Jeff has told me that today is the 1st anniversary of this blog. Naturally I felt the need to recognize that fact and to say something further about what we do at Sweet Tooth.
Now in our 21st year, we have acted upon several principles which we have felt are very important:
(1) Our store should feel like a home away from home. Our customers should feel that they are important to us, that we want to provide them with the best service we can and we want to make the environment of the store fun and inviting.
(2) Our staff should enjoy coming to work every day. They should know how much we appreciate their effort to assure that #1 on this list is always the most critical work ethic for them.
(3) We should demonstrate in all ways possible how much we appreciate our staff and the manner in which they represent Sweet Tooth and the reputation they have helped build for Sweet Tooth..
(4) If it isn't fun and interesting to work or shop here, then we are doing something wrong which needs to be corrected immediately.
(5) We don't want our store to be a carbon copy of every other gift shop in town. We want to stock our store with new and different merchandise. When a customer asks us a question about an item in our store, and if we don't know the answer, we will research the question and get back to the customer with the answer.
(6) We want to be a good corporate citizen. We want to support as many good causes as we can. We honor those people who actually walk into our store, ask for help for their organization and show us how proud they are to be a volunteer for that group.
(7) Although change is sometimes difficult, we want to be open to new and different things. We want to keep up with technology in the market place without losing the "homey" touch we feel is so good for us.
Hopefully we are accomplishing these principles and that we will never sit on the laurels of past successes. Above all, we have made so many friends over the past 20 years. Those friendships motivate us to continue working diligently to make our store the very best it can be.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!!
It might be hot as blazes outside, or in our case, no electricity at home. However, ignore all that----this is the time of the year when we are up to our Elf Ears in decision making for Christmas holiday candy and gifts.
All year long we see holiday merchandise and candy. All year long we debate about what we are going to do this year. What should be the theme, the colors, the decorations, the most popular gift and candy items? Do you think we are procrastinating? Well, not really. We are agonizing over what our customers are going to want for the holidays.
Trends come and go so quickly these days that bacon is popular today, but might not be in December. So if we have over bought bacon flavored candy, we've bought a pig in a poke!!
Have I ever told you the story of the Billy Bass episode? Some of you remember the Billy Bass singing fish plaque....or maybe you'd just rather not think about it. Our friend Brad is probably in that category. He had a gift shop and was a very experienced retailer and sales rep. A number of stores were selling Billy Bass (shame on us!!) and Brad decided to order 100 Billy Basses for his shop....just when Billy fell out of favor and lots of cheap knock offs came on to the market.
We don't know what Brad did with all his Billy Bass plaques. He did have a big basement in his store. But we totally sympathize with him....we've had some real "dogs" too over the years.
Brings me back to shopping for the holidays. Just today several of us were debating over Lollipals...a Kencraft lolly pop which we have sold for many years. Which one of the designs and the flavors will be a hit this year? Hot chocolate, cranberry or peppermint candy canes? We pretty well know that most of our customers don't want pink, lime green, blue or white Christmas colors. Most want the traditional red and emerald green. How do we know this? Let's just say that we've had some pink Christmases which ended up in our After Christmas Sale.
And yet.........this could be the year of the Pink and Lime Green Christmas!! Holy cow!! So you see what we are up against? And some people think it is easy being a retailer. Decisions, decisions, decisions!!
All year long we see holiday merchandise and candy. All year long we debate about what we are going to do this year. What should be the theme, the colors, the decorations, the most popular gift and candy items? Do you think we are procrastinating? Well, not really. We are agonizing over what our customers are going to want for the holidays.
Trends come and go so quickly these days that bacon is popular today, but might not be in December. So if we have over bought bacon flavored candy, we've bought a pig in a poke!!
Have I ever told you the story of the Billy Bass episode? Some of you remember the Billy Bass singing fish plaque....or maybe you'd just rather not think about it. Our friend Brad is probably in that category. He had a gift shop and was a very experienced retailer and sales rep. A number of stores were selling Billy Bass (shame on us!!) and Brad decided to order 100 Billy Basses for his shop....just when Billy fell out of favor and lots of cheap knock offs came on to the market.
We don't know what Brad did with all his Billy Bass plaques. He did have a big basement in his store. But we totally sympathize with him....we've had some real "dogs" too over the years.
Brings me back to shopping for the holidays. Just today several of us were debating over Lollipals...a Kencraft lolly pop which we have sold for many years. Which one of the designs and the flavors will be a hit this year? Hot chocolate, cranberry or peppermint candy canes? We pretty well know that most of our customers don't want pink, lime green, blue or white Christmas colors. Most want the traditional red and emerald green. How do we know this? Let's just say that we've had some pink Christmases which ended up in our After Christmas Sale.
And yet.........this could be the year of the Pink and Lime Green Christmas!! Holy cow!! So you see what we are up against? And some people think it is easy being a retailer. Decisions, decisions, decisions!!
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Getting Ready for Sidewalk Sale
For a few weeks now we have been getting ready for our Annual Sidewalk Sale. We have checked in all the cubby holes to find the odds and ends of gift items which we have saved to put in the sale. We have marked down some of the merchandise currently in the store, in part to make room for new merchandise, and in part because what merchandise is left is not moving out the door at full price.
Perhaps I have spoken about this before, but deciding to put items on sale is not an easy task. It means admitting that for whatever reason those items are no longer popular at full price. It might also mean that we made a mistake in selecting them in the first place and our customers are telling us, by not buying them, that we made a boo-boo.
But according to the lastest Retail Mavens which Jeff is listening to, the best times of the year for having a sale is after Christmas and in July. Whooppee, we have always had our sidewalk sale in July, so we are surely on top of the situation.
Sometimes when we have a sale people think that we are going out of business. I think I mentioned this once before in connection with the REALLY BIG SALE banner Jeff had made for the store. I have heard from other retailers that they experience the same question.
Just to set the record straight, beyond bad buying decisions and all the other reasons for marking down merchandise, us retailers have our eyes on the 4th quarter. We need to make room in our store for all that merchandise which is on its way to 38th and Harvard. We simply cannot find more room to keep the old and set out the new.
So unlike friendships, we really have to let the old stuff go and press onward (as Mary Engelbreit said in one of her drawings) toward the future.
Come join us in this journey. Get excited, like we do and especially like Doris does, about what is coming. Don't look back....as one of my latest mantras says: "If you do what you always do, you'll get what you've always gotten and you'll be who you always were."
I've told you before....change is hard, but worth the effort. See you on the Sidewalk!!
Perhaps I have spoken about this before, but deciding to put items on sale is not an easy task. It means admitting that for whatever reason those items are no longer popular at full price. It might also mean that we made a mistake in selecting them in the first place and our customers are telling us, by not buying them, that we made a boo-boo.
But according to the lastest Retail Mavens which Jeff is listening to, the best times of the year for having a sale is after Christmas and in July. Whooppee, we have always had our sidewalk sale in July, so we are surely on top of the situation.
Sometimes when we have a sale people think that we are going out of business. I think I mentioned this once before in connection with the REALLY BIG SALE banner Jeff had made for the store. I have heard from other retailers that they experience the same question.
Just to set the record straight, beyond bad buying decisions and all the other reasons for marking down merchandise, us retailers have our eyes on the 4th quarter. We need to make room in our store for all that merchandise which is on its way to 38th and Harvard. We simply cannot find more room to keep the old and set out the new.
So unlike friendships, we really have to let the old stuff go and press onward (as Mary Engelbreit said in one of her drawings) toward the future.
Come join us in this journey. Get excited, like we do and especially like Doris does, about what is coming. Don't look back....as one of my latest mantras says: "If you do what you always do, you'll get what you've always gotten and you'll be who you always were."
I've told you before....change is hard, but worth the effort. See you on the Sidewalk!!
Monday, July 8, 2013
Bacon, Mustaches and Bowties, oh my!!
The latest and the greatest products for our store are Bacon, Mustaches and Bowties. If you can believe it!
More and more companies are coming out with bacon flavored chocolate, mints and gummies. Sometimes the bacon is not real bacon but a combination of ingredients that taste like bacon.
We have been selling alot of bacon candies. Most people say they are purchasing them for men....who knows??
As for mustaches, we received a call a few weeks ago from a woman who was having a mustache party and wanted to know what we had in the store with that theme. Aside for mustache shaped mint tins, we didn't have much.
Now we have StacheToos....removeable mustache tatoos of all shapes and colors (coming soon: Christmas StachToos). Look around...you will see mustaches on everything from candy to apparel to tumbler cups and so much more. One of our staff put in a StacheToo and found that men reacted to her, saying how fun they were but women seemed to ignore the fact that she had this tatoo under her nose!!
As for Bowties, more and more are showing up in the Men's Departments. They are jaunty and fun...some guys are even making them out of wood!! At Sweet Tooth we will have musical bowties and ties which you can accessorize a bottle or put on a package or simply give as a gift. There will Christmas and Chanukah ones as well.
How do these 3 items fit together? One thought occurs to me: the gift industry is attempting to find fun things for men or at least about men. Most shoppers are women and most gift items and even candy appeal to women.....since women are the primary shoppers. Maybe these 3 trends are going to bring men out into the gift purchasing demographic. It won't just be Valentine's Day anymore.....in case you didn't know, we see more men the week before Valentine's Day than any other time in the year.
You heard it right here (if you haven't already)....just saying.
More and more companies are coming out with bacon flavored chocolate, mints and gummies. Sometimes the bacon is not real bacon but a combination of ingredients that taste like bacon.
We have been selling alot of bacon candies. Most people say they are purchasing them for men....who knows??
As for mustaches, we received a call a few weeks ago from a woman who was having a mustache party and wanted to know what we had in the store with that theme. Aside for mustache shaped mint tins, we didn't have much.
Now we have StacheToos....removeable mustache tatoos of all shapes and colors (coming soon: Christmas StachToos). Look around...you will see mustaches on everything from candy to apparel to tumbler cups and so much more. One of our staff put in a StacheToo and found that men reacted to her, saying how fun they were but women seemed to ignore the fact that she had this tatoo under her nose!!
As for Bowties, more and more are showing up in the Men's Departments. They are jaunty and fun...some guys are even making them out of wood!! At Sweet Tooth we will have musical bowties and ties which you can accessorize a bottle or put on a package or simply give as a gift. There will Christmas and Chanukah ones as well.
How do these 3 items fit together? One thought occurs to me: the gift industry is attempting to find fun things for men or at least about men. Most shoppers are women and most gift items and even candy appeal to women.....since women are the primary shoppers. Maybe these 3 trends are going to bring men out into the gift purchasing demographic. It won't just be Valentine's Day anymore.....in case you didn't know, we see more men the week before Valentine's Day than any other time in the year.
You heard it right here (if you haven't already)....just saying.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Are You Shopping Locally?
Summer is the time when most retail stores, both large and small, set about to have sales to clear out the "left over" merchandise to make space for all the new merchandise we have ordered at the Gift Market.
We have a banner which we used to put up on the windows in the front of our store. It said something like "Really Big Sale". Over the years we were asked if that banner meant we were going out of business. Of course all we were doing was attempting to attract passersby to stop and visit our store, assuming that "Really Big" would get them inside.
That banner did work, but it also provoked people to ask if we were going out of business!! So much for our marketing strategy.
Small businesses like ours would love to spend all sorts of money on ads. Unfortunately we simply can't afford to do as much advertising as we would like to. It comes down to deciding between an ad or paying the electric bill, rent, wages or purchasing more goodies to sell in the store.
I noticed a banner on a shoe store in Tulsa the other day. The wording went all around the 3 sides of the banner and on one side it said "Shop Locally". It is surprising that many folks don't think about how their shopping dollars spent in local stores benefit the entire city. And perhaps it is up to us local retailers to shout it out, just like our banner did and get people to start thinking about how the money they spend locally goes around and around in our city.
Another issue now being debated in the U.S. Congress is the question of whether to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 a hour. Those opposed to this legislation use local retailers as an argument against raising wages. They say that small business would be ruined if wages were raised.
Surprising the data does not always support that argument. Many small businesses already pay their employees more than the current minimum wage and some pay as much as $9.00 an hour or more right now. Small business understands that the wage money they and others pay circulates through the entire city. Hourly wage personnel will generally spend their wages locally.
I am hopeful that more and more people will think about buying most of their needs and wants through local retailers. In turn local retailers will have money to spend on advertising locally and purchasing supplies locally. Sales tax will increase and go toward local enhancements of our city...schools, roads, parks, attracting more businesses, etc. etc.
Don't you just love the ETC part?
We have a banner which we used to put up on the windows in the front of our store. It said something like "Really Big Sale". Over the years we were asked if that banner meant we were going out of business. Of course all we were doing was attempting to attract passersby to stop and visit our store, assuming that "Really Big" would get them inside.
That banner did work, but it also provoked people to ask if we were going out of business!! So much for our marketing strategy.
Small businesses like ours would love to spend all sorts of money on ads. Unfortunately we simply can't afford to do as much advertising as we would like to. It comes down to deciding between an ad or paying the electric bill, rent, wages or purchasing more goodies to sell in the store.
I noticed a banner on a shoe store in Tulsa the other day. The wording went all around the 3 sides of the banner and on one side it said "Shop Locally". It is surprising that many folks don't think about how their shopping dollars spent in local stores benefit the entire city. And perhaps it is up to us local retailers to shout it out, just like our banner did and get people to start thinking about how the money they spend locally goes around and around in our city.
Another issue now being debated in the U.S. Congress is the question of whether to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 a hour. Those opposed to this legislation use local retailers as an argument against raising wages. They say that small business would be ruined if wages were raised.
Surprising the data does not always support that argument. Many small businesses already pay their employees more than the current minimum wage and some pay as much as $9.00 an hour or more right now. Small business understands that the wage money they and others pay circulates through the entire city. Hourly wage personnel will generally spend their wages locally.
I am hopeful that more and more people will think about buying most of their needs and wants through local retailers. In turn local retailers will have money to spend on advertising locally and purchasing supplies locally. Sales tax will increase and go toward local enhancements of our city...schools, roads, parks, attracting more businesses, etc. etc.
Don't you just love the ETC part?
Monday, June 24, 2013
Back Stage at the Gift Market
If you've never been to a Gift Market, you will just have to imagine 2 buildings....one with 4 floors and one with 16 floors attached to each other through several "indoor bridges" which are actually floors of showrooms connecting one building to the other.
Every showroom is brightly lit, generally full of different "lines" or manufacturers who contract with showroom owners to display and sell their products.
The World Trade Center with 16 floors is divided into floors which emphasize gifts or children's merchandise or jewelry or furniture. The top floors are dedicated to temporary booths which are only available at the January and June Markets.
On those top floors there are aisle after aisle of booths showing individual "lines". To help sort out which is which, the floors are divided into categories like Gift, Stationery, Apparel, etc. Walking these floors is not my favorite thing to do. Frankly it is known among Sweet Tooth staff that I am a speed walker when it comes to those floors. I stand at the front of the aisle, glance down and somehow automatically decide that a particular aisle is not worth walking through.
I will admit that we have found some fun, new gift lines in the Temporaries, as they are called. But my preference is to purchase from a showroom where showroom owners have vetted the lines they carry and can be counted on to help us out if we run into a problem.
The Gourmet Food Court is laid out the same way as the Temporaries, with aisles of booths. When we first started going to the Gift Market, we would walk up and down these aisles, full of cheese straw vendors, jellies, jams, packets of spices and other such foods. Rarely was there a great candy find at the Dallas Market. But if you remember the Peppermint Pig which we carried for several years, we did find that company at the Dallas Market. I miss that Pig!!
We always assigned Jeff to taste the cheese straws, the spicy dips and jellies. Finally we simply learned to say "No" to offers of samples. The funny thing is that many retailers who don't sell gourmet foods venture into the Gourmet Food area for a nice little snack or a dessert after lunch. No one really seems to care. I have noticed that over the years stores which were once strictly gifts are now stocking packaged food items. Impulse gifts, I suppose.
Cash and Carry is just what it sounds like....it is housed in a building across the street from the Trade Mart. Talk about impulse shopping!! You cannot walk through that building without thinking that there is a bargain to be had among the vast number of blingy jewelry sellers, knock-off perfume dealers, cowgirl outfits and so forth. And that doesn't even describe the other half of the building which has furniture....antler chandeliers being very popular this year.
Cash and Carry is exactly what it sounds like.....the place where you can purchase any item and take it home with you. Most people seem to be shopping for themselves, but some are actually buying merchandise for their stores. Cash and Carry is where a few years ago Jeff got a great "bargain": for $22.00 he purchased The Tingler...this contraption that you used to massage your head. Not too long after that the price of The Tingler was down to $4.00 and this year I didn't see it at all.
Some bargains really aren't bargains after all.
Every showroom is brightly lit, generally full of different "lines" or manufacturers who contract with showroom owners to display and sell their products.
The World Trade Center with 16 floors is divided into floors which emphasize gifts or children's merchandise or jewelry or furniture. The top floors are dedicated to temporary booths which are only available at the January and June Markets.
On those top floors there are aisle after aisle of booths showing individual "lines". To help sort out which is which, the floors are divided into categories like Gift, Stationery, Apparel, etc. Walking these floors is not my favorite thing to do. Frankly it is known among Sweet Tooth staff that I am a speed walker when it comes to those floors. I stand at the front of the aisle, glance down and somehow automatically decide that a particular aisle is not worth walking through.
I will admit that we have found some fun, new gift lines in the Temporaries, as they are called. But my preference is to purchase from a showroom where showroom owners have vetted the lines they carry and can be counted on to help us out if we run into a problem.
The Gourmet Food Court is laid out the same way as the Temporaries, with aisles of booths. When we first started going to the Gift Market, we would walk up and down these aisles, full of cheese straw vendors, jellies, jams, packets of spices and other such foods. Rarely was there a great candy find at the Dallas Market. But if you remember the Peppermint Pig which we carried for several years, we did find that company at the Dallas Market. I miss that Pig!!
We always assigned Jeff to taste the cheese straws, the spicy dips and jellies. Finally we simply learned to say "No" to offers of samples. The funny thing is that many retailers who don't sell gourmet foods venture into the Gourmet Food area for a nice little snack or a dessert after lunch. No one really seems to care. I have noticed that over the years stores which were once strictly gifts are now stocking packaged food items. Impulse gifts, I suppose.
Cash and Carry is just what it sounds like....it is housed in a building across the street from the Trade Mart. Talk about impulse shopping!! You cannot walk through that building without thinking that there is a bargain to be had among the vast number of blingy jewelry sellers, knock-off perfume dealers, cowgirl outfits and so forth. And that doesn't even describe the other half of the building which has furniture....antler chandeliers being very popular this year.
Cash and Carry is exactly what it sounds like.....the place where you can purchase any item and take it home with you. Most people seem to be shopping for themselves, but some are actually buying merchandise for their stores. Cash and Carry is where a few years ago Jeff got a great "bargain": for $22.00 he purchased The Tingler...this contraption that you used to massage your head. Not too long after that the price of The Tingler was down to $4.00 and this year I didn't see it at all.
Some bargains really aren't bargains after all.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
We Made It To The Dallas Market
We made it to the Dallas Market. This is a trip we take at least 2 times a year, if not 4 times a year. And going to the Dallas Market is like shopping in the biggest mall ever, but you never take anything home with you!
Well, sometimes there are samples to take home and there are tons and tons of catalogues, tote bags, occasionally candles and flip flops. Some showrooms at certain times of the year do sell their showroom merchandise to make room for the newer products. But we never have room in our car to take anything back to Tulsa.
Here's what happens when you arrive at the Market. At the Registration Desk you show your driver's license and get a badge with your name and your store name and city. You also get a catalogue which lists all the company lines and showrooms and temporary booths and even Cash and Carry booths. The January and June Market catalogues are a good size, since those 2 Markets have several floors of temporary vendors and Cash and Carry across the street from the main buildings. You never ever want to carry around any extra weight....so one catalogue is all we take!!
For 20 years we have been going to the Dallas Market. When I step through the door I really do feel like I am home. I know the floor plans, the showrooms, the bathrooms (highly important), the restaurants and our sales reps. Sometimes we literally run into retailers from Tulsa or other cities.
One of my most memorable "run ins" was the year that The Farm Shopping Center had done a promotion using men's ties....one was a cow design. I was rounding a corner when I literally bumped into the tummy of one of our Farm retailers. I didn't have to look up to see his face....that cow tie was a dead giveaway that he was a Tulsa retailer!!
We shopped for 4 days, from morning to late afternoon. We spend most of the day walking, standing, looking at merchandise, talking about merchandise. And when time comes to get in the car and go back to the hotel or out to eat, we are definitely ready to sit down for a good long rest.
I'll write some more about our trip to the Market, but I just want you to know that some great new merchandise will be coming our way this summer and this fall. I will drop a few hints in my next blog.
Well, sometimes there are samples to take home and there are tons and tons of catalogues, tote bags, occasionally candles and flip flops. Some showrooms at certain times of the year do sell their showroom merchandise to make room for the newer products. But we never have room in our car to take anything back to Tulsa.
Here's what happens when you arrive at the Market. At the Registration Desk you show your driver's license and get a badge with your name and your store name and city. You also get a catalogue which lists all the company lines and showrooms and temporary booths and even Cash and Carry booths. The January and June Market catalogues are a good size, since those 2 Markets have several floors of temporary vendors and Cash and Carry across the street from the main buildings. You never ever want to carry around any extra weight....so one catalogue is all we take!!
For 20 years we have been going to the Dallas Market. When I step through the door I really do feel like I am home. I know the floor plans, the showrooms, the bathrooms (highly important), the restaurants and our sales reps. Sometimes we literally run into retailers from Tulsa or other cities.
One of my most memorable "run ins" was the year that The Farm Shopping Center had done a promotion using men's ties....one was a cow design. I was rounding a corner when I literally bumped into the tummy of one of our Farm retailers. I didn't have to look up to see his face....that cow tie was a dead giveaway that he was a Tulsa retailer!!
We shopped for 4 days, from morning to late afternoon. We spend most of the day walking, standing, looking at merchandise, talking about merchandise. And when time comes to get in the car and go back to the hotel or out to eat, we are definitely ready to sit down for a good long rest.
I'll write some more about our trip to the Market, but I just want you to know that some great new merchandise will be coming our way this summer and this fall. I will drop a few hints in my next blog.
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