oxygen....

. .3 wonderful big sales, and great crowd of buyers at the smaller level....

......if you came ....thank you so much....

..now the remains of the 50 cent row is in our good will store........and lots of the rest will be at nappanee auction in a couple of weeks... my oldest grandson worked helping people to their cars.....and got a tip!!! its such a relief when this thing is over and no problems.....

we partied pretty hardy at the lake....until late....

today we got 3/4s of it put away....

and trying to get back to normal and all our fall plans....

today 2 men asked me for work.one, a neighbor, knocked on my door before 9....... i wish i had more to offer, or some idea that could productively use the workers available....

we got a 2$ check....and the woman who bought 700 50 cent items one year...came....but didnt break her record.... the farthest travellers were about a tie...one from tennessee and one from wisconsin....ONE LADY ON OXYGEN!! sat in the shade and smoked like a chimney for a long time, while her family shopped...

we think about 900 came...

hot and perky...

we got featured on a beautiful blog.... http://lapetitcoterie.blogspot.com/ shes an old customer and a good cyber friend...she has a new french flavored business...

..another very exciting frenchy friend also put us on her blog... http://www.peacockparkdesign.blogspot.com/ she loves big fabulous architectural stuff just like we do... i love her stuff!!!



yesterday was great....shock!!!! we did much better than the saturday the year before.... i really think things might be getting better and there might be lots of pent up desire ..

..back to today....wade stayed all night and is out there in the kitchen making salmon cucumber sandwiches and dealing with his 24 lbs of chicken wings.his lunch menu....after piles of pastries and fancy cookies for breakfast ..

...he stays all night with us on yardsale day...and we watched rumpole of the bailey last night....we love LOTS OF english tv...

the chaos starts at 8....this year my grandson matthew will be helping too.... first time....
18 people working today....
its going to be hot and we are all ready and perky... i get lots of compliments on my crew....boy does that feel good....

YARDSALE....great start....

....its all ready .....today and friday were great.....we are about as ready as possible..


one shop keeper drove from tennessee....thanks gina!!! and another from wisconsin....and both seemed real happy with our stuff and prices...

this is us after setting it all up....lisa and christa unloaded it all earlier in the week.......mimi, carol, me , lisa ruth and christa.. setting it all out and pricing everything in 4 hrs!!!! we price by sticker color..all one price on each row....we sorted by price quite a bit in the store so that saved a lot of time...


all done and covered up...lisa and christa..

carol and ruth above

ruth and christa below.

it is so full this year!!!

wonderful....stuff this year.....we are hoping for some serious junkers....everybody coming thru the store seems excited about it..... .....its going to e super hot tomorrow..90.....but hey its august!!! and thats normal....we have tons of great help tomorrow....and are about as ready as we can be.....

tomorrow is all about caviar cucumber sandwiches, wade in his tux, and long rows of cheap misc..... and hopefully about 800 people..... there were sure a lot today......

THIS WEEK....facebook , work, and etc

this is the biggest work week we have and the biggest money week....the yardsale is sunday....ive been keeping 6 or 7 people working on many projects all week....very very exhausting....we have moved so much merchandise to its right place for the sale..... kind of scary, investing this much effort....paid effort....but our customers have come thru every time....i know this whole year has been different tho....and locally our school starts tomorrow!!! poor kids....so our date might be all wrong./...the sale has been so good in the past i just cant risk changing much about it.... last year was over 800 people...

last night i let 2 women in after hours..i was way too tired!! and almost said no to the person on the phone...........i cant let retail come in after hours....it takes a long time to see everything.... .after she let me know she had spent plenty with me in the past and if i didnt want to bother with her she wouldnt stop, i came to my senses and realized they were dealers in an 18 ft trailer so said yes!!!! thank heavens!!! 5 nice pieces of furniture sold...and i got to meet 2 fun women with wads of cash and heading to the 127 yardsale...i asked how far they would go....i think it goes hundreds of miles...they had no restrictions except the 18 ft of space i guess....those lucky dogs....i let them use their credit cards so they could save their cash for the shopping...

FACEBOOK...my dil , terrri, will be working in the store soon...shes our webmistress and im trying to make some web goals for us.....

facebook is a total mystery to me....but i know its a possible tool and used by lots and lots of my customers....so im going to try to get up to speed and try some ways for our store to use it....... some good talk here http://ricksegel.com/blog/

i dont get it at all ....yet...if they already go to my store blog why would they go to facebook? whats the difference? why do both?...... ANY HINTS FOR ME??

gad...i heard 2 twitter plots yesterday....im not going to be twittering!!! one was a fancy resturant on wheels in santa monica that used twitter to tell customers where the truck is....and another is a michigan shopkeeper who lets her customers know her schedule...

im not going personal....altho i do have some college friends i would love to find..