a retailer forum!!!!!

YAY....A NEW RETAILER FORUM IS STARTING... http://strictlybusiness.ipbfree.com/index.php?act=idx

started up by ..susan at the http://www.thedutchrose.blogspot.com/ ....shes great and hoping to make a good place to talk about our business issues....im really looking forward to it...and hope lots of store owners and other kinds of retailers will find it..
hope to see you over there.... and here.... of course..

the shabby castle section...

im not sure what to call our white section...its shabby, french , european rustic, country cottage.... but its filling up...this month we got the frnch dancing girls....they are big mats....

and lotsof gold crowns,and statuary and another huge white mirror,.,,this one is 5 ft wide.....

also painted a chunky fancy vanity in my version of french grey... kind of grey and tan and white...........................

..

we watch so many english and french movies this style is looking better and better...

also i sell to an antique show dealer who sells to the big decorators who come to his shows, like lakewood in atlanta and one in texas.. and he looks for antiques in this style and industrial also ....so i hear about it a lot....

plus, online, im seeing wonderful stores and tours of all this style.... like here http://euroantiquemarket.blogspot.com/ thanks linda..

plus i have a wild wonderful customer and antique buddy who makes and sells the dancing french girl bamboo mats above....she loves french antiques and sometimes my big fantasy pieces and takes her customers to paris!!!! http://www.peacockparkdesign.blogspot.com/

of course im here in corn country....but at least it will be eye candy for my customers...until the right person comes along...

THE TROUBLE WITH MARCH... march is always hard for us...in january we go to chicago and buy for the season.. ...and it is coming in and has come in....also we have bought our huge supply of garden iron...which is always a great seller for us.....the trouble is that none of this sells much until april and may.........so we are caught with big bills and slow sales...a normal situation for march..... its kind of a snafu kind of deal....

..im not whining, .. but this year we also have the us economy and the weather, we had many very impossible weather days last winter, a sub zero stretch in january , and the economy has touched about everyone i know ...

then there is the whole bank crisis, which seems to be changing our credit cards and the interest rates we are being offered..some have gone up unexpectedly ..at first w e just dropped them but now dh is looking at it differently...

,.....he says that dropping them might be bad because your credit rating is affected by what percent of your available credit you are using....so if you drop a crappy card [one who raised the rate a bunch] that can hurt your credit score...since you would be depleting your pool of available credit.....so now we are keeping cards we dont really want..

we do need credit in march..i hate to use it.....but thats a normal part of our year......

.

im ready for some sun ..

THE DAILY GRUMP....im a virgo and picky so griping comes easy to me..i try not to be like alice roosevelt...who said if you have something bad to say , come sit by me...

...heres todays gripe ...i carry about 3 patterns of placemats ,runners, napkins, with a company....and just ordered about 300$ in the 3 patterns...they are pretty springy colors, mostly pink for my foo foo room...well my big spring order came today and no placemats for one of the patterns and no runners for another..and no aprons either......so i have 24 napkins and no placemats, etc......my customers sure cant buy a big set of any of the patterns.....and who knows when i will get the rest... its so frustrating.... i dont need this in the fall.... i need it now...it happened last year too.... the initials are g.f. ...i like their style quality and price...

my strawman for today

today i want to knock down some advice i heard online.. ...since he isnt here to defend himself he can be my strawman..

its from an accountant...

heres the advice to a store ....RAISE YOUR PRICES A LOT AND SUCK UP TO THE RICH PEOPLE.....he suggested a 3 to 4x markup over wholesale...

.PRICES....first of all if a store isnt making enough money it could be for many reasons...like, under capitalization, the wrong product or not enough customers or bad recipe in general......if your customers arent buying the thing you picked out why would they buy it if it were higher? you might really need better suppliers and more customers, or a better idea in general....

there are 3 ways i see to make more money...one is to raise prices, one is to buy cheaper, one is to turn your inventory over more times.....a large jump in prices would be my last choice ...

i would love to double my current mark up.. now that would be great but where am i going to get that product? or that customer? remember it has to sell...customers arent stupid, the good ones shop everywhere and all over the map....

much better would be to do the math and figure out how much more you would make if you increased your turnover..then have that be your goal.....lots better path than recklessly raising prices....imho... or look harder for that product you really can raise the markup on....but not across the board...and best of all would be to bring in more buyers....

..

one more thought ...what if your landlord or your suppliers get the advice to double their prices and do it......would you notice, would you care..? does your answer mean that you are poor or cant afford the raise? would they get your business?

PEOPLE...his advice to join where the rich people hang out... and generally suck up to them is pretty wierd....they arent stupid...they might not let you into the country club, lol..it might cost thousands to get in... ...you dont need a makeover.....your effort might seem totally phony and forced and they could see right thru it....

...we sell to lots of rich people and dont do any of that...we are in a lake district...with some million $$ homes....i think they come here because they like our store and our stuff....they really dont want to golf with me or go on a cruise with me.....its all about them all the time...they can shop anywhere and are bored easily.... the nice thing is if they want what you are offering they will have the money to buy it... .i try hard to get wonderful things for them....

they are pretty used to being buttered up but why? and isnt that a really hard road to go down? maybe they would like things on approval, limitless credit, revamping their purchases, special hours, wide open return privledges........ etc etc...im not going there..

im not sure the accountant has known many viable retail stores....our store makes us a good income, , and his advice seems foolhardy..is there really a connection with overpricing items and success? i know several viable retail stores and they dont run that way.......especially this year...

..i think this advice is kind of narrow and rash and probably comes from the accountants view of numbers and him seeing lots and lots of stores go belly up....and him thinking if they made more on each sale they would have survived....thats very true but....but it leaves out a whole lot of retail reality.....starting with you have to make a whole lot of sales ...

another thought on socializing with the customers...or trying to...i have to watch my employees about that....to me the customers are in here to talk about themselves not us....and i have had a few employees who act like it is a social situation and would gladly talk for a long time about all their ideas and experiences....to me thats all off topic, the topic being the customer...and the main topic being what are they considering buying....and presenting our things as well as possible...

KIND OF LIKE CHEERS

we are kind of like cheers, WE REALLY KNOW OUR CUSTOMERS , lots of them anyway....with lots of them there is an on going conversation ..we seem to pick up the conversation where we left off the last time they were here........i know whos building, whos remodelling, whos getting new diggs,...maybe i dont know their name but i probably know what so many of them like..what colors, what style...all kinds of stuff........just think if you went into a store and they remembered the colors or what was bugging you in your sunroom.......luckily it seems to come natural here......

. today 2 told me about their operations ,one i waited on because she couldnt walk very well yet,.... another mentioned the 45 great eastlake chairs he bought from us 4 yrs ago, another came out looking for the perfect thing for her husbands ashes....that happened last week too....another old guy gave me a bunch of watch parts, for free a few weeks ago....and wanted to see what people do with them...so i showed him some punky/funky robots with watch parts for heads on the computer....and a couple of regulars came thru and griped because i didnt have anything new for them..another said i was kind of gimpy...hurt my foot, one was amazed we hadnt gotten the stuff that was stolen back from the cops, and another said i looked tired...also there was the flow of bad husband and golf jokes , mostly started by dh......most of the buying was done by couples...but we had lots of 3 generations in too...lots of babies today... a 15 yr, at least, customer called from arkansas to buy something he missed last week, hes on his way to the big texas show......its pretty neat...

.we probably had 100 thru today...and probably half of them have been coming for over 5 yrs and several for over 10....almost everyone bought something....

my point is that our stores can be a lot different than the totally regimented hallmarks, tjmaxxes, hobby lobbys out there....we can be special, suprising, inspiring and a comfortable place for our customers..

and i think we make our stores better by being out there.....they say the gardner walking thru the garden is the best manure.....and i think its that way for store owners too....if we are out there on the front line, we see so much, catch problems early, see what needs to be done......

....i cant imagine getting the info i need to make all the decisions we have to make without the constant flow of info and feedback from the buyers..PLUS YOUR STORES FUTURE DEPENDS ON THOSE PEOPLE.....i love being on the floor....and i really love when the customers like my workers too....

i care a lot for our customers, but i tell them no all the time...im not a pushover at all....i gladly give them coffee and cookies and a free bathroom ...thats no biggie here..lots of them stay way over an hour... but we have our policies and are pretty strict about them.....

its not perfect of course....but i easily ignore the grumpy ones and stay away from the loud babies...

wanna see my swot test....

you might want to try this...it kind of clarifies a lot....its kind of ikky to do..

heres a better description of it...http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm..

mainly i just make the lists and think about it...heres my

SWOT TEST

STRENGTHS...

family goals,

customers, especially the long term ones.

huge inventory.

reputation as a fun place to go,

reputation for reasonable prices..

our workers....

our suppliers....

wierd inventory..optimism, our events

, the billboards,

the store divisions[foofoo, country, key west, rough room,,etc] good summer plot as in our garden iron.

WEAKNESSES..

.no budget,

fair to poor management skills,

location...

OPPORTUNITIES

.A mall booth im real excited about , etsy..publishing abilities...networking...10,000 sq ft to play around with...a good project with a new nice person..4000 on the mailing list

THREATS

age ,

unknowns,

the highway might close off our road,

the economy...indianas economy

big companies selling to big box stores...suppliers higher than traffic will bear...

well one could go on and on....but it puts your mind on lots of ideas in a slightly organized way....

relationships....

we have 3 or 4 relationships that bring us thousands of $$$$$....

they are long term....they are mutually beneficial....

***one revolves around one man, hes about 70...he has recruited a family member and his lodge ...he is a mini factory for us and produced way over $100,000 in sales for us last year...we have a totally common goal...to make money ...the good thing here is the man had a few years of retail selling at shows and doesnt like it...he realizes the difference between retail and wholesale...its mutually good.......i want to be totally reliable to him... i dont want him looking for another customer...this is about a 10 yr relationship......hes built this business with us, hes no handwringer, he gets things done and sticks to our deal.....all the executive talk is between him and me....the communication lines stay pretty good for the most part...

***another is our amish connection ...this is jons project ...they dont even have a phone or a car...... jon sees him every week and they build for us....it gives their family work,,,and they treat us fairly in all ways...... it gives us a fabulous product and thousands of $$$ every year.... ... .... we are reliable to each other...this is about a 5 yr relationship

the other i can think of is also jons, our chicago connection....this guy brings us things regularly..if money is tight we try and always have some for him....and we try to be as good a customer as we can...he brings us lotsof big things not available around here... this is about a 3 yr relationship...

i really like to think long term and deal with as few guys as possible.... it has to be a good deal for both sides...and it has to be for something we really want and at a price we can get......

these 3 things have enriched our store a whole lot....and made us different and more flexible..

i think all three of these people were out there for anyone to find, and we were just open enough to realize they were worth a try, and on both sides we were willing to go thru the hard part of figuring out what would work, and if we could work together, and then developing ideas and slogging thru the experimenting process to get to the good stuff we have now ...lots of problems before getting into a good stable situation.......

...... we are always out there networking and have our ear to the ground as much as possible...

others we have tried have failed..

and a few we have committed to when we shouldnt have...when the profit margin just wasnt there...

we are always out there networking and roaming around in our field....who knows what great connection we might make next time or be too dumb to see!!! it keeps it interesting...

ADVICE LEACH....

im a sponge for business advice....i want to hear it all.....

heres THE BEST ADVICE I
HEARD LAST YEAR....

now this is kind of duh! but it made some things so clear to me...and helped me move on....into a little better path......the good idea was to put your money and time and inventory into whats on the customers mind at the time...so
thats why ...



***right now my money is pouring into spring and summer stuff....my customers are getting outside and fluffing up their porches, gardens and patios.... they own homes , thats what kind of thing they are interested in right now...
***thats why i wouldnt waste time on a christmas in july project ,why would i advertize christmas stuff in july when i have summer stuff to advertize and sell...it would be like advertizing sweaters instead of halter tops if i were doing clothes.......


**and this was a biggie for me....thats why im not advertizing so much in the slow months and quite a bit more in the good months or at the start of the good months...in the past i would use too much ad money in jan and feb.... this idea made me see that it will be much better to buy ads now, at the start of my big warm weather season....or at the start of my big fall season.
**2 of our annual events hit this idea perfectly...our garden party and our christmas open house...these bring in hundreds of customers.....


sorry to say, i dont remember who threw that little ditty out but i thnk its made me lots of sales..so thank you whoever you are...
basically of course i would like to get rid of some more of my winter merchandise but i better be focussing on my summer stuff and do a good job at that....

high end buyers

i have been suprised at the high end places that have slowed down now...like neiman marcus even.....last week i talked to a mother whos dh had a real good probably safe job....BUT they have lost over half of the college money they have saved for their kids over the last 15 yrs.... in the stock market...
so thats where shes coming from when she decides what to spend on...

what good did college do?

i went to stephens college in missouri...all girls!!.... and got an aa....then to manchester college in indiana and didnt graduate..got jon.....ive never had a job that required anything....actually never had a job since the 70s...thankfully...........but what it did was like a good education should...it showed me i dont know everything and not to be too sure of things and to look at the other sides of things.......it pushed my desire to explore, to learn etc etc.... and slightly opened the doors and slightly showed the paths out there....i will always remember a humanities class at stephens...the prof said look out the window ...at the building across the way...and he said after this section on architecture, that building will look so much different..... he was so right...anyway this is my plug for learning...and i think i got into the right business for a curious mind..the antique world..

.. my favorite role models at 20 were ayn rand and martin luther king and at 12 sheena queen of the jungle and nancy drew....

my education was in secondary ed...i did my student teaching and i could see right away i wouldnt want to be in any tight organization...like a school system... .. i did like the kids a lot....also i had no domestic skills....so my challenge was to do my own thing, somehow....

scary

our numbers are only down 5%....but it just doesnt feel very good out there.... the traffic thru the week is pretty bad....im reserving judgement/panic until the weather breaks...its really been a hard winter...

.. i think they are still going to be buying for their houses....and we have some great things right now...

my plot has been to keep the prices low as possible...and the mark up up.....also to cut out some marginal things....and a real good thng has been to just get over some things and put them into the half price room.... if its over a year whats the point of keeping something?...that room is a draw....but i sure wouldnt want it to be the main thing......our half price room looks like crap....but it doesnt seem to bother anyone....i cant be paying someone to fluff up that part of the store , when we are behind in other parts...

we've worked thru the winter with no layoffs........

.. which im glad about..and boy are they being nice to me... ..the plot has been to

fluff up the inventory...weve made fun key west signs, window art, big metal signs, big metal flowers, archetectural coatracks, dabbled into vinyl words on windows,and reworkked lotsof stuff from the rough room.... and started a big etsy project..using totally low level misc that we have already.... all this has increased our inventory in nice ways...and made all the work hours productive even tho we werent full of customers...thats the hope anyway....also ive branched out on the internet....a ning and a couple of new forums..

...

im going with .

.. keep calm and carry on...

its so clear that people are worried about their money.... around here everybody knows folks who have lost their job or waiting for that to happen....im really trying to be carefull...........

heres a great post by a woman in business....retail resolutions..... http://boutiqueindustry.blogspot.com/

whats going on in your neck of the woods?

advice for women ..+ venting

i think we need a forum for stores..... if anyone has heard of one i would love to hear about it...

all i can find are girly forums , forums for newbies, forums for work at home moms.... forums for startups..online forums...thats all fine but not me, im established...committed.and have a big store on my hands that needs to keep on going....i need my bliss to keep on working....i want to hear about things that are working in good functioning stores.... a forum for independant businesses ,with stores who are making it, or invested in making it, and facing all the issues our store is facing......i want a place where you can get real feedback from others in the same boat.... ....positive or be careful....about all the new ideas we are trying...

ive read so many business and marketing books...and generic expert advice is fine..but im not needing more expert advice....,im hoping to find a place with on the ground practical advice from people who go to the same shows i do, know my customers, know my field etc etc...,,, a forum with other businesses .....

can you tell ive had it with the **girly*** live your dream**go girl** advice?

i do believe all that about living your dream....but it doesnt work by itself....the market is a cruel place and will leave you in the dust......if you pick the wrong thing it wont sell, if you dont have enough inventory you will never make minimum wage, if it all falls the bills still need to be paid...your customers will let you know if your theories are working.....

.i just left a forum,run by a queen bee, supposedly about supporting women in business , where any actual business talk was looked at as negative /bad......and looked at as doom and gloom...only positive girly nice thoughts allowed .....anything else gets deleted......and they have kicked off several members who i thought were very popular and fun to read, ....they shocked me there,... it was so mild... nothing like the great discussions we used to have on country business.... ......they dont want any talk from someone like me...a critical , wonky, type a ,worrying virgo.... who barely baby talked to her own babies...

.then i tried another forum ,mainly for startups, run by experts....important info but boring..ive read all that ....

and if you look at the shelter magazines and try getting advice from their experts and stars.....beware......take a look at how long they have been in business...do they really have a financially viable thing going? ..i want to hear from someone who has at least 5 yrs under their belt, not one or 2...someone taking a paycheck home...

basically i think most of the business advice aimed at women out there is very shallow......and a huge disservice to a lot the great women out there who are ready to jump into business....and maybe use up lots of family money..we wholesale , and i know a lot of women in that boat...they /we need a lot more realistic advice... i wonder where this rosy idea of business a dvice comes from ? good copy? to sell their own services? who knows...

i used to be on country business forum...it was so good...lots of good store talk...you could see the posts, the moderator was great and stayed out of the way, , the tekk part worked well, it was a bunch of stores with lots in common, where over a few years most issues were discussed ..its all changed now.... ....

s

im on a great tekk forum....but they are all guys and not about my junky, shabby. romantic house stuff world....

so im kind of homeless in the forum department right now....

and i really miss not having one....

how about giftbeat? anything going on good there?

oh well...off to work!!! im going out to stirr up up my bliss....we got our huge garden iron delivery yesterday....

....