Friday, January 16, 2015

Grumpy Cat and Selfie Poll

Have you seen Grumpy Cat?  I knew nothing about The Grumpy until my daughter Sabrina said, "Oh Mom???" and then she showed me Grumpy Cat.  I understand that the Cat makes a good bit of money with licenses on that  scowl.
I just want to point you in the direction of Grumpy Cat mint tins which have been very popular at Sweet Tooth.  Over the holiday period we sold out of both everyday and Christmas Grumpy Cat.  Sitting by the candy register, people just couldn't pass up that little punim (Yiddish for FACE).
And now there are Valentine Grumpy mints and Grumpy has not one good thing to say about Love and Valentine's Day.  "I was in love once.  It was awful."    Meh!

We also need to point out that the Selfie Poll continues to attract attention.  We've got some goodies up our collective sleeves re: The Poll.

Wouldn't it be fun to use the Selfie Poll to take a picture of Grumpy Cat.....if  The Cat could stand for it??!! Hey, no opposable thumb to push the button on Grumpy's phone.  Looks like The Cat is going to have to make at least one friend.

Stay tuned.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Crunch Time at Sweet Tooth

Sometimes things get rather intense around Sweet Tooth and now is one of those times.
January and June are the really big and important Gift Market shows in Atlanta, Dallas and now Las Vegas.  This is the time of the year when lots of new merchandise and even candy is introduced.  Showrooms and temporaries are actually showing Christmas 2015 merchandise and hoping that the showrooms will gain a avalanche of orders to fulfill.
This year, for the first time in 22 years, we are not able to attend the Gift Market.  3 members of our staff will be going there for a day and will bring back their impressions of merchandise and candy we should bring into our store.  They will also be looking for new trends, new colors, and new displays which we can incorporate at Sweet Tooth.  We are very excited for them to be representing Sweet Tooth at the Dallas Market.
In the meantime we are busy with our After Christmas Sale, getting ready for Valentine's Day (yes, the candy is already here!), preparing our specials and making space for new merchandise as it arrives.
In addition we are writing thank you notes, holding our Staff Meeting (yummy food this time from Zoe's) and planning ahead for the rest of the year.
Our customers are often surprised to hear that we have ordered our Valentine and Easter candy last summer!  Oh, yes, the manufacturers want to know how much to produce, the distributors want to know how much to sell and we want to be able to think ahead concerning our sales as well.
The Postal Carrier is burdened down with new catalogues which are arriving daily.  I am trying my very best to get our orders in ahead of the Atlanta, Dallas and Las Vegas orders.  Who wants to be the last store to show the new merchandise?
Jeff is crunching numbers, determining which merchandise and candy did its best during the holiday season.  Looking at the numbers will be paramount in our decision as to what lines to continue buying, where we might be missing out on popular gifts and candy and how we might improve our bottom line.
How about those Selfie Polls?  Last June we were presented with them at the Market and silly us, we passed on purchasing them.  Well, we have learned that lesson and Selfie Polls are on their way to our store.  If every retailer had his or her pulse on what will be the hot new item, we wouldn't have to worry about online merchants and big box stores.
Of course we are continuing to say Shop Local.  Those who shop locally are the life blood of small stores like ours.  Happy New Year.  Hoping to see you soon at Sweet Tooth.