Children

Boy - I just had one of those kids!! It is funny. You can tell when they hit the door that there is going to be some tense moments. It was a boy, about three years old. From the time he came in the door, he was pretty much on his own. His little face was set with purpose as he raced to the back of the store. Mom very calmly shopped the jewelry table, in the front. I can hear things hitting the floor, so I make my way toward him. Mom beats me to it and picks up puzzles. But then she leaves him on his own once again. Next he cleans off the book rack. They are gone on to terrorize someone else now. Yesterday it was a small girl, only 17 months old, and very active. She was sat by her mother on the floor with a ceramic plate and ceramic eggs to play with. These were things her mother was planning on buying and did, in fact, buy. When we opened the store we decided we were not going to put up any of those "you break it, you buy it signs". I am telling you that I am feeling less and less like that was a good idea. If it is an accident, I never would let anyone buy an item that had broken. But when people use things to distract their children with no regard for the fact that it is money from our pocket, I am going to let them pay the bill. To be fair, I have many parents who hold their children's hands and do not let them touch. I am trying to find a place in the new location for a small table to put a few toys on to keep kids busy. The really interesting thing is that the parents of the kids who are the worst offenders would never buy a book with a scarred corner or a puzzle with the shrink wrap broken. So I say, come on parents, I have raised my children - many hours of which were spent in Wal-Mart. Their father, who was manager there, would have absolutely locked them up if they ran crazy and were distructive. Wal-Mart at least has some leeway for damages, here it comes out of my pocket.

Parking

Of all the struggles we have faced with our current store location, I would say parking is number one. We are in a strip center with two other businesses, and an additional two spots for lease. The other two tenants are great people, we all get along very well. One is a fitness center, that has really taken off. I honestly do not think there are even enough parking places here for that one facility. Sure, at times, the parking lot is virtually empty. But in the mornings and in the evenings parking places are definitely at a premium. The really bad thing is that the fitness people cannot walk very far!!! Or seemingly so. They will usually park right in front of my store. There are no designated spots, but it seems to me like people who are coming to work out anyway could walk a few extra steps and leave some parking for my old ladies!!! The guy who owns the fitness center has posted signs asking them to leave me some parking - but basically I have decided workout people are just self absorbed!! Now I know that is being pretty hard on them. Also, to be fair there are many who park out at the road and walk in. But it is usually the beefy weight lifters and the young men. Can you tell this bothers me??? I find it interesting that many of my customers will park out by the road and walk the extra steps even if the lot is not full. If they came in and looked around once in a while - I would be a bit less judgmental - I think. Oh yes then there is the one woman, who not only parks in front of the store, but comes in to get lotion out of the sample bottles before and after her workout. That is the only time she comes in. It is right now 3:35 and I am watching the parking lot fill up. By 5:00, more than likely there will not be a space to be had. That is the number one reason we are moving. The city of Nixa is so picky about water fountains, how about looking at parking spaces per sq. ft. rented? I feel so much better getting that all off my chest!!!!

Water Fountains

In our little piece of the world of retail, our current big pain is water fountains!! We are moving to a new facility just down the road and one of the city ordinances is that we have to put in water fountains. Not one, but two!!! One high one and one low one. Our argument is that we would be glad to put one in(if we had to) and gratefully bend over to a low one so as to accommodate anyone in a wheelchair. But two in a small retail shop is ridiculous. The fact of the matter is, we have had two water fountains in our present place and the only ones who ever uses them are kids. They are more of a pain than anything as kids love to play in them. The city of Springfield has an exemption for small businesses. They allow them to use bottled water. Evidently, we are responsible to provide water to someone if they walk in the door thirsty!!! Gary has appealed this decision to no avail. For a small retail business there is also the fact that water fountains take up retail space, that could be used for a more productive purpose. So when you come to see us in our new place, be sure to enjoy a cool drink of water on us!!

New Beginning

This is quite a different blog from my other one. This one is for a record of all of the weird things that go on in the life of a lowly shopkeep!!! Really, I hear the strangest things. People seem to think if you are working in a small gift shop that you also have a license in therapy. People tell me all kinds of things. Also people are just humorous. I have got to laugh some days to keep from crying....My store has almost been open for two years now, so we have worked out some of the initial kinks. Not to say that I do not believe there will be more kinks - just that we have worked through some already.

One of my pet peeves is when people come in and pick something up, immediately think it is overpriced and feel the need to comment on it. First of all I work very hard to find items that I can sell at a good price, and think I have things very fairly priced. My mother is actually the best example of this. She looks at things and cannot believe that the prices have gone up in the last fifty years. You can believe that she is not shy about commenting!!

But, one of the best stories I have about this is when two ladies came in to the store a couple of months after I opened. They were both in their late 30's and proceeded to look around. Finally they came to some lotion up near the cash wrap. It was actually a fairly large bottle of foot lotion for ten dollars. She started very loudly saying "Ten dollars, ten dollars, for this little bottle of lotion. I can't believe it." Her friend was mortified and tried to cool her off, but she was not having it. She walked all over the store repeating "ten dollars, ten dollars". Now in her defense I believe she had some challenges mentally, or maybe I just want to think that. Finally she left and I have not seen her again. Her friend, however, shops here quite a bit.

So, I tell this story to try to teach a lesson on shopping etiquette!! People work hard in shops and most are trying to do a good job. Are some shops overpriced?? Sure. But, it is always a choice as to where you want to shop. If you feel someone is overpriced, go down the road. The fact of the matter is, overpriced to one person may not necessarily be to someone else. So with that off my chest, Happy Shopping!!!!