Isn't January a Slow Month?

January is a slow month for retail stores like Sweet Tooth.  Big box stores are having sales on appliances, big screen t.v.s for watching the Super Bowl, linens and a continuation of their after Christmas sales. 
Small, local stores like Sweet Tooth take the time to regenerate, re-order, find the latest trends, wait for merchandise to arrive and if all else fails, dust and rearrange the store.
This year Jeff and I were unable to attend the January Gift Market.  Fortunately 3 of our staff were able to spend a day in Dallas and brought back all sorts of impressions, ideas and a huge stack of catalogues which I am still attempting to go through.
January is goal-setting time as well.  What will 2015 look like for our store?  What do we need to do to get through to our goals?
We have begun to pick dates for our Trunk Shows and take a look at other kinds of events for the store.  One of our goals is to establish our store as an destination for Oklahoma products and made in Oklahoma items.
We are going to work with a jewelry artist to bring in a one of a kind sterling silver charm. We are going to continue our relationship with the artist who annually designs and has produced an ornament which illustrates a Tulsa icon. 
We want to take advantage of new fun gift items which, I must say, have become a trademark of Sweet Tooth.  We often hear our customers say that they find items in our store which are different from other gift shops.  We like hearing that comment!  Take a look at the Selfie Pole and the Dammit Dolls, just to illustrate my point.
Of course January does bring us to February and Valentine's Day.  This is what we refer to as "a last minute holiday" which means that February 13 and 14 can be our busiest days of the year.  We are gearing up.  Daily crunches to get our backs in shape, new tennis shoes to support the time we will spend on our feet, designing our special heart shaped baskets with yummy treats.....making sure that our Trollbeads and Kameleon jewelry lines are stocked up and ready for gift giving.
Doris is probably creating a calendar of what jewelry she will be wearing everyday at the store.  Check out Doris the next time you are in.....she is the most conscientious of all of us about what matches with what.
To help carry the load, we have a new staff member, Virginia.  She is discovering that retail can be a very detailed kind of  a job. Be sure to welcome Virginia aboard....she's going to love getting to know all of you!