happy days

wow, we got some cyber press http://featheryournestnews.blogspot.com/2010/03/where-do-shopkeepers-shop.html well it was from a long time buddy , as well as customer, and i sure appreciate her comments.... if you are a store and want to talk to her,and other experienced store keepers, even some guys,,, ... join our forum...for stores only http://www.retailersshoptalk.blogspot.com/

you know our things have gotten in the magazines / national press a bit but usually with no credit....which is OK...too...you might have seen one of our counters in gina gavins work room!!! in where women create...

i love wholesale....and wish all my customers make lots of money on our stuff....altho i know its not that easy...

BIG SNAFU.... gee there are a lot of ways to mess up..for example.....we got some rejects in an order and did all the work to return them..called, arranged, packed up....the box was behind the counter waiting for the call tag...dh got the call tag and didnt tell us....time passed..dh found the call tag and told us.....BUT the box was gone.... someone threw the box away @#%$$&* ....

so glad its spring....the store really feels different.... lots of furniture is selling... the customers seem to be liking our chicago choices.... so even tho im a virgo and can find the bad side of about anything.....im feeling very optimistic...

especially happy with dropping quite a bit of the country stuff and adding the MAN CAVE... and a big new section of black and white and tuscan ...

kind of over for us....clocks, sticheries, lots of the rose stuff....

up and coming for us...kelly rae roberts, lake merchandise, our counter/cash wraps/bars

naughty magnets and aprons...

the best hint ive pickedup so far this year.....in answer to my query ???what do women want? walla the answer... booze,friends,men and pms...so weve added naughty magnets and notes and some fun bar stuff.... its working very well.... about every age of women is having fun looking at our magnet rack...

speaking of age....the store is full of babies these days..... im so thankful for our new young customers.....the 30 somethings........ even tho i dont understand what they are like... .

I LOVE MARCH

all the spring inventory is coming in....the weather is breaking and we are finally getting some sun.....the customers are venturing out more....the robins are back...

..........ITS SPRING..almost

on the money side its a hard month because so much is coming in..big loads of garden iron, the orders from chicago , everything we need for spring and summer.....but it feels good...we are fat and full ..

im hearing some good reports from some of the show people i know...they are reporting great sales and lots of people.... so im taking that as a good sign for all of us ..

the forum for stores is taking off.... if you have a store and want some brick and mortar shop talk come on over and check it out... http://www.retailersshoptalk.com/

using the internet...

as a tekkno dud, im kind of thrilled and shocked that i can use the Internet....so far i have 2 blogs , a website, I'm on 3 forums......including one that we administer..... http://www.retailersshoptalk.com/ its for brick and mortar stores...so if you have a store come on over!!!

my latest internet thing is FACEBOOK!!!! what a game changer!!....I'm really trying to learn the ways of facebook....we have a fan page.... and i think my main buyers use facebook a lot, for fun ...and almost replacing email . i want to learn more about facebook connect....i want to get better and better content on....and i want to get my photo skills up.... the learning curve is real hard for me....as i grew up with a 2 dial radio and a world where things said on and off and you took your film to the drugstore...my daughter in law and web mistress helps me thru some of the hard parts...

i love blogging and connecting with other bloggers and seeing all the wonderful blogs out there....im happy to be in that wonderful kind of national and very cyber world.... i love the exploring....

but facebook is different.. for us anyway, its way more local, more close to home with lots of customers and people who can actually come to the store easily....i guess thats because when someone does become a fan their friends see our green oak page....

i was lucky to be able to start with a good core of people... having my daughter and daughter in law, both mentioned our page, and who both have tons of friends, many who were already customers and glad to sign up........and then we got seen by their friends.....

anyway im a big facebook fan and hope to get better at it..here's our page.....http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rochester-IN/Green-Oak-Antiques/128260302593?ref=share

i go to lots of blogs for just enjoying the beautiful projects and ideas and hearing from people i feel like i know.... thats great...and i definitely appreciate the viewers i have on my 2 blogs.... it would be even better if i had something to sell them!!lol..but mine are more for the fun of it......most bloggers have lots more to sell online than we do...im not interested in online selling so far...

heres a cyber friend with some great tips on blogging....and more... http://outdoorbloggerssummit.com/

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THIS IS ON THE TOP OF MY JOBS NEXT WEEK.....ANY HELP OR FREE ADVICE APPRECIATED....well, its big for me....we have tons of money in garden iron, and the best selection around.... its such a good product and should appeal to lots of new customers.... if i can reach them... i have to get a marketing plot going......and i have so much else to do i cant seem to focus on it..... i hate that sometimes that i put the crucial thing down into the pile and do the easier more relaxing thing.......im out there painting when i should be making this marketing plan......my staff and family is great but no good at brainstorming....or i dont give them a chance....or they just want to agree with me....so im looking at my cyber think tank...YOU.... I NEED some ideas towards A COHESIVE PLOT OR PLAN...we have available...tv, site, fb, email list, classifieds in newspapers, radio, display ads, ...trouble with display ads is that there are too many papers...i plan on spending money on this but i need an overall plan or ideas..to get me going on this.........even a halfbaked off the top of your head plan!! any general outline or guidelines for me....? how do you approach a marketing idea? i hate this part of the job...and im not very good at it....and i know it is so important...we have about $$$20,000 of garden iron inventory...i need to get on this soon........ sometime...lol

THATS MY DILEMMA FOR THE DAY....i need to do a good job on this...

THE BLAHS

WELL its the dreariest time of year and lots of my store buddies are feeling really down....and me too..a lot of dark thoughts are going around....like why am i doing this.... is it ever going to work etc etc..... we all know its a tough economy.... some are even considering closing.... sometimes thats the smartest thing to do.... NOT ME THO!!!!

we are hanging in there and thinking we can still make it work , even tho the last couple of weeks have been horrid. i really like my work.... no doubts there!!!

but i hate thinking about money....and its a big cloud over us now....we have bought and bought for spring....spending like mad....and the store is packed ....and the parking lot is full of garden iron....its here and paid for and waiting. .

..its kind of the worst time of year to have slow days....it happens every year about this time.....

... but its no fun....one day last week we had 5 workers and 6 sales....thats just so wrong!!!! we did get lots of work done tho...

BUT TODAY WAS LOTS BETTER!!!! lots of customers and they even dug around outside....

a little sunshine seemed to make a lot of difference today. ..

we have used the last couple of slow weeks to really revamp the store.... so much new product has come in we have had to really look at the areas and how best to use them.....

im so pleased with the new lines we picked out in chicago....and really think our customers will like what we bought!!!

we are discussing the blahs a bit on the new forum.... http://www.retailersshoptalk.com/ did you join? sorry its for brick and mortar store owners only...but if you have a store come on over...

did you see the new magazine? flea market style? its really neat and started by ki ....the woman who has the fun http://www.junkrevolution.com/

heres something else that i enjoyed http://www.regretsy.com/ fun crafty etsy ideas that didnt quite work out....

PET PEEVES OF THE WEEK.... almost every order came in with some mistakes...one over charged us by about 400$ , luckily i caught it.... we were supposed to get a big discount that wasnt on the bill... ...many orders included things not ordered...i try to return but if its just a 12 $ item or group i kind of just dont bother.and sometimes i think they substitute on purpose....just a guess tho.......we did make one big return, after opening 2 out of 24 and they were both damaged i figured just send them back....it was big lighted paper balls from burton...

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i really like having a good rep....then if things go wrong with an order or a company you have someone to step in and do the right thing...i like my reps a lot.... ...

well GOOD LUCK OUT THERE....AND GET READY FOR BETTER DAYS!!!!