april update

long time no blog. finally met ms kpoene' for real and she reminded me of this nearly dead blog...i don't mean for it to be that way. is there a whipup for store owners? that's what i would like this to be.

the light outside is weird, as if it is about to dump rain on us. i'm waiting for a shipment of umbrellas, actually. timing is everything.

let's see...i took a vacation. it was great! 10 days of not thinking about the store at all. well okay, maybe 5% but that is a big improvement. i was recharged for a while, and then worried, and now i'm inundated with product and projects again. summer is supposed to be the slow time but i have this feeling it won't be. can't reveal any details now, but soon.

i think i have finally outgrown my 9x27' space. it's not like we don't move product, but it's never as clean as i'd like it to be here, i can never find anything in the back, and i can never ever pee at work, because the bathroom is also the trash and recycling storage room, and they only pick up twice a week, etc.

observations of late: it's hard to buy for guys, they want things for different reasons than women. this is obvious, but maybe not if you analyze it a bit. a guy will or won't buy something based on a mix of factors - color, pattern, size but also the "is it too girly" thing which women don't have so much. they also like to think in, or buy in, sets or kits. they like to know technical details and what something is for. women are a bit better about repurposing...they tell ME what something is going to be used for, if they buy it, all the time. men also shop in price ranges, and they don't want to appear cheap sometimes, either for the gift recipient or maybe to me, the gal selling it to them.

i am generalizing but a lot of this is true.

more observations - people buy different things online than in the shop. but people check the site first, and then they come in to shop, so you have to put up a broad range of product, even if you know it won't sell online. our store is so important to the business! the more pictures, the more someone "knows" what you are all about, and that is going to drive whether or not they want to buy something from you. mystery does us no good.

that's all for now. lisa congdon arrives saturday, we are going to have a good time, rain or no. the party is going to be fun. i might actually roll up our rug and move the table to the basement to make more space. you can't get more than, oh, 15 people in here at once, it's like a cattle car. i just hope nobody breaks or steals anything.