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.

Remember Those Beanie Baby Days?

We have been owners of Sweet Tooth for over 20 years.  During that time we have seen fads and trends come and go.
One of the biggest and most exciting products available during this time was BEANIE BABIES.
I have no doubt that most of you remember those Beanie Baby years.  Remember the mad rush to get the latest Beanie Baby?  Remember people fighting over certain Beanie Babies in stores and even at Woodland Hills there were times when stores selling Beanie Babies had to shut their doors and just let a few people in a a time?
I remember telling the florist in The Farm that she had one of the greatest selling items in her front window and she didn't even know it.  As a florist she would purchase inexpensive plush to attach to a floral display.  Beanie Babies in those days were wholesale priced at $2.50.  That's why it was incredible when people would pay $150.00 for a Beanie Baby and remark that some day they would go on Ebay and finance their children's education by selling off their plush collection.
Ah, if only retailers could experience more exciting times like those.
Well today I received an email newsletter and the top story was about Ty Warner, the CEO of Ty, Inc. designer and distributor of Beanie Babies.
Currently Mr. Warner has been found guilty of federal tax evasion, to the tune of $53.6 million .  It seems Mr. Warner had secret off-shore accounts for which he did not report income and now owes a bundle of back taxes on those accounts. 
In fact, this has been going on since 1996 and those found guilty of federal tax evasion usually go to prison for a 5 year term and owe a fine of $250,000.00. 
Wow!  This is certainly one of the biggest, most explosive stories in retail history.
And in case you weren't aware of it, Beanie Babies are still around and you can find them in some local stores.  We occasionally get a question about whether we are carrying them.  Truthfully, I am glad we got out of that line. 
I can't help but wonder what Mr. Warner will do if he ends up in prison.  Maybe bring along a few special Beanie Babies to keep him company??

Event Planning: Just Another Day at Sweet Tooth

For a few weeks now we have been planning an event in our store.  The event is centered on the release of a new Mary Engelbreit sponsored cookbook:  120 Fantastic Desserts and will take place on Saturday, September 21.   3 Tulsa cooks have recipes in the book and Oklahoma is well represented with people whose recipes are published.
A few years ago Mary Engelbreit sponsored another cookbook and 2 Tulsans were featured then.  We had a tasting of their recipes and a cookbook signing event in the store.  It was a lot of fun and well worth the effort to show off some of the special people who live in our city.
Event planning is just one other aspect of retail merchandising.  More and more, events in stores are becoming the norm and a way to introduce potential customers to what a store has to offer.
It takes a lot of time and effort, though, and we never know what the outcome will be.
This time we sent out press releases about the cookbook and the event.  Both KOTV and KTUL responded as did Scott Cherry and Jason Ashley Wright from the Tulsa World and Judy Allen from Tulsa People magazine.  Wow!! we were totally excited about the enthusiasm they all showed for our event and for the 3 Tulsa cooks.
So Jeff went on KOTV morning program with Anna Marie Penix, one of the cooks, to talk about her recipe and our event.  To prepare I baked her carrot cake and Amy Dodson brought us a plate of her Pinwheel Cookies. 
Lee Ann Taylor at KOTV was a wonderful interviewer, asked all the right questions, gave all the right information and even ate a piece of the carrot cake during the break!  I imagine the Pinwheel Cookies and the carrot cake didn't last too long after the show was over.
What did I have to do with all of this?  Well, I am now becoming an expert in baking Mimi's Carrot Cake, Baked Fudge from Denise Rounds and being a real cheer leader for the whole thing.  For each appearance we are bringing a cake and some cookies.  Jeff has practically memorized the recipes and has picked out just the right jacket, shirt and tie to go with his appearance.
Our friend Eric Himan who is a good cook and has made numerous appearances on local television demonstrating recipes is going on KTUL Thursday morning with Jeff to tell the television audience how to make the cake.
That's a lot of preparation and work on everyone's part!!
But you know what?  Doing all this is a heck of a lot of fun!! 

Chocolate and Scented Candles Are Not Good Neighbors

Scented candles are a no-no for stores like Sweet Tooth which sell unwrapped chocolates.  Perhaps you haven't heard that chocolate obsorbs odors and mixing scented anything in the same store or gift basket assures that when you bite into your chocolate truffle, you will find an odd taste.  It might not be so bad, but it won't be exactly what you expected.
We've heard of some stores which sell chocolate and at the same time are cooking other items in the store.  We cringe!!  We know that those chocolates aren't going to taste the same, that the chocolate will "bloom" because of the heat in such a place and customers will not be getting the best chocolate for their money.
"Blooming" chocolate occurs when the cream and butter begin to separate from other ingredients.  Some people mistake that little white dust on the chocolate as mold.  It isn't mold, but simply the separation of various ingredients in the chocolate.
Chocolates which don't require refrigeration do love a cool atmosphere (no more than 70 degrees or a bit less).  Purchasing chocolate in a store which is not kept at that temperature may mean that the chocolate has aged quicker than normal and is already beginning to bloom.
Chocolates aren't sun lovers....so keeping them in their original boxes until you need to put them out is the best care and maintaining an atmosphere which does not have high humidity is also necessary.  Chocolates which require refrigeration have shorter shelf life since they have no preservatives.
Sometimes people ask us to create a gift basket and they want to include some sort of scented candle or perhaps perfume which they have purchased elsewhere.  We do our best to protect the chocolate, putting the scented item in a cellophane bag.
At Sweet Tooth we like to "baby" our candy and we are especially trained to watch for any changes in the chocolates.  We rotate all of our candy when we re-stock in order to keep our candy as fresh as possible.  After all, all of our staff are Quality Control experts....the manner in which they treat the chocolates and the other candies insures that our customers are going to be fully satisfied with their purchases.
In reality what we are selling is as much our customer service as it is the products in our store.

Stumped!!

Sometimes things or situations just have you stumped.  Like how to put together that bicycle you are giving for a Christmas present...without the instructions!!  Or how many tablespoons of sugar did Grandma put in her recipe which she never wrote down for you..
I have recently been stumped by a few situations at Sweet Tooth.
Here's one:  why do vendors send you a display with 24 spaces and 25 styles of merchandise?  Is there a style in the collection that the vendor thinks is a real loser, therefore the vendor sends it just to get rid of it? 
Here's another one:  you place an order at the June Market and it isn't until just days before the January Market that you finally receive the entire order?  Or a vendor presents a number of styles of their product, you order all of them and then find out months later that the vendor was just testing the water and never intended to make all those styles.
How about a third:  a vendor has a new collection of jewelry coming out in a month.  You are able to order it in plenty of time to put the collection out for customers to purchase.  The vendor even has postcards, posters, email blasts and more to publicize the new collection but you are instructed not to tell anyone about it or show pictures of it until the "release day".  So how do you motivate your customers to get ready for new product without giving away what is apparently a state secret??
Fourth:  vendors flood the market with their new product, never caring if your next-door-neighbor retailer has the same product as you do.  Then the vendor wonders why you don't re-order more frequently, never thinking that the "pie" is now split between you and your neighbor.
Fifth:  how long does it take a retailer to figure all this stuff out?  I guess at least 20 years since occasionally we are still stumped by these and other situations.

You Might As Well Eat Dirt

Over the years customers have asked us about our candy in the jars.  Most of the time they take a look at the jar candy, find the one they want and then ask us how they can get the candy out of the jar.
I suppose this question comes from the fact that lots of retail has now gone to "self serve".  Not at Sweet Tooth.
If the candy is unwrapped, then we get it out of the jar or case, weigh it, pack it up appropriately and then give it to the customer for payment.
We think of that process as "customer service" and it has been our policy and procedure for 20 plus years.
So what do I think when I go into a store and see candy in barrels or plastic tubes, where the expectation is that the customer will serve him or herself?
I imagine you already know what I think about that.  But let's spell it out.
                                                         I JUST CAN'T HELP IT!! 
I think "Who has put their hand in the candy?"  "Who has gotten candy out of the jar and then decided against buying it?  Did the customer put the candy back in the barrel or tube?  If so, were there hands involved?"
"How many people before me decided to have a sample from the barrel or jar?  Did that person ask for help or did that person just reach in for the sample?"
I suppose I could go on and on with my thoughts about this question, but sometimes I even make myself a little neurotic with these thoughts.
I could think "Where is the sneeze guard?  Do employees in those stores have permission to slap the customer's hand that goes into the jar?  Is there an intercom where announcements about dirty hands is blasted for customers to hear?"
I think I've been reading too many of David Sedaris' short stories.
Just to reassure you, if a customer ever puts his or her hand in a candy jar at Sweet Tooth, that candy goes into the trash ASAP.
This particular event has happened so few times over the years that we rarely have to even think about it.  As guardians of candy, we would rather eat dirt than eat candy after hands have been in the jar!!

The Dog Days

Since I was not sure why people refer to this time in August as "The Dog Days", I decided to do a little research.
Defined as the sultry days of summer, July through August are referred to as "Dog Days"
Romans associated hot weather with the star Sirius, the "Dog Star", the brightest star in the night sky.
Romans also believed that "Dog Days" were an evil time, when the sea boiled, wine turned sour, dogs went mad and people were full of disease.
Other definitions defined "Dog Days" as a period of stagnation.
I do know that things really do slow down at this time of the year.  there's the stagnation part... and if weather is a factor, the rising thermometer is surely a sign that hot weather will be with us for a while.
When you have a store like Sweet Tooth, you aren't really selling much that people "need"; rather you are presenting and selling things that people "want".
Take chocolate, for example.  Every grocery store and pharmacy check out station is loaded with impulse gifts, some of which are candy bars.  So it isn't the case that people can't find a candy bar most any time they want one.
The difference is that Sweet Tooth sells a line of chocolates which are more exclusive, actually better chocolate in most cases and often brands which aren't at the check out lines.  So a trip to Sweet Tooth yields chocolate or candy which is truly worth the cost and the calories.
The same goes for gifts and jewelry.  At Sweet Tooth we think it is lots of fun to sell the more unusual, the more fun, the less available and in doing so, we are encouraging our customers to have as much fun as we do. 
We like to be known as "The Happy Place" where our shelves and displays make people smile and feel really good about their purchases.  We prefer to be the brightest shopping star in our local universe.
To borrow a phrase from Southwest Airlines, we know our customers can shop anywhere they want....including online.....so we appreciate the fact that they have selected Sweet Tooth as their gift and candy store.