the woman thing

the woman problem...im reading a lot on line about how hard a store is on your life...that doesnt sound like a concern most businessMEN would be talking about... ...... . ..most women do have to work....why should we, shopkeepers be so different than them? i would hope we could work at our stores and still have regular lives before and after..... lots of women work 8 hrs , at hard jobs and then take care of kids and the house.....
my husbands mom worked in a factory for years....she had a life there and friends there and a life at home....i wouldnt think it was a worse life because she worked ..she probably had pressures there too.....most women have to work these days....its not a choice....i couldnt stand working for anyone ..this life seems much better.....

scary slow today at the store..

..we ordered more christmas and a big hearthside order......their plates and all our word things sure sell.....

FOR THE YARDSALE we got our postcard designed today and an ad...dh does the work,, i ok it.....its so hard for me...i cant do the computer work and dh isnt that picky if all the right words are there he thinks its ok.... or if my first idea isnt working its all my fault.... ....its not exactly a meeting of the minds....he is so good on the computer...we had an apple 2...

but the ad looks good and we will be able to email it to the papers where it will run..... i figure on an event its ok to spend about 10% in preparation and advertising..... that would be about 3 OR 4000$ for us....with the stamps and card taking up at least $2000 and the food about $700 and the extra help a whole lot..THE COSTS ADD UP FAST......im going into this like it will be just like normal...GREAT.... BUT this is a totally scary year for us.....no skimping tho, except on the postcard...we chose a regular size instead of jumbo....saving 700$$ ...but it looks great...

DONT GET ME WRONG ON WOMEN....THEY ARE THE MAIN THING HERE...THE MAIN BUYERS FOR SURE....AND I WANT TO BE A HAPPY WOMAN WITH ALL THE STUFF THAT TAKES.... i just dont expect my business life to be that different than a successful mans.

i think women are different than men etc etc.... but business is business....

.I do KNOW GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN AND THATS WHAT I TRY AND PROVIDE..and that a huge portion of our business depends on women..... AND I WANT TO HAVE FUN TOO....mainly it has to please me..and fit what i can handle...

unfortunately i have to compromise all the time with dh and son jon....none of us get our way all the time....and all three of us are the first born....which really makes it crazy sometimes.... luckily we all have kind of separate parts...

word on the street..... from my bella chica, my daughter...who has a store http://www.bellachicinteriors.com/ she says shes hearing some good things about the economy from some friends working in the bank industry and also some happy real estate people.... so maybe we are turning around a little....... the other thing she told me was that her good customers, who are used to buying whatever they wanted, but are supposed to be on budgets now, have discovered tjmaxxx etc, and think they are getting the same stuff that the big companies are trying to sell us...so she is dropping home decor..and lotsof other smalls...

lots of my customers tell me i work too hard....i really like to ....if i get more help i just think up more work....to me the store has endless possibilities and endless fun ideas waiting to get their chance...

slow and trash to treasure

one of our trash to treasure counters...
or cash wrap or kitchen islands...
it was so slow today!!! ..so we fluffed and made stuff.....we always have lots of work to do...
thank heavens for trash to treasure ..we have theparts cheap....for our creative customers and on slow days like today we make good saleable inventory out of old windows, shutters and old tin.....shelves signs etc etc....there are so many good junky ideas out there,,,,and the public seems really into it too..... so even tho we werent busy today we were making money......
at our store we have to have 2 people to carry all the time...plus a counter person and a floor person....and sometimes a couple more....
orphan ideas
mosaic on big stuff...like a dressform or furniture....but i dont know about glue...
big branches in side the store
trunk show....i like this idea...but dont know who or what would work
indie art show...ive heard of some great ones....like at the blissful...but can i realy throw another event on the schedule....and wouldnt be sure the local girls would be buying enough and what artists i could find......
girls day out....such a good idea but how to market it!!! we are that for lots of women.... how to find more in other towns is so illusive
custom tables and counters....could i really face the hassle?....i hope we dont have to go this way...
selling website....are we nuts?....i bought a site already, from avalon rose, and might try it....but i would like to know one store who is accomplishing anything on it, by my standards meaning a few 100 a month.......it seems pretty unlikely....especially with paid help...im sure not going to be doing it... i can barely turn the computer on...

executive decisions....

**i have a huge order made, lots of it isnt christmas.....we are hoping for the normal 7 or 800 buyers to come for our yardsale in august.....should i have that order on the floor? yes...so it will sell faster, so they can see what we have for them for fall
no....they only have so much to spend and its better to sell old than new...

****where to advertize the sale radio what papers
***what to get new for the foofoo ...the amy butler idea is growing on me...some color!!! we have pink and the country colors....but the monotone isnt making it and im excited to try something new and fresh..
****should we go deeper into custom? so many ask for custom furniture,,but i know what a hassle it could be....and that time and hassle isnt figured in our low prices..... yes, we need every sale and the customers want it..

****should i reorder fairly good sellers or must get something completely new instead? thinking here mainly of my hearthside plates ...yes, because we get new people in all the time....no because the regulars need to see lots new all the time...???
***what are the staples in each of our categories? country, foo foo, modern indiana young homeowners..
*** what to bring home from the mall booths for the yardsale? all the duds.... half of the iron....its so wrong to have things at the malls that we are sold out of here....

what do you think?? what would you do?? how do you make these decisions??

this is definitely my busiest month... we were so busy today.... sold a lot...scary tho , lots of familiar faces arent here....im feeling bad about the economy....

our etsy....got lots more watches and keys to put on....its going pretty well.... http://www.gypsymarket.blogspot.com/

my social error of the day,...one of them... a customer came in and i said i got some flow blue for him....thinking he was coming behind her....she had to tell me they were split....

my smartest move of the year....hiring a really good seller...

sold today....a peace sign on a window,,,,a love shutter, a big chicago cabinet, lots of brackets and hooks, lots of windows, some flowers, frames, a big pile of jewelry,, lots of the cheap little stuff from the yardsales lately...

bought today a nice trunk, wire baskets, old watch dials, little chairs, china cabinet....lots more

our entrance is a wow,,with 3 or 4 big chicago cabinets over 1000$ and our good oak and our harvest tables and a counter usually...,new people are always suprised.... ,,,but we have tons of little stuff in lots of price ranges in other parts of the store.... which is real good too.... its a big job to keep the main entrance cleaned up....we all tend to plop on empty surfaces....and we are buying everyday...

work done today.. boxed up about 20 boxes for the yardsale, and hauled away to the building, priced everything from saturday, cleaned up the aisles, put out all the painted stuff, totes and shutter shelves, filled in the holes from what sold friday and saturday...

a big difference between us and boutiques...... we are aiming at a big target group.... trendy fun upscale homeowners....i think of a boutique is aiming at one style....we can change with the times....but still aim at the same group.... if your whole store is pink and the trend moves to amy butler colors or gothic french where are you? ..our store is big enough to have a broader aim....and one thing they like here is a very seperate part where one look can go extreme and wonderful....so if they hate foo foo they dont even go in there...we have a foo foo boutique and a key west boutique and a country boutique...and a garden boutique... etc etc

off to work!!

indy boutique talk...if you are hiring a 60 yr old to do something important for you...dont call her a shopgirl.....it would probably sound minimizing and condescending to a lot of us....... altho i know its not meant that way...like calling a black guy boy...

Fall .. we decided to put it out and some sold today....i guess the thoery is when the kids go back to school they think about fall....and our poor kids go back august ..... 6.....

the woman problem...im reading a lot on line about how hard a store is on your life...that doesnt sound like a concern most businessmen would have...... . ..most women do have to work....why should we, shopkeepers be so different than them? i would hope we could work at our stores and still have regular lives before and after..... lots of women work 8 hrs then take care of kids and the house.....

my husbands mom worked in a factory for years....she had a life there and friends there and a life at home....i wouldnt think it was a worse life because she worked ..she probably had pressures there too.....most women have to work these days....its not a choice....i couldnt stand working for anyone..this life seems much better....

i was lucky...had a a model...

when we started our business we were lucky.... mainly that we fit into the huge trend of the day....or probably we were so flexible we wormed our way into the biggest trend of the day.... the trend of antiques and the country living version of decorating...
funny but country living still shows my kind of customers and their kind of decorating...
BUT MY BIGGEST HELP WAS having a business model,SMITTYS ANTIQUES ,......a store who i could see was making it ....and big time!!! as in a real income... ...the owner was an old guy and very popular and sold tons......his store and clientele fit me like a glove........ i wanted to handle what he did and sell to the kinds of buyers he had..the big guys..... i could see that it was totally possible...i wanted to be smitty junior......so i copied tons of his policies..... they were unconventional,,,,and not like most of the stores back then....but thats what i did and it worked out great.... he was about 60 and i was 27...
this got us out there into our market on the right foot..meaning our offerings were interesting and reasonable with a big turnover not perfectly staged and overpriced .. pleasing the buyers right from the start.... and there were tons of buyers back then....
he would sell out to almost the bare walls a lot...i never quite managed that...
and 20 yrs later he and i were still in business..when he was in his 80s he was outbidding me at auctions or visa versa ..and most of the other stores were gone....

now hes gone, its 10 yrs later his policies still are a big part of our store philosophy...

if we had followed the conventional version of a store i dont think we would have made it...

my point is ..copy someone in business that you see working...... not just theory or a pretty magazine shoot........look around and find a store thats making it in a way that would satisfy you..... then try and figure out how they did it what they do that works etc etc...

every year country business magazine spotlights some wonderful store.and really gives lots of business details.......thats the kind of info i really like to read.....
here are some of smittys rules that guided us....
..sell low if you can....if he got something reasonable he would pass it on...but next time it might be real high because he paid more....and this was back when most places were pricing their stock by the price guides.he priced by what he paid....he would definitely pass on a bargain to his customers.......we have made tons and tons of money on this one idea....

..no credit or layaways...perfect for us nobody owes us money...nobody is dodging me because they owe me...

..sell as is where is...but no hand holding or guaranteeing...duh

...stay till the end of the auction.... i still feel guilty if i cant make it to the end...

...ignore your auction competition....so smart

...total honesty...show those flaws

..buy by price....if something is going cheap go for it...if its in your buyers category..... he had the knowledge and the money to buy the good expensive things....he sold to the top guys in our state, in many fields but he also made lots of money on the lowly things... he wasnt afraid of the hassle and work of hauling big piles of mediocre things...he had auctioneer buyers, the cheapest guys out there for us,, but they had lots of money...and could use big groups of things if the price was right..............he knew his customers very well and what they would buy....

...learn learn learn....he was so smart and skeptical and curious

....know your customers and their wants....when id walk into his store he would let me know he had something for me...he knew what i liked...i was his customer after we got more established...he was my customer at the start.when i was really new and cheap.....we eventually switched places in a lot of categories, ,,,.due to price and our spots on the totem pole or pecking order of the antique business....

...no gossiping about customers...and he would never brag about what he just sold.. and he would never tell what price he sold something for...now i tell stories on my customers...but i never use their names.... well ,except here with smitty...
..... he was a huge buyer and if someone had a big expensive collection to sell he would give a fair price, and always had the money ...but mostly he was an auction buyer...many times he would buy the biggest best piece at auction.... ....and he had buyers waiting for him every Saturdays night, when he got home from the sale.........he never ran out of money.... that part really impressed me... his turnover must have been amazing....

at auction, if i would buy something huge or say 40 shutters, sometimes i would be called smitty junior....which i took as a compliment...he took advantage of every money making opportunity, even if it was a big hassle...

thats what got us started....and i know its not even close to a gift store....then we were almost all wholesale selling and on the secondary market, with nothing new...........but it helps us now too... in our current version of green oak antiques...
...after we got going and got our own set of buyers i bought many many truckloads from him....he was a great supplier for us...i felt like he always tried to give me a good deal...

..i learned a lot from him... he never tried to be a teacher to me...maybe he realized what a mentor he really was to us but im not sure on that...

i wish i knew my new customers like i knew my customers when we were mostly in antiques....

**********************

*************************

NOW we are almost all retail and not many avid antique buyers...i guess we are a vintage indie gift lifestyle green store now..lol... with few models to loook at and learn from ......i would like to see some good models of retail gift stores working, i hate to think its a big trick and there arent any....i do appreciate style models , like the mags cover...but for survival thats not what im looking for...

so now wheres a good model for a working retail store... at least 5 yrs old? what kind of store is out there producing an income for the owner? im all over the place and i dont see very many..cant think of any left in our town....

.

heres where i have seen some money making stores...

**a few stores featured in country business...

big full country destination stores

***a few with gifts PLUS something else...

interior design services

big fabric department offering custom work

custom furniture

classes and supplies

***a few perfectly focused on their one big segment of retail....

*** several meeting the family goal of a supplementary income...

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR MORE GOOD REPORTS OUT THERE from the people in the retail trenches.......i can see why the big gift mags dont cover this....it might be a dirty little secret...

now on a fun note........

one of our customers, peacock park has us on her blog!!! http://www.peacockparkdesign.blogspot.com/ shes so much fun .... i love her designs....she stops by about once a year...one year she invited me to go to paris with her and her lucky customers.... she likes it crusty and beautiful....she has a great eye and i love her style....she gave me some display advice on the foofoo room.... plus its so neat to know someone famose!!!

a good day

busy saturday...
this nice pile sold and on its way to ohio....to a great store over there and a cyber buddy...
... part of a great day....we were swamped most of the day..
lots of retail and a nice bit of wholesale....

road trip on thursday

we went to a hobby lobby....saw tons that i was getting ready to order...including word frames, signs and even those wonderful bottles with the big leaded stoppers...and almost all of it was half off....there they were at my wholesale or less.... i cant swallow that my customers would think my made in china is better than hobby lobbys made in china......

i dont see how to deal with this... they have current things, its not old rejects....what is the smart thing to do...? i think i will be rethinking some of my ordering ....

question of the day....do you know any strictly gift stores who are making it? wow ....the barriers are huge..

..im glad to have the things that make us different....but i need gifts for sure!!!

im buying like crazy this week for the 4th quarter....

word on the street....

from a fellow retailer yesterday...this woman is running a great store thats doing just fine..... i love hearing her view of the world.....
...shes dropping french....wierd , i am too....she says her customers just dont get it....and we have to listen to them...
.... moving things around is working
.....for christmas...shes holding back ON ACTUAL CHRISTMAS ITEMS a bit and plans to buy more gift things for the season...
...every season needs somenthing new...for the faithful customers who excpect us to have something exciting for them...

SHE WANTS HER STORE TO LOOK FULL....SHES HEARING FROM CUSTOMERS THAT lots of other stores are looking a bit low ....and boring with nothing new......i feel that way too....she also said she stays positive and neutral when the customers ask how shes doing.....no griping and no bragging....mainly just ...we are hanging in there...
we need to learn what the customers want....she sees her customers homes and thats helping her a whole lot....she must do some kind of decorating for them...but seeing their houses inside is helping her pick the right merchandise....... she is always trying to figure out what her customers want...instead of trying to convince the customers to want what she likes.....big waste of time we think...also a fine line...since they come to us for new ideas too...
.......we both agreed ..sex and jesus should have no part in our business decisions..... we laughed about this a bit..from reading quite a bit of it in on line places............and i do have a question for those who think jesus is in charge....why didnt he save all my nice customers who are hurting so bad or had to close their stores?? im keeping religion out of my business....

and as always my view is that :::::my customers and the bank and my suppliers could care less about my sex...the idea that women in business, have different economic laws doesnt make any sense to me....and imho...its a very hurtful idea and a menace to women starting out...are we babies who need special instructions? .... ... and a lot of this is by magazine writers ....not real business people... .

....women are my business for the most part.I LOVE women, i depend on them........ ..but the idea that a womans business decisions should be different than a guys just doesnt make sense....unless she is someones pet and is just playing around...then ....go girl....do your own thing... i would like to try that sometime....if dh wins the lottery...

in my world ... business is about the math....and the pleasure...and i think guys care about the pleasure of their workday too....but the bills and the math have to come first......

im too old time, womens lib to expect special favors because im a WOMAN.......im not into i am woman i am victum...to me women shouldnt expect special favors in business....they dont get t hem in reality, not in my world anyway, .... so why expect it... we have to face our money situation just like the guys do...

i love talking to other stores....and getting their take on the world....the one yesterday always inspires me... we are in the same state...indiana corn country..and we both try to appeal to the homeowners with money to spend in our areas.....she displays beautifully and really seems to like and enjoy her customers.... i hope her store continues to grow...sorry she doesnt have a blog or website, so i cant show you her beautiful store........

half time....

now its july and half the year is over ....time to look at whats working and WHATS NOT....

our GOOD THINGS SEEM TO BE...

COUNTRY ROOM ...especially the word things and the family things and the garland and berry things...sometimes this seems so over but to be observant it is really selling.....weve sold about 8 of the big 40$ stars...I NEED TO GET GOING ON THIS AND GET SOME NEW THINGS FOR THEM...

THE KEY WEST ROOM....this has worked out great....and peps up the store...its good in summer not winter..

THE ROOTS PROJECT....THIS HAS BEEN GREAT AND PERKED UP THE STORE A LOT.......more old stuff, more auctions, jons going to yardsales again.... im getting out more and trying to get the GOOD STUFF..and the fun junky cheap stuff.....

several big ticket items...this has been a good thing....and apparantly ive chosen a couple of the big expensive things right....like our big 80$ fish and our parrot butler @250

ETSY....this is pretty neat and bringing in some cash

THE AMY BUTLER IDEA.... this is helping me see my new girls better...we probably had 4 big pregnant girls in yesterdsay....with their moms...they like our store..... i know what the moms like and i better be learning what these new homeowners want....

NOT SO GOOD.......

MY FRENCHY STUFF..the castle look, the monotone look, the crowns... . i love it but its not going very fast...is it over or not yet started around here? i have no idea...

my big folkart animals.... too weird and expensive i guess....i love them...they have gotten lots of smiles but thats about it...

FURNITURE... has been hard all year.....so im going for more smalls and a little less furniture... and being pickier and cheaper on it

so THE PLOT for the rest of the year is forming....get to know the new girls better, somehow, i think this means a new color direction,, a litlle l more color , but not the dark country colors,,,amy butler???? whatever that means... build on the black trend , black words , back and white signs , all seem good... and the country get more and more up to date country in here

...go for new inventory....thats what they like ...they already have bought what they want of year old stuff..... lots of that will be in the yardsale....

our numbers are still bad....retail is good and wholesale is in the pits..... i just hope when things turn around our old customers will remember us ....the ones still in business..... its so sad...

it should be interesting...we live in a very depressed state....thats obvious...

whats working this week......

a new color direction ..

..i always listen to a certain shopkeeper and cyber buddy, over in PICKERINGTON ohio....her store is called ,feather your nest, ...its a cool store and in about its 8th yr i think...so she has survived and knows a lot..... AND she gets good input from her college age girls ..... anyway, shes been talking about amy butler fabrics....i never heard of her, its not my thing..thats not my color range....

..but anyway i heard denise talk about those colors and the style and i love the look of her s tore............so I ORDERED SOME THINGS from creative coop in the mid range primary colors.... and put them in my foo foo room....and WALLA ....THEY SOLD....AND TO A COUPLE OF MY BEST CUSTOMERS..... SO maybe ive found something popular that i wasnt aware of.... .

ALSO our peace signs are selling...she has that too... on baby clothes!!!????...

..... THANKS DENISE....

i wish she had a blog so i could show you her store....

ALSO WORKING SO FAR....OUR ETSY PROJECT... I CANT TALK MYSELF INTO fullblown ONLINE SELLING..who is making it work? i just dont see it happening for very many.... waiting to hear on that....to me, working would have be something at least around 10$$$ an hour in profit...or more....

.. but our narrow etsy thing is going pretty well.....within our narrow rules, mainly vintage supplies for the artists and nothing under 20$.... we have 96 sales in just a few months.....im aiming for big piles of vintage at wholesale prices... http://www.gypsymarket.etsy.com/

ALSO WORKING....LOTS OF THE CUTE AND REASONABLE MISC...THAT HAS BEEN COMING IN FROM THE YARDSALES AND ME OUT BUYING.... THE FUN AND JUNKY....

as well as the good stuff....if priced right...

A NEW IDEA..........i might have a baby idea here who might have a chance!!!.... one of our workers has a vinyl machine...and a daughter who can and needs to work.... we have tons of young married girls thru here ..they probably go to lots of weddings..... WALLA....I THINK I HEAR A NEW POSSIBILITY TRYING TO POP UP... like a cyber buddy posted....there are births weddings etc in any economy.... we could make personalized wedding signs

my rule about new little baby ideas...dont squish it...try and be open, dont tell dh , he loves to stomp on them..before they even get filled out..... if i say i have a new idea he covers his ears... .

i need to think this thru and try and plan it out right.....

i need frames, samples, a clear easy way to present it, pick the choices, and aim at the amy butler girls....

my day.....

the first .3 hours today were chaos..the gardenwire came...a big trailer full out in the parking lot..it had to be priced and put together and placed in the right places..... ..at the same time many phone calls...and i knew a sales rep was coming and i needed to get 2 big christmas orders finished....dh and jon are worthless on this...jon wants all the money for auctions...dh is pathetically apathetic about it, ...so at least i wanted to show my selections to carol and ruth..before committing to my choices....the rep came and stayed about an hour...luckily i mark the catalogs and dont have to sit there with the rep...

and 3 fairly big groups of women came in...and jon and lisa had 3 big pieces of furniture to move...right in the mid part of the shop....and we hung 2 of our 6 ft wide signs up 12 ft high on the wall...one, my favorite....be nice or leave.....

... it was awful....that was before 2 in the afternoon..... then it got better then about 9 boxes came from cr,...coop....including those locker baskets.....naturally their packing slip didnt have the prices on...why do they do that????

so that was my day.... now home on the couch with dh ....and hercule poirot and later the naughty weeds...

WORD On the street........

heard thisweek...old lady stuff like china and silver....oh dear!!!! good antiques are really in trouble...
french is out and i cant sell it....heard that from a city dealer from ohio...also .. i love my white monotone frenchy room, but maybe i should change it to perky amy butler....my neat castle look, including crowns, isnt exactly flying off the shelves....i just dont know what those amy butler girls would want tho.... and i love the decayed dreamy white castle look...its hard for me to think perky and plain in midtone colors....


WANT TO SSEE SOMETHING REALLY MEAN about the resale and junk world...? GO TO http://www.secondhandnation.com/ SECONDHAND NATION , its a blog, AND LOOK AT .... may 24 2007
all i can say is wow...she has issues....there is so much wrong with this view....
starting with no ability to look into someone elses pleasure or world.....
does she think that these people she is making fun of, someone in an suv and coach bag is some wierd creature ....would it be ok for the coach lady to makes fun of the workers in the goodwill store...or the poor suckers at mc donalds...or the ones punching a clock for 6 $ an hour ?
its like if a hardcore runner started making fun of a couch potatoe quilters legs....or a model making fun of someones clothes...or a button collector making fun of a train collector..... just lame....and blind....
sounds like a big case of jealousy to me....

and this person is in the thrift world....
i found this wild site , above, while going
around the web ...trying to find out what happened between the junk girls ...sue and ki....they wrote that book about junk style a few years ago....and they were in a lot of mags.......remember.?...and on sues website...she doesnt even mention ki.... even when promoting the book they wrote together...so its a little mystery i would like to know about....
i know ki on her fun junkrevolution site.... http://www.junkrevolution.com/ shes so nice and runs a really friendly and interesting forum... a great place to talk to fellow junkers...in the business and not... and people who like to just gather and reuse....i would love to see her big show in minnesota...junk bonanza i think...

i really like the junk world....it has so many different parts....from the uppity and snooty...like my buddy who sells to the big decorators , or the uppity and nice like so many i know in the antique world... clear down the the grandma crafters...and down to the ones who would never pay my prices..and only gathers tuff that was actually in someones trash....

a lot of it is the same stuff tho....

natural progression.....

ive noticed a natural progression...one ive seen so many times and one that often runs the early creators out of business......this time it those neat soldered necklaces.

.i started seeing them about 3 or 4 yrs ago......i just love them and almost have bought the kits to make them....its a picture a piece of glass some words nice silver solder around the glass and a chain....my boughten ones are 19.00.....
the big country wholesaler, pbk is offering some that look pretty neat at 2.50......they are made by the retarded as a project for her company.....at least they arent made in china!!

seeing this tells me not to order anymore at 10$ wholesale.....

a new price might be coming.... i hope the artists who make the really neat ones can get their production up and their prices lower.and stay in the market... .....the real natural progression in this is having them get cheaper and start showing up everywhere and in then in walmart and the dollar stores and then its over...

when i should have done the math

****WHEN it takes 2 workers TO HAUL OUT some HUGE 30$ ITEM OUT OF THE ROUGH ROOM..

****WHEN ITS TOO MUCH TROUBLE , or too busy, TO CALL IN SMALL DAMAGE FROM AN ORDER or to return about anything ..

****WHEN 1/3 OF AN ASSORTED item IS A DUD AND WONT SELL
****when A COMPANY TOTALLY WASTES SHIPPING MONEY...LIKE SENDING THINGS IN 4 BOXES INSTEAD OF 1 BIG ONE....COSTING MORE THAN THE PRODUCT CAN MAKE UP.......
*****when my main salesman gets called from a big furniture looker...to talk about 3$ knobs
****when we scratch something and have to repaint or ????....

***when we do an hours work on a 20$ item

****when we pick out something to refinish...

****when 3 workers are helping the same person...

the math is our friend!!! even if its mean sometimes...

do the math:::::JIGGLING....

. i can never explain this to dh..hes such a conServative on numbers....but jiggling fits into my math usually at auctions...and thats how ive bought and priced for our store..pretty successfully...and without a calculatort......say i buy 10 things....one is super cheap and one is a big mistake....like if i missed some horrid flaw...a crack, made in hong kong , etc....when i thought it was a good antique, etc etc...

.so to make money on it all i jiggle the numbers together and WALLA the disaster cost nothing and the great deal that i got cheap now has a little higher price in my head wheni price the load...........i wouldnt suggest this all the time...its better if you make good money on your great buys......but it really gets the bad buys out of the way....and if it really was a bad buy it would be hanging around and just cause you effort and space and not sell anyway....

i jiggle in my head if i got a run of things really cheap at auction and then the best thing comes up....if im really doing well at the auction i might pay a little too much for the best thing , just to get it.....and still feel good about the auction....that way i can have the best peiece for the store and in my head anyway that exact auction still makeS great sense money wise....

the down side of JIGGLING might be my reputation.......BECAUSE I BUY SO MUCH..im usually very UNpopular with SOME OF the other buyers.... im very popular with the auctioneers...lol.... its really kind of bad...

.but to me an auction is my job and my income so i just bid on what i want.....anyway THE BAD THING THATS BEEN SAID, the word on the street sometimes, is that i dont know what i paid and sell things for less than i paid...WHICH IS PRETTY MUCH AN INSULT AND BULL S....... and probably third hand since my auction competition doesnt usually come to the store..

.but it could look true sometimes too.... i might have jiggled..

.which makes perfect sense to me....or i might have bought a box lot and counted one thing in it and sold the rest cheap.... so if you were bidding on something else in that box and heard i sold what you liked for less than i bid well you might have missed what i was bidding on and valued in the box...

ACTUALLY I CAN and do PRICE A WHOLE AUCTION load WITH DOZENS OF ITEMS BOUGHT...WITHOUT using ANY RECORD.... which is a good thing since the auction tickets dont really tell you much....like a 100$ roseville pot in a box of planters or a box of clay pots might both be described as a box of pots on my reciept.....

ON THE PLUS SIDE....THE REPUTATION OF low or CRAZY PRICING ISNT ALL BAD....IN FACT IT MIGHT BE GOOD BUZZ FOR THE STORE..

we do price antiques by what we paid a lot more than by book price.....if im low and still making money ...WITHIN MY FORMULAS.... ...im happy...

I CALL IT OUTSIDE THE BOX MATH....

do the math.....

WHAT TO BUY AND WHAT TO PAY IS ALWAYS THE BIGGIE AROUND HERE....

obviously dh is the math person in our business.....but i have to do the math all the time....

HERES A LITTLE NUMBER THAT IS A GOOD REALITY CHECK SOMETIMES...

ITS A NUMBER that really helps me judge things, whether to buy something, what to price something, etc ....ITS is a number he gives me once in awhile..... im supposed to make it lower....the number is the percent of sales our expenses are......

we are usually between 25 and 30%....

HERES HOW I DO THE MATH WITH THAT NUMBER IN MIND....

we pay 10$ for something....operating the store adds 3$, if our expenses are at 30%, so if i double the price to 20$ we are only making 7$...... and that is if we dont discount.....the lower the expenses the more we make....

confusing to me is ....if we buy something for 500$ and sell it fast , like the same day or week, , for 600$....did we make money or not? ....

i also use this number when trying to judge how to use the paid hours in the best way...

i use a lot of general ideas.and consider the numbers all the time and in lots of ways....but

couldnt do our books....and wouldnt want to...

heres a math HERES A MATH PROBLEM FOR YOU....

**YOU ARE IN A MALL

**YOUR BOOTH RENT IS 150$ PLUS 5%

**YOUR MARK UP IS ABOUT DOUBLE.OR WHATEVER....DONT FORGET TO TAKE OUT YOUR EXPENSES

***YOU SELL 500$

THIS IS HOW I WOULD JUDGE A SHOW OR A MALL SITUATION.....AND IT DOESNT REALLY COUNT THE EXTRA TIME IT TOOK, ABOVE NORMAL EXPENSES, TO GET THE STUFF THERE and it doesnt really take in all the other merchandise thats tied up ....it cant really count the good stuff that might happen too...like a big sale at the store later etc etc....from seeing us at a show or mall....there is always a lot of grey areas....thats where the your owners judgement comes in...or for us our consensus on the situation...

AROUND OUR WORLD

ITS TOUGH OUT HERE BUT WE ARE DEFINITELY HANGING IN THERE.....a few things on my mind....

* IM RESISTING LOTS OF THE DATING PROGRAMS we are BEING OFFERED..... my goal is to make do with lots less new christmas this year..... and still be a wow thing...also i hate paying for stuff after its over....

*I DONT THINK THE 3/ 50 IDEA IS WORKING VERY WELL..we didnt sign up for it......IT TAKES TOO MUCH THOUGHT ON THE CUSTOMERS PART.... THEY HAVE TO BE EDUCATED ON WHAT IT MEANS....I LIKE THE ...KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON ....A LOT BETTER...ITS simpler and MORE POSITIVE AND STRONGER ..and easier to catch on to... i love the idea of the 3 50 ... people do want us to survive i think...in a way....if we meet their needs....

..................WHAT SEEMS TO BE WORKING NOW......

*BACK TO OUR ROOTS ..jon and i have been out buying antiques together ......even going to the neat smaller junkier places......and thats been so good .....i know the smalls so much better so i need to be the one out there..im going for cute and cheap and also for THE REALLY good if its at the new lower prices........this really is enriching the store.....

. and jon is going to yardsales again...... thats how i started the business., while dh had another job........ and already we are getting lots of compliments on the flow of stuff and the new incoming is selling fast.......the rough room is packed again..you can barely walk thru....WE ARE GETTING LOTS OF GOOD FEEDBACK.....its made me realize more how important the thrill of the hunt is to our customers...... they love that experience i guess.... and its showed me how observant and interested they are in the store...

*ETSY.....not big money by any means but it is working pretty well and has brought in a couple of thousand $$$$ in the last couple of months.... http://www.gypsymarket.etsy.com/

\
*MALL BOOTHS........i wish we didnt need to be in them....its so much work ....but the checks are really nice and im glad to get them..... we are in 2...countryside and borkholders...

*THE GIFTS!!!!!....this is saving us so far this year....the furniture is way down and the gifts are pulling us thru..... i know they still like our furniture but lots of folks arent wanting to spend over 200$ right now....im working hard and paying attention to the gifts....
and i have marked down lots of things that were too high and turned them into cash...

*SOMETHING BIG AND FABULOUS IN THE MIDST OF THE REST........ like our big signs....the big parrot butler in the key west room... the gazebo amongst the 30$ planters...the 6 ft cherub screen in the frenchy room....our gigantic fake clock...etc etc....the biggest best thing in every part of the store.... its good and reminds them they arent in hallmark!!!

*DISPLAY ....i hate that this is so important....BUT IT IS....for instance..we just gathered all our clocks together in one place...making a big dramatic clock area....and have sold several.... IM TRYING TO DO THIS better in every area...

* A GREAT EMPLOYEE IS BACK!!!...IM VERY HAPPY ABOUT THIS... and i feel like i can leave easier..to go junking or maybe just to go out in my garden or have the grandkids over.... she can sell!!!! and fluff...

ITS DEFINITELY HARD OUT THERE FOR US ....BUT I FEEL HOPEFUL..

..AND I KNOW A FEW STORES WHO ARE STILLLL DOING GREAT...BARELY FEELING THE DOWNTURN..... YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE... THEY BOTH HAVE lots of THE RIGHT THING FOR THEIR MARKET.... AND WEIRDLY NEITHER ONE HAS MUCH DEBT...one is totally focused on her seasonal market....shes in a beachy situation on the atlantic...... and the other is focused on a certain demographic ,,,,upscale 20s and 30 yr olds, who like what shes offering them....both are smart and flexible .

.. its so good to see something thats working....somebody going up instead of hanging in there or going down....

THINGS WE HAVE SURVIVED;;;;;in just the last 5 or 6 yrs, except for the antique worLd...which totally changed about 10 yrs ago...

.....the almost total collapse of the antique world around here...... nearly every shop has closed and most of the malls are struggling...or gone...that was our main business....and now almost gone...

....dropping the wholesale shows..... about 80,000$$$$$ a year....we had to do the math...

....dropping our pictures....which got copied and made in china, ours were handmade by carpenters here and just too high.......ours have been in several magazines, in our customers rooms...we had to do the math...

....losing our ebay....we have a 4000 + feedback rating and cant make it work now...we tried in vain...

...losing over 60% of our wholesale.... they went out of business or are broke...hopefully they will remember us when things get better....and we are so thankful for the ones still buying right now......

just saying ...

its a BIG MESS...

.AND HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO REINVENT OURSELVES?

CHRISTMAS IN RETAIL

right now in retail its all about CHRISTMAS.....im getting catalogs and lots of calls from the reps... ITS TIME TO MAKE THE DECISIONS AND MAKE THOSE ORDERS....BUT FIRST THE HARD PART... its time to figure out what i want to do this year, what themes, how much money , and take my wild guess about the mental climate of our customers this year...... will gm fall and leave the whole midwest in deeper doodoo?
and i have to try and remember whats left from last year.....LOTS....and lots of it is still really good....plus i just bought a 1000$ pile of really high end christmas from a store going out.... 100 $ garlands and stuff like that that i wouldnt normally have..... I DID TAKE GREAT AMOUNTS OF CHRISTMAS NOTES... LAST YEAR..and should know what sold out and what didnt go........
im just pretty overwhelmed....and wish i had someone to go over all this with.....dh just cant even go there..and jon just rolls his eyes.....they know we need all that money but thats about as far as they can go on making the plans......the staff mainly wants to do what i want....every year i wish we had a A FLORIST ON BOARD....they know what im talking about....

i never do budgets....i have no history of that..... but i know we sell about 40 to 50,000 of christmas product mainly in november and some in december......so i plan to get enough to do that again....roughly.my number decisions go like this: .. my best guess is that we and have about 10,000 of good christmas product on hand and if i buy another 10 that makes 40 retail so i better add another 5 or 10.....i figure to get to 40 i need at least 50 on hand.....
so thats my number....thats what im trying to spend in the smartest way possible....
so far my real buying is aimed at more towards gifts and what will still be good in january.like clocks frames useful stuff......and a little less in actual christmas...... i am so over cheap looking christmas crap made in china that my country customers with kids and budgets are supposed to pay 9$ for... like resin a nd lots of the ohio wholesale type stuff......and wont that kind of thing be in hobby lobby at half price in october? but what does that leave to buy????

SO MY GOAL HAS TO BE REALLY NICE CHRISTMAS THINGS THAT FIT EVERYONES BUDGET AND DONT LOOK LIKE HOBBY LOBBY.......
and also to really think thru some of the good promotions ive heard about.... and pick the right ones...

AND REPEAT OUR HUGE CHRISTMAS OPENHOUSE AND THE WOW FACTOR....we had such a good turnout last year.... even tho the economy was on everyones minds.... and we got so many compliments....its a big challenge to pull it off again....

one more problem....in past years ive always been on a retail chat room with other stores that talked and talked about this huge retail subject.....and this year i dont have that....i miss it a lot.....i have learned so much from my cyber retail chat places and the great people on them....mostly gone or scattered now.... all this was on country business forum...the old one ....now its all different and not anything great like they had before......and of course they removed all the christmas discussions when they threw away the archives.....

now im planning to join giftbeat..... it sounds pretty good....even if a lot more mainstream and inside the box than our store.... but ive heard good things about it..

our etsy plot.

we have tried so many things over the years....and every year..... ebay, mall booths, shows, all kinds of different ideas and promos in the store....lots of different marketing ideas..... so many things havent worked.... even after lots of thought and the best effort we could come up with, most things just dont make it.......but thats how we get to the good ideas.....

... now one of our new ideas is actually working pretty well ..its not a big money idea, but in this economy we have to be grateful when an idea reaches someof its potential.......

...the new idea is OUR ETSY PLOT http://www.gypsymarket.etsy.com/ .... the idea is :

.... to sell vintage parts and pieces / suppplies to the the altered artists, the junk artists, the steampunk people, the gothic artists, the scrapbookkers...junk art robot builders....etc etc .. ...

.....to have the price at nothing below 20$...we cant afford to work for a 5$ sale. ...

.....to offer big piles of raw materials .... mostly antique...i figure there are some buyers out there who would like to get the real thing for their projects....and thats what i might have or can find....

anyway its actually working.... we have sold over 80 groups.... i still have very limited understanding of how people navigate thru etsy..you can put in lotsof search words....so many that it seems like a big blur.....its nothing like the detailed and focused ebay search engine....but it seems to be working for us ....

also i love expoloring on etsy....and seeing al the neat things artists are making....

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back at the store

WE HAVE BEEN SELLING PRETTY WELL AND IVE BEEN ORDERING......
I NEEDED PLACEMATS AND FLOWERS AND PILLOWS FROM ONE COMPANY....OUT OF ABOUT A 400$ ORDER I GOT 2 APRONS AND 3 FLOWERS... ABOUT 70$...LUCKILY I MADE REALLY BIG ORDERS FROM THEM IN JAN, SINCE THEY HAD THIS PROBLEM LAST YEAR TOO....INITIALS...GF...

WITH ANOTHER COMPANY I MADE A GREAT DECISION WHEN I SAW THEIR BOOTH IN CHICAGO AND BOUGHT HEAVILY.........VERY NEAT METAL FLOWERS...THEY HAVE SOLD OUT FOR US AND ITS ONLY JUNE...SO I TRIED TO reORDER AND THEY ARE COMPLETELY OUT....BIG LOSS ON THIS ...

ANOTHER NICE BIG ORDER DID COME ALMOST COMPLETE....BUT WITH ABOUT 6 LANTERNS WITH BROKEN GLASS...... NOW THATS WHEN ITS NICE TO HAVE A GOOD REP WHO VALUES YOUR BUSINESS...ONE OTHER DRAWBACK WITH THIS ORDER.... IT WAS ON A TRUCK AND 2 PALLETS....BUT IT CAME ON THURSDAY, WHEN WE ARE CLOSED..... I WAS OUT IN THE GARDEN AND SAW THE TRUCK.....WE ALWAYS TELL THE COMPANIES NOT TO SCHEDULE US ON THURSDAYS....BUT I GUESS THEY DIDNT PASS ON THE MESSAGE to the trucker .....LUCKILY JON SAW IT TOO and we both got to the parkinglot before he left, and WE UNLOADED THE BOXES ONTO OUR BOX TRUCK....ABOUT 50 BOXES....

another company is offering a great dating program...90 days and percents off for big orders..... dating gets me in trouble..... in the antique world it was always cash and carry no credit....you never left the auction owing any money...the spending was very closely related in time to the money coming in...thats the rhythm im used to......so then comes these companies and the dating programs...it sounds good and i do it some.....but it does mess up our money, with that debt lurking in the background.... of course in the antique only days i didnt have to buy all the christmas that we need now....

ANOTHER COMPANY SENT ME ABOUT 20$ OF STUFF....MAKING THE SHIPPING ABOUT 50%....THAT IS SO WRONG.... I REALLY TRY TO SAY NO BACK ORDERS.....DO THEY GET THE MESSAGE?do they even look? how do you prove it when you order on the phone? MY MESSAGE to myself IS DONT ORDER FROM THEM AGAIN...

AND THEN THERE ARE THE SALES REPS .. A NEW COMPANY is approaching me .she wants my order., im willing.......SHE WANTS TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT A MONTH AHEAD....I CANT DO THAT..maybe the rest of the world can plan a month ahead but i dont... ... THATS HOW SHE SCHEDULES ...SO I DONT KNOW HOW THATS GOING TO TURN OUT....I TOLD HER TO CALL ME CLOSER TO THE TIME..she acted like that was very wierd.....

we have 2 more big orders coming this week....creative coop....and a big metal garden order...
retail and smalls are whats keeping us going right now....so thats what im buying....
thats about it with us and the companies this week..
things seem to be getting quite a bit better around here..

an expensive day

we broke down 50 miles from home and had to be carried back...........i think we barely got under a viaduct on the way home....our truck weighs over 10,000 pounds....

the steering wheel quit working..we figured it out while still inthe parking lot....i guess it was a real close call...

at least we got our stuff loaded before the disaster...

make your money count.....

we just saw our may numbers....not pretty..... but the good part was retail was still very good and mostly around smalls and gifts........ furniture and wholesale are still way off for us ..
so i have been trying to spend my money in the retail and gift area...instead of more furniture...
so...
big orders this week for
MORE LANTERNS, they sold out at the garden party
A BIG CREATIVE COOP ORDER, some black, locker baskets,bird stuff, some chandeliers, most will be good all year...
A BIG GARDEN STAKE ORDER ,this was mostly filling up the big gaps left after the garden party....
all 3 of these orders made sense to me and will add a few extra percents of profit when they sell.....because i got between 10 and 25% off because of the size of the orders..... in the long run that really will add to our profit... and help me keep the mark up good without pushing my prices into the clouds... i try not to go for lots of little orders..
im spending a lot, but im trying to really pay attention too...
im getting lots of old inventory out the door, by repricing lower or putting more in the half price room, but i sure dont want to look less than full, especially our staples, like stars, placemats, garden iron,....etc etc

talked to my buddy the show dealer yesterday and also another one....both reported upturns in the upper levels of the market....so thats good... also hearing lots of travellers are pushing up the prices at the auctions .....so there is good activity going on somewhere...