Thursday, October 17, 2013

5,000: a magical number

What is the magic number of readers of a blog?  According to the stats on this blog, we have passed 5,000 page views.
For me, that is pretty exciting.  There must be some people who write blogs who feel like I do.....is what we have to say worth someone's time to read the blog?
Now please be careful if you want to reply to that question.  Be gentle and realize that writing this blog must be like news anchors who sit facing a camera and never see an audience.  That is kind of a weird feeling.
Years ago I was part of a small panel being filmed for a television program.  The interviewer was there and I think 3 of us were set to talk about theatre in San Diego.
Somewhere in the middle of the program, with absolutely no audience in the room with us, I had a brief moment of panic and seemed to be transported out of my body.  I began watching myself and my fellow panelists....it felt like the Twilight Zone.
When I sit down to write this little blog, I attempt to imagine that I am talking to a friend, someone who is truly interested in what I have to say about our store, our merchandise, our choices, etc.  I've yet to give a name to that imaginary friend, but I feel that he or she has sensitive eyes and a look of concentration.
Because I love musical theatre, all of a sudden I am thinking about the central question in the musical RENT. "How do you measure a year in the life...........How about love?"
I have learned to love writing this little blog and it is my hope that those who read it find something of interest, something which increases the information they have about what it is like to be a small retailer in 2013.
How do I measure that?  Not only by numbers, but by what effort I put into the doing of it.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Go Fly a Kite!!

The visit of author Kaled Hosseini sponsored by the Oklahoma Poets and Writers headed up by Teresa Miller inspired a bit of creativity at Sweet Tooth.
I suggested that everyone who works at Sweet Tooth take a kite which we purchased and decorate it.  We planned on hanging our kites up by the door....oh, I don't know......just for the fun of it.
In years past we have dreamed up some similiar projects, which have had absolutely nothing to do with what we sell here at Sweet Tooth.  One year we took brooms and created "people" out of them. Then we put them in the front window to greet our customers.
The kite decorating proved to be a challenge.  Jeff's kite, in particular, with its Superman theme and at least 1.15 pounds of candy glued to the Superman emblem was the most messy and the most time consuming project!.  Sarah's kite proves that left over cupcake cups can be turned into objects of beauty and art. 
Doris' love of owls inspired her to make her own owls out of felt and someone out there in Facebook land asked if she could buy Doris' kite!
Jesse and Janet journeyed down the Road of Bling.....both of them distracted by shiny objects.
Alyssa had been wanting to take multi-colored cord and turn her kite into a tribute to LOVE....
And guess who discovered that she has crafting abilities?? Lisa, whose kite is a souvenir from her recent trip to Northern California.  And just to prove Lisa down deep was ready to decorate a kite, Lisa had saved all sorts of tickets, maps, a cup, and more from her trip.  Better than a scrapbook page.
Any day now we are expecting Sabrina to turn up with a Girl Scout kite....or maybe one illustrating musical theatre.
Each time a kite appeared at the store the staff oohed and awed over each other's work.  We laughed, we questioned, we smiled really big smiles and after all was done, the kite decorating project which seemed so difficult at first turned out to provide moments of fun and comradery.
Flying Kites at Sweet Tooth ...  I said it had nothing to do with what we sell at the store, but it had everything to do with our being a TEAM and really liking each other.  I think that translates into a store which is most often a great place to spend some time.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Trunk Shows Are Not For Elephants

Trunk Shows are growing in popularity.  In the Tulsa World today I saw several local stores having shows of jewelry and apparel.  Other retailers were supporting Breast Cancer Month.  And towards the end of October the Care Card will return to Tulsa.
Our experience with Trunk Shows has generally been a good one and we are enthusiastic about sponsoring them at Sweet Tooth.
Many have the same policies.  Order a minimum of merchandise (most often it is several thousand dollars), advertise like crazy (sometimes the company will help with funds for that), keep track of your sales, sign people up to win prizes sometimes offered by the company, sometimes subvented by our own funds.
Cross fingers and hope that you get a large group of people who not only attend, but make purchases.
From the consumers' point of view, the Trunk Show is a win-win.  The store brings in merchandise which isn't always carried on an everyday basis.  This way the consumer can check out the particular piece, handle it, compare it to other pieces and decide to buy or not to buy.
Why order online when you can pick the pieces you can see and handle?  Sometimes ordering online is a catch-as-catch-can experience.  And what if the item you ordered doesn't meet your expectations?  You have to return it, wait for a refund, etc.
In addition, consumers are rewarded most of the time for attending the Trunk Show:  gifts with purchase or an opportunity to sign up for a drawing of free merchandise, occasionally discounts.  When purchasing, stores usually gift wrap or provide a nice bag or box for the item.
Many times consumers get to meet with the Sales Representative from the company.  They can ask questions, get insider information and really walk away feeling that they know more about the product and the store and the manufacturer really does care about their customers.
So....we are off and running, planning at least 3 jewelry Trunk Shows from now til December, as well as a Holiday Party and perhaps some last minute promotions.
Buyer Beware:  Seasonal candy, Seasonal Gift Items are exactly that.....they are SEASONAL and most of the time cannot be re-ordered.  So if you pass on the opportunity to purchase early, there may be no coming back closer to the holiday date and finding the choice of exactly what you want.