As we approach our annual trip to the Dallas Gift Show, we are beginning to analyze our store and our sales from last year. As Lisa said to me, "What are we going to look for?"
Not sure at this point. We know that jewelry and candy are our most popular lines and we will always be looking for what is new.
But the other 20% of our store is wide open. Sadly some lines have to go...for various reasons. Nothing new. The line has sort of died out. There needs to be more space for new lines. The trends are a-changing. On and on.
We know that when we discontinue a line we are occasionally regretful that we have to do that. Although we joke about "voting a line off the Island", we have still become attached to certain merchandise and we recognize that some of our customers are very attached to a particular line. Sorry Anna about Kelly Rae.
We are pouring through catalogues and emails. We will sit down for a Staff Meeting to discuss what our Market Plan will be and when we return from Dallas we will be jubilant and very excited about what we have found.
In the meantime, Valentine's Day is over the horizon. Next week we get our Valentine's candy. And bit by bit some gift items and jewelry will be arriving.
Footnote to Valentine's: This month's Food Magazine has a little article about the new Candy Hearts words.which often illustrate popular words and phrases we will be seeing a lot. This year Necco, which is the manufacturer of Candy Hearts, plans to bring back a few old favorites, including.....wait for it......LET'S READ. That puzzles me.
Other new phrases include OCCUPY MY HEART and #LOVE. What ever happened to BE MINE?
This is all in a day's work for a candy and gift store. Let us know if you #LOVE a line of gift items or candy. We will look around for it a the Gift Market.
P.S. Check us out on Instagram.
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