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/

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

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...

.

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!!!!

easy display

this was such an easy idea and i think it will help sell a lot of plaques.....
we had these fence pieces
and they were already white....so jon just nailed them to the wall.... and then we put a bench below....and a shutter shelf on the side....
it just really worked and the new line of plaques stand out so well...this is just very different...

I THINK IT WILL WORK GREAT

i really tend to end up with cupboard after cupboard....and THIS SEEMS like a good contrast...

all ready and FORUMS

all ready for the big sale....and hoping the customers are too!!! last year our feb sale was in the middle of a severe snow watch.... and it just ruined it....there is no way to really makeup for a disaster like that....

they can come later but its jut not the same....

im getting spam n my comments....they come in as anonymous and are for totally unrelated to anything im interested in...like trying to sell me electronics or marketing tools etc etc....i might have to put some kind of screening or reading the letters in...not sure...im getting about 2 a day...

if you signed up for the new retail store forum...THANK YOU... sorry its just for brick and mortar stores.... http://www.retailersshoptalk.com/

other forums i like are http://www.junkrevolution.com/

lots of good junk talk and some show dealers

its open to everybody..

and also for stores and all kinds of retail. . http://www.giftshopmag.com/ theres a good magazine on there too...

also im on giftbeat...they charge..but lots of good talk on there for stores mostly...

i love forums....they have been so valuable to me in going down the rocky road of retail during the last few years.... i really dont have faith in many experts....really now, do they even have stores? i dont think most do....the people i like to hear from and learn from are the ones down in the trenches like i am...facing this economy this month...

i know there is some good expert advice out there, but give me a good FORUM DISCUSSION ANY DAY...on a forum its easy for several conversations to go on at once ..

if you are a store please join us on this new one...the retailers shoptalk...link above...

marketing and events

we are days away from our big february sale....one of our 4 annual events....

heres our newspapaer ad....dh made it on the computer....we have used the deer image for years and just change the words....the theory that they will recognize our ad at a glance.....

nowdays i do less newspaper .. we do so much email and now facebook..

..but the main thing is snail mail to our 3500 person maililng list...

i find marketing so much guesswork... .

ideas

its hard to tell the difference between fleeting ideas and ideas that help you survive......
i get so many ideas its kind of confusing...



..my main one this year seems to be about 30 yr olds.....they are really saving us!!!! they are our new customers....unfortunately i barely know them....lots of them came to our store as little kids......and now they still come with their moms.....they are definitely our main customer group... our old customer base is filled up and they dont need us as much....the whole idea of collecting like we used to is about gone!!! i still collect for sure....but like my comrades, who have collected for years, im pretty full and it has to be really good for me to want it....so my age isnt my target customer anymore....
our greatest group right now is this new homeowner. in her 30s, maybe 40s.SHE NEEDS US.....she still has a house to fill or upgrade..... shes fun and adventurous AND USUALLY ON A BUDGET... ......she is eclectic and very willing to improvise or use things in different ways....she likes up cycling and vintage if it fits her needs, she likes our old parts parts for her own projects.... ..... she likes our paint ideas and likes the ideas of good wood, recycling, having something totally eclectic and even odd..


.the down side is she doesnt want a lot of extras and she has kids so she is probably on a bu dget....she really doesnt care about all the great old stuff i always dealt with....the idea of a 100$ pitcher or pot just isnt interesting to her...
so thats my big idea for the year...im trying to learn her ways... what does she read? i dont watch any daytime tv....but i hear her talk about hgtv... I WANT TO BE HER PLACE TO SHOP...





SOME OF MY IDEAS THIS YEAR..

..ROBOT SHIRTS
MAN CAVE
PRINCESS ROOM
DEEPER INTO MAGNETS AND FUN WOMEN STUFF....
MORE FACEBOOK
BETTER GARDEN ADS
TV....MAYBE
LOTS OF FABULOUS EXPENSIVE STUFF ,
A LITTLE MORE CUSTOM WORK, thru jon
go to more auctions





IDEAS I WISH SOMEONE WOULD TAKE AND RUN WITH..
.. vintage indiana, on facebook....i loved the idea , and we even set up a page, then deserted it....a place for all the stores and shows in the vintage,antique, recycled, upcycling world....neat idea!!!

girls day out....this would be so GREAT.... A FACEBOOK PAGE ALL ABOUT GIRLS DAY OUT....COVERING A 100 MILE CIRCLE AROUND ME.... .... so much of our selling is around women out having fun and shopping.... taking a break...it would list all the neat shops, the malls, cool restaurants, neat spots....kind of a tourist thing for our kind of shoppers....
a container from indiana..... i love ths one...you would call the store and walk around with a worker and a camera and buy a huge truck load and we would send a big truck load you...this one died on the vine a long time ago...

DO YOU HAVE A BRICK AND MORTAR SHOP? email me for info about a new forum just for stores.... or take a look... www.retailersshoptalk.com its just for stores..and private....your customers couldnt get on....

now heres another great idea.... a forum for show and mall booth dealers...wouldnt it be great? why dont you start one? i would gladly join, i have 2 mall booths....... forums are so nice for good discussion...with several different topics going at once....anyone want to try it? its a good baby/orphan idea imho ...

the classy middle...

HOW TO PRICE what you make....
we rack our brain on this all the time......if its a fun hobby it doesnt really matter but if you need the project to support itself you have to really work on price and hope you get one that will work.... the filter i have to put it thru at the very start is ;;;; can the product warrant 10$ an hour to make it plus materials and then the store profit????... ..

....i never see pricing higher meaning more sales..who buys like that? ...i always think my well heeled customers are pretty smart and can see the product as it is and like my nice medium nice price..

...sadly i have seen many artists flop and go back to hated jobs because they wanted the high prices right from the start and couldnt get their thing off the ground..why do artists need 50$ an hour? ive worked for 6$ at the start..
what i cant understand is online selling and packing a 3$ item, how can you make money there? if you count your time at all.......or keeping a thing going, like a store or a booth, if you arent making money...we do need to do the math........ i price medium to low to keep on making a living...and feel like my presentation tells them it isnt cheap...my theory is to make money and sell a lot....the bad thing is when you establish a price and its too low to make any profit ...been there too...there is a lot of money to be made in the classy middle range...imho if something isnt selling i usually figure its the wrong thing ...

I POSTED THIS OVER ON JUNK REVOLUTION forum....ITS A GREAT place FOR ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE IN THE JUNK WORLD... http://www.junkrevolution.com/ and started by the fun and famous ki nassauer

there are some good junk artists on there too....and lots of good links...I WOULD LOVE TO SEE HER BIG JUNK SHOW IN MINNESOTA IN SEPTEMBER....

imho....junk is a big and growing category....at least here and at the shows...

whats worked for us is aiming OUR PRICES TOWARDS THE CLASSY MIDDLE...LOOKING GOOD AND WORTH IT AND NOT OVERPRICED BUT NOT CHEAP....a price where we are happy and the buyers are happy and WILLING TO BUY.....

I REALLY DONT GET THE IDEA THAT RAISING MY PRICES WOULD MAKE THINGS SELL BETTER....IF THAT WERE TRUE...WOW WE WOULD BE HAPPY CAMPERS!!!!

more display

this was a beautiful store in florida...she had so much in there and left holiday up all year.... totally packed but still dramatic...lotsof tall , trees or racks, in many places...

many small sections featuring one theme....and were in cubby holes and framed beautifully....

the pictures dont do it justice...

display

here is one of the most georgous booths we saw in chicago......PEACOCK PARK...

she has a wonderful eye and is so adventurous.....

you can see her stuff i n our store...you might have seen the big clock or the fun french dancing girls.......

does this look familiar? one of our big cabinets in her booth....doesnt it look cool !!!.....she likes my grungy paint job rather than the perfect job by my good painter...its exciting to me to know someone whos breaking ionto the national scene....

her displalys are known in the retail world and now with her wonderful spread in the mag...WHERE WOMEN CREATE... the blog world and the magazine world can enjoy her too...

you can see her blog here.

http://www.peacockparkdesign.blogspot.com/

display

love this one...with the tin roof.... maybe in the key west room.WE SAW SO MANY GREAT DISPLAys IN CHICAGO AT THE BIG SHOW.....
i want to build these!!! so easy and so basic.....we have the parts........
.doors, screens, porch posts, and old tin and willing workers....WE CAN DO THIS...

.AND JUST LOOK HOW MUCH THEY HOLD...
im thinking of making an x out of doors...like in this booth , you can walk all around it and it would hold so much....

Display

my roots are finding great antiques and selling them off the truck...display was nothing..........

.......now display its crucial and helps us sell and defines the store, so im trying to get better and better at it........ on my trip i got some pictures to share on here.....Click here for the displays.

this is annie of annies trash talk..... her displays are mostly from junk....picture frames wrapped in tin foil...a big pink tire.....a dollar frame with bottle caps all around and painted pink..i loved her fun view of the world and we ordered a lot... dh thought it was a little sexist..

but it went along with my theory about women customers for the year...heard on giftbeat.....

PMS, BOOZE AND FRIENDS..... this booth made me laugh in all those departments

notes

we are on vacation and in florida.... i go to lots of shops and have seen many wonderful displays...... one store was so full you could hardly walk thru....tons of bethany lowe and more in that range...it was gorgeous and so opposite of much advice i read....like get rid of everything you can in every season....that store had the opposite philosophy....and was in its 12th year.... and just breathtaking........
another highlight was seeing an ikea....you know im in a state with not one ikea.... well even tho i make fun of them a lot...as in our furniture doesnt come in a box, etc etc..... i have to say i was very impressed with their huge store....it was so fresh and modern, spacious, clean lines, great graphics, simple but great ideas everywhere you looked...including lots of metal........ and the prices were amazingly low....they somehow have made a niche with great style and low prices at the same time.they were so reasonable in price and totally classy and up to date.......which isnt easy......that is totally what we we try to do at greenoak....i think its the best way to adjust to the new normal economy we face in retail.......i was so glad to see ikeas beautiful presentation and feel like it helped me see into my new young homeowner customers.... ...
sorry to say the main thing we have noticed is huge amounts of storefronts empty..... there are huge holes everywhere weve gone...from key west on up.... this economy has really pushed out a lot of stores.......

so if you are still out there making it or still trying a retail thing ....take a bow....its a cruel world out there....
BUZZ.... the atlanta show was selling like crazy....almost everybody happy....

some thoughts on closing a store.....is it a failure? WOMEN IN BUSINESS all over the country are facing this question..
in women talk, a closed business isnt a failure..TO CALL IT THAT IS a big no no.....we look at all the fun sides and creative sides, the experience......especially if we didnt have to have the income to keep a roof over our heads.

.like i totally value my first business that had to close for financial reasons.. gemini in rochester...it has a facebook page.... , i learned so much about the harsh realities, it ended up being a big plus and education for guiding us in building our new idea, WELL, IT WAS NEW 30 YRS AGO......green oak antiques.....

...we mess up when we make business decisions on the wrong framework and forget that the bankers and people who have given us credit just look at us WITH ONE CONCERN....ARE WE FINANCIALLY RELIABLE... ..they dont care about the other stuff...

like our dreams and our feelings.

..STILL MY GOAL IS ALWAYS TO HAVE A WILD WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE WITH BEAUTIFUL THINGS AND KEEP LOOKING AT THE STORE AS A GRAND ADVENTURE....BUT AT THE SAME TIME TRY TO STILL BE TOTALLY RELIABLE TO MY SUPPLIERS AND MY BANKER.....

........if i had to close and loose everything weve built and the income weve enjoyed and the security its given me and my family and workers ...well dont get mad if i would call it a failure/disaster/ of the most horrible kind..to me thats what it would be and maybe it would be my fault because of the business decisions i made, what i pick out next week in chicago...what plots i try for this year to reach and please my target customers,,,i really feel the responsibility...........and, BIG YUKK, i would have to pay back money to the bank , or try to ...we didnt have any debt till about yr 10....and i know some stores who have done it without debt....im so impressed with them...we went in for a building and later for seasonal inventory....the first years, poorer but debt free. were without the horrible financial pressure of the last few!!! im aiming for very reduced credit now...i dont want as much as felt safe a few years ago....i think we all feel for everybody and just have different words....we are facing rough times for sure....and it helps to hear from each other....i sure dont blame anyone for closing...but mostly i feel for those who are in there really trying/needing to make it work in thIs HORRIBLE ECONOMY....

GREEN OAK IS DEFINITELY HANGING IN THERE..... as best we can....and hoping for another good year....and finding the right mix for the store AND OUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS.......

im in florida and planing

merry christmas

hope you all had some time to just lay around and enjoy a day off.....

A GOLDEN TIME

this time of year is golden to me....the numbers come in, i can look at the shelves and see what happened with my product picks.., its year end!!!!

i do a lot of the yearly plan at this time....when all the parts of last years plan come to light....what worked and what didnt..what we have too much of what we didnt get enough of...... what the state of the store is...how bad last year really was...

.what saved us...dh says we cut our spending to adjust to the horrible reality this last year...and i think we picked out some pretty cool stuff last year...

. and what our goals should be for the coming year.... ...

.we have new issues this coming year....good ones....my health insurance is off the table....turned 65...thats saving us about 800 a month in insurance.....its pretty bad when your dh cant wait for you to turn 65!!! lol.... i can hardly believe it ...we are trying for almost a month off in january...im dreading it... im not good at vacations....but we have a great crew, not really worried there....

.so basically im having fun right now trying to sift thru everything and come up with

a great recipe for 2010...and im bugging everybody here at the store and lots of other folks for their opinions on everything... im asking them hard questions....like what worked best this year? etc etc... I NEED SOME WILD IDEAS FOR THE STORE!!!

here are some of the lists i will be thinking about...it helps to get it on paper....and it really helps to look at last years lists..... to see what you forgot about or let drop without giving it a good try...

1. what sold out in christmas ...whats left...
2. best sellers in the different categories....fooo foo, country, garden, key west,
3. revamping the store...?????
4. marketing .
5. ORPHAN IDEAS..the things still waiting around for their big chance...
6. what went up what went down...what to cut...
7. web ideas...site,email plans....facebook .. etsy....blog roll, how to make it all more interactive....im still looking for more store forums..... ???
8. best ideas all year...worst...
9. what to buy...i love this part...
10. events.... what worked this past year....

these are some of the lists that will be jiggleing around in my head and that i will be talking about with everybody in the next few weeks...

.and then its the big wholesale show where we make the main product decisions for the coming year...

also i keep a couple of notebooks thru the year...nothing too organized but lots of ideas....so i like to really go thru those too.... at this point all information and viewpoints are good... and i like to hear as much as i can from everybody....

all this helps me focus on the goals we have .... its fuzzy but it kind of works.... i dont want to get too organized.... so many good things for us have happened by serendipity...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and heres something completely different ....FOR YOUR BLOG....

.VIDEo BLOGGING..... i would love to see us all do it!!! http://2minuteswithava.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

furniture and homes... theory.

here are some recent pictures of our store....i think the pictures show THE KEY TO
WHAT OUR STORE IS ABOUT ~furniture and homes......we hope we can be a place where adventurous people can come and find good things for their houses.........A THING THAT JUST FEELS SO RIGHT TO THEM.....SOMETHING THEY CAN REALLY USE AND SAYS THIS IS ME...and at a friendly price....we hope...

IN A WAY .....WE SELL THE RAW MATERIALS.....

we get a huge variety of people...that sure keeps it interesting to me...we try not to specialize...why limit ourselves!!!!. one week a grand piano the next a prim workbench..... we dont want to be too predictable....boring would be so wrong...

.I LOVe hearing about the customers projects...from fun junk projects using the roughest stuff, to building projects working with our antique fireplace mantles, or big old porch parts....its kind of endless... . ...sometimes i get to see them... if they get around to sending me a picture i try and put it on our pin up page here http://www.greenoakantiques.com/.... lots of customers come tell me how many compliments they got from something they got here.....

just trying to say, i think the right recipe, if you can find it, can make us really valuable to our customers... either for a cheap thrill or a big serious purchase....or maybe both, on different days... ......

so.....GO WHOLE HOG FOR THEM....imho

on the web.... son jon has a new blog... put together by terri, his wife and our webmistress.....when he brings something great home he will say its decorator approved..usually referring to what hes learned by observing the decorators bidding at auction...his goal is to have very current pictures and prices...

..so here it is.... http://www.jonsdecoratorapprovedpicks.blogspot.com/

WORD ON THE STREET..... we had a big company owner in the store today..for PROPS AND DISPLAY PIECES......and her view was that its been a GOOD SEASON and her customers, mostly boutiques or high end shops, are doing well and reordering....

. also hearing GOOD REPORTS on a store forum im on.... we are sure feeling pretty healthy right now...WEVE HAD 3 GOOOD MONTHS IN A ROW... with this month beating last year by a lot......

fads and trends....

my theory is if you name your store after a fad...you will be hurting....

example...shabby chic ...the word is over....the color and feel is a big huge trend that will hang on for a long time.........the fad of shabby is about over......the word feels over used.... its kind of out..as in its in or was in target and walmart...... but neat casual white stuff is still good...and the whole idea of shabby is still what our store is about......but still im so glad i dont have shabby in my name...glad that i didnt hinge everything on one idea....

in other words ...if your store makes it....you dont want a name that sounds out of touch and dated in a few years....

i loved the word shabby....it said it perfectly....but now when im still selling it i need a new word....now im kind of having a ball with steampunk.... but i dont want to change our name to anns steampunk parlor...

the trouble with having a business thats all about a big fad..especially if its your favorite style and you are new.... ..THE TROUBLE IS... is you dont realize its going to change/get old/ ..... i think thats where the french thing is headed....once the trendsetting buyers see it one too many places they will be looking for the next thing.... we had that situation in our record shop....we made these huge fun earrings for several years....it seemed like a sure thing....THEN the girls turned to llittle bitty stud earrings....we were toast!!!....past fads...cabbage patch...80s hair...collectors plates, collectible anything.. beanies....cutsy country...victorian....

tracing a fad...heres an example of something thats hitting boutiques right now...religious things...like statues , big serious victorian things, angels, SANTOS, ....this makes antique dealers smile....because the antique world has been after this kind of thing for at least 7 ore 8 yrs..... i really think the antique world is where the new styles bubble up ....the good show dealers sell to to the big designers and trendsetters and the buyers for the big famous stores ..... .....anyway those famous people go to the big shows....brimfield, roundtop, scotts, kane county, springfield....etc etc etc..... etc etc ..... ... and thats where everything starts ...imho.....then it filters down to the big gift companies and to the boutiques then to target, walmart and hobby lobby....

its interesting for me....because even tho i stay right here in indiana,.....we are at the bottom of the pecking order...I DO GET TO HEAR THE STORIES RUNNING THRU THE DESIGN WORLD... ..if some business does great with our stuff they dont broadcast our name... but we are always looking for something that would be right for the top of the pecking order of buyers..IM SHOPPING FOR THE BIG BUYERS ALL THE TIME, BUT FINDING SOMETHING THAT GOOD IS HARD....and we definitely sell to some people who sell at those shows..... lots of our stuff has ended up at the big fancy places.... and in magazines.....and in how to books...but not with our name...

i get to hear about the big buyers who i have seen in mags etc and thats fun too.... like martha stewart and racheal ashwell and what the anthro and terrain buyers are looking for..

so what is hot on the antique trail right now? i would say industrial....lockers, metal drawers, big metal factory tables ,..stark and mission.... ..and big church things still...and the real big fabulous stuff ....and some primitive...

my newest interest is whole idea of recycled, junk, and urban and steampunk....we are embracing that at green oak...we have a whole industrial section... its so cool!!! .the wildest parts , like my love hurts sign, probably wont be huge here...but we do have lots of outside the box customers and we do sell to some big show dealers and we can be a source for them... our country girls are always open to using outside or barn things inside..so they like some of the stuff ....

something could be here at our store and at the pier show in new york a few months later....happens all the time...with the right stuff....

thats my theory for today....

i really think your longevity in business will come from your expression of style....and i wouldnt limit your vision with a real specific word like french or shabby or whatever comes next... i would pick a vague name , an abstract name, that can still be relevant when your customers change or you get different customers......a name that wouldnt box you in to some style thats in menards and hobby lobby and walmart a couple of years down the road...

here we are big enough in space to cover lots of styles....but even in a smaller store i think you have to choose either jump on the bandwagon of a fad and go for it...then close when its over........or jump into a fad but keep something else going too....... the second choice is the healthy one imho...

so in a nutshell....lets say scarves are hot....and you want to get in on it....if you name your store scarf city....it will be over and you will have the wrong name....which might be just fine....

i wish our name was green oak home and garden...

but every time i bring it up dh gags....it would be a huge amount of work to change it...our name doesnt say what we are well at all...

if you are picking a name....GOOD LUCK... hope you can find one that wont drive you nuts down the road...

4TH QUARTER....

FOR US ITS THE 4TH QUARTER......meaning christmas in november, no thanksgiving, and finding out if all the stuff we bought was right or not....
we had our big openhouse and so thankful that it turned out great!!! actually up ...which is a wonder this year!!!!
a good thing....the store full of happy chaotic shoppers isnt something they can get on line...

i think we hit on a couple of really good ideas that fit our store and our customers....
GIFTS TO GO....WE HAD A BIG SELECTION AT 15$ or less...so good for the little gifts people need..
BATTERY CANDLES....these sold so well!! they are so useful....its a flickering bulb on top of a taper...no flame...and we have had one run for 4 weeks, non stop, in the store ...
LANTERNS...the big hit was our lanterns.... filled with christmas ....how does a big new idea come? well this one just popped into my head...last year we did snowmen under cloches...and this year we have these big beautiful lanterns out on the back porch, they have been pretty popular with a candle and berry ring...so the next step was easy.......just messing around i put a snowman in one ...and viola!!!! we probably have sold 1000$ of them.....the lesson...keep your mind open , putter around, try something.... i need another one!!lol...
the nice thing is the customer can take it apart and do something else for spring...

THE WORK PART.... transforming that much of the store is kind of a nightmare..or christmas in a blender ....we didnt close....we were very torn up for a week...the customers just kind of wallked thru the mess....and were nice about it...hopefully they didnt hear very many of the oh shits.... from the little elves behind the scenes...
we had a great crew working ...as always... and i think it turned out good.... we got a lot of compliments...we arent professional florists or decorators....but we try...

i know some stores held back for christmas this year but we didnt and it seems to have been a good decision...

MONEY TALK.... ITs TIME TO DO THE MATH... to me that means looking at the year end and seeing if you are ok...its not so much about doing the accounting different...its about
looking at finances with a cold eye.. did this year work out ? ..is it going up or down? .. are we ok?....or is it getting worse and worse? did we make the money we need to make? ....my feeling is that we made it another year..but omg...its harder and harder...
its hard times for sure....but thats the times we are in.... i want to be realistic and make it work in these times, not sink slowly while im waiting for better times.........
i want to do the math and face the music and keep on doing this!!! thats where coming up with a better plan that fits the new reality comes in.... the hard part...
maybe i could be sloppier a couple of years ago and still make it...now every penny seems to count more...