Back From the Los Angeles Gift Show

We are officially back from the Los Angeles Gift Show. What a great and successful time we had! We were able to go to the LA Mart for a day of shopping, then off to the LA Convention Center for 2 full days of shopping. We say shopping but it was really BUYING. We use the "B" word (Budget) a lot and the "R" word (Restraint) too but neither seem to have much impact on us. Our customers will all be very happy with our efforts, at least we hope so.

Where to start??? Of course Jim Shore with Heartwood Creek was one of our first stops, we don't want to miss any new items and found we haven't. We did find a few things to reorder. Then it is off looking for new Treasures.

Black Lace for the Halloween Window Display which of course will be for sale too. It is black spider webs which give Carol the creeps, but there are no spiders on them so she will survive. Our window will be wonderful, full of witches that move, light up and make noise. They are movement and sound activated so when people walk by or make noise they will come to life.

We also added to our supply of Table runners, place mats and napkins. These are quilted. While at Victorian Heart we added to our quilt inventory also.

Tabby Socks, so cute. They are like to old fashioned Japanese Socks that separates the big toe from the rest and you wear them with thongs. Love them. We will all have to wear them to sell them so people will get the idea.

And will you believe we are now TY Sellers again. We are carrying a wide variety of the TY Line and we focused on the new TY Girlz which are the computer dolls. They have a secret code on their tag which gives the owner the ability to get on the web site and play games earning computer play money to purchase clothes for their doll, a house, furniture and lots of other things. The Reps demonstrated it all to use and it is great. Like the Webkinz but dolls which are darling. Photos will follow when the stock arrives.

Plant Bags for growing plants and to use as vases. Very cleaver idea.

The new Pie Mixes that are part of Country Living, Yummy!!!!! I love to bake, but am going to try these myself. More from this line also.

Amazing metal, enamel boxes with rhinestones. Higher on our price list but beautiful.

Then we found the Computer Program and gear to download music CD's for music with any childs name in the song. We love these and now will be making them in the store for everyone who wants them.

And sooooo very much more. We are going to have to redecorate and reorganize to get it all to fit. Then we will have an Open House to show off.

Just another week of toooo much fun with The Treasure Station, Just for Fun. Great name that seems to inspire us.

Photos will follow when items arrive.

Our phone number is 805-524-2967, please call if you are interested in any of our lines, which seem to many to list.

See you all soon!

OUR NEW WINDOW AND PET DRAGONFLY

Our new window shows off the popular chickens for summer. What a hit they are. We used the small ones as gifts to the new residents in Senior Citizen Apartments on Central as a Welcome to Central Avenue.

Our new Dragonfly spinner is a total hit also. The wings go around with the wind, he is big and his (or her) wings are beautiful. The colors on the tail (?) and the head are bright. A real show piece.

Well this week it is time for the Los Angeles Gift Show. We look forward to it in July and January every year. It is a chance to see what is new and how much more we can get in our store. We think it is time for a big sale so we can make room for new merchandise and for the Holidays. Yes it is time to think of the Holidays coming up so soon. Time just passes quickly.

Photos and a report from the Gift Show next week.

We are adding a few more views of the Fourth Celebration and car show. This shows only a small fraction of the crowd that arrived.

Uncle Sam sold right away which was nice but the display was cute. Next year we must order more and be prepared, everyone loved him, the wheels on his bike go around. He came from Premier Kites. The Bumble Bee and Lady Bug came from Premier Kites also, and are very popular; their wings go around with the wind and they change direction.

See you soon with another update and views of the new window.

The Fourth of July in Fillmore, California is a favorite time for the Treasure Station. It is a busy time with lots of visitors to the town for the Annual Car Show, The Fireworks Sales, and The Fireworks Show in the evening. Truly a family day.

The Treasure Station always has fun that day. We get to see and visit with so many people from all over the area and sales are always up.

Talk about hot!!!!! Wow, the Thermometers reached well over 100 outside and the air conditioner inside had trouble keeping up. The addition of a fan helped.

Pictured here is the front window of The Treasure Station. This year it moved with simulated fireworks going around and around.

The cars out front belong to Pat, the red one is a 1964 Ford Fairlane that he restored and the little grey car is a 1947 Crosley. The Crosley got the most attention, so little and so cute.

A great day overall!

Now it is time to prepare yet another window display to last until it is time to do Halloween. Later this month it is off to our favorite hobby, shopping at the Los Angeles Gift Show. Not sure where we will put more items, but we will figure it out.

SHARING TWO OF THE NEW JIM SHORE FIGURES

I just had to share these two new Jim Shore figures. I love them and already have both on display in thestore. Yes it does seem a little early, but we have one area for Christmas and so many customers are like us and buy Christmas items they love all year especially when they see something they really like. I am thinking these will be something everyone wants.

Even some Halloween Items by Jim Shore are out and selling well.

I will put more photos of favorite things later.

I have to admit we already have Christmas Ornaments by Old World Christmas out too. Mainly the ones you can use all year round.

OUR STORE FRONT

This our store front. It darling and it is amazing how much stock we can carry. The fun part is we keep adding to it. There will be close up photos of the windows as I change window displays.
Right now we carry Antiques, Old World Christmas, Jim Shore Heartwood Creek, Books, childrens toys, new and vintage jewlery, jewlery boxes for girls, coloring books (really big detailed ones) for girls and boys, stuffed animals, flags, garden decorations and the list goes on and on.
Our moto will always be "Just for Fun"
Stop by and see us if you are in Fillmore, California. We are open Thurs thru Sunday until September then we will be open everyday. Hope to see you.

GRADUATION AND ALUMNI WINDOW

I have to admit this is one of my favorite things to do, decorating windows for special occasions in Fillmore. It is fun to have theme windows and then hoping that people will stop and notice. The Graduation and Alumni Window was a success. The Annuals from Fillmore High School started with 1917 and ending with 1964 were a hit. I put my Class of '64 sweater on our manequin and my husbands Lettermans Sweater on another stand. Too fun, then all other collectables that I can never part with made the window a walk down memory lane.
And yes, people did notice. Graduation is important in Fillmore as it is everywhere and the Alumni Banquet every year is well attended, especially by Graduates from many years ago.
Now that Graduation is over it is time to think of a window for the 4th of July. This is a really big day in our little town. There is a huge vintage car show all day and the cars are parked up and down Central and the side streets. This year there will be around 350 cars on display. My husband has 2 of them registered, I think one is in my name. Soooo the window must be special. Photos to follow.

Unpacking Soooo Many Boxes

It's Thursday and the UPS Truck arrives, I already have 3 large boxes to unpack, check condition, price and find a place to display each item, and Ray delivers 10 (yes 10) more large boxes. Wow, it is like Christmas and what a coincidence it is all Jim Shore, Heartwood Creek Christmas items. What fun to look at them all again, since we ordered in January at the LA Gift Show I tend not to remember every item ordered so this is a treat. All were perfect and the new products for 2007 are wonderful!!! Our customers will be thrilled. Photos to follow as soon as I figure out how to do that.
There were Fall and Halloween items included too. And this is just the start of the Christmas Delivery. I think we need to remember we are a small store, but somehow we make it all fit.
Decorating for Christmas will be wonderful this year again.
The Fillmore May Festival is this week end, there is a parade, food booths, music and of course Carnival Rides. So it was time to decorate the window in an old fashioned theme, with old chalk statues from old days at Festivals and some reproductions of old pull toys. Very cute window, but will only last this week end then I really must do a Graduation Window to celebrate the Fillmore High School Graduates. I even have Annuals from the early 1920's to put on display.
This window should be a hit for the Alumni who come to the Alumni Banquet on June 9. Memories........ As I was going through my trunk of photos and keepsakes there were just so many memories of our High School Years.

Mothers Day at The Treasure Station

Working the day before Mothers Day is always fun at The Treasure Station. We do carry a few Manly Man Gifts but really seem to cater more to the female customers and children, so a Mothers Holiday is great. I am thinking it really should be a Mothers Weekend, we have earned it after all.
Quite a few of my customers today were men looking for the perfect gift and being myself I was full of ideas. One gentleman just found out his wife collects antique mirrors and we had a great one for him. I wrapped it extra special so he would get great points, then asked if this was the only gift or if was going to add a little something to it. He looked at me funny and said yes he will be looking for something else saying he knew that would be a good idea.
This is a wrapping day for my customers, so the gift doesn't arrive in the plain paper bag (even though ours are darling red check bags).
Another interesting man bought a wonderful Jim Shore, Heartwood Creek, statue for his wife which I wrapped then decided to buy his Mother a Jim Shore Angel for her Mothers Day Gift, when I offered to wrap it for him, he said no, that's ok, I don't need it to be wrapped. Hmmm, was I too slow with the first wrapping??? What to do, what to do, so I used a gift bag, great tissue and ribbons, that makes him a winner for both the women in his life and both were individualized.
Our biggest sellers for the day were the Jim Shore Heartwood Creek lines. Always popular and we carry so many of them. All the customers ask to be sure we are getting all the Christmas ones for this year and are happy when I say yes. The 2007 Line is going to be great this year, items are already arriving but we are holding off putting out too many or we will become a Christmas Store.
Hope we made a lot of Mothers happy this year, your husbands and children were thinking about you!

FIRST TUESDAY

The perfect day is the First Tuesday of every month at the LA Mart! This is the day we choose to go to the Mart to place new orders because this is the day there are sample sales. A "Sample Sale" is when the showrooms have ordered more of an item than they need for displays or when an item is sold out or no longer going to carried. Things are marked down to a percentage off of wholesale, the best being " half of wholesale". What a savings and too much fun! We have very fancy carts we pull because we don't have to order items on Sample Sale, we get to pack them up and take them with us.
Our customers love it when this happens because we can pass the savings on to them.
The Mart is 13 Stories tall in downtown Los Angeles. We start at the top and work our way down, easier that way because we can take the stairs down. It seems going up the stairs just wears us out when we are carrying so many things. Could be old age, but we have been starting at the top and walking down for 12 years now.
Mary and I (Carol) got to go yesterday and came home with lots of Treasures. We should have taken our camera to share our adventure with everyone. Next time this will be the plan.
Mary's husband and my husband thought perhaps Tuesday, May 1st would not be such a good day to go to LA because of the Demonstration that was planned. But they are the silent partners so we went anyway. It is all in the planning. We had to change our route so we wouldn't be on Broadway and Olympic. Easy.
I think not going to LA yesterday was on everyones mind because the traffic on I5 was a breeze and there weren't many other shoppers at the Mart so no competition. This was great, no crowding or getting what we wanted.
Lots of laughs and lots of Treasures. We stopped at Enesco to check on Jim Shore, Heartwood Creek, but we already have it all we decided so no orders were needed. This is one of our biggest lines and we ordered it all in July, now as things arrive at the warehouse they are delivered to us. We store most of the Christmas items by Jim Shore and display them as Christmas gets closer.
Department 56 is next. Then Timeworks for their wonderful clocks.
We are running low on Teddy Bears and we are lucky and find some wonderful stuffed animals on Sample Sale.
I could go on and on (I already did) so if you live close just stop by and share in our finds.
Can't wait till the First Tuesday in June, then the major Gift Show in July.

The Opening

11 1/2 Years ago a decision to open the store of our dreams was made and we have been having fun ever since. When planning a new business we had several meetings to discuss what we wanted to carry, when we wanted to be open, the amount of the initial investment, and lots of visiting between these important topics.
The husbands came to one of the later meetings and one thought we should have a very formal business plan with goals, business statements, contracts, etc. The list went on and on. We listened and realized a business agreement would be a good idea, but the rest seemed like a lot of work which is what we were trying to get away from. So our comment to our husbands was; this is "Just for Fun" . That is how our entire name came to be The Treasure Station, Just for Fun.
A frequently asked question is; How have you all remained such good friends? We have been best friends and co-workers in an Emergency Room for many years, so it is just a natural. The stress in the store is far less than the stress of being an Emergency Room Nurse. We discuss everything and always end up agreeing. Actually our tastes are pretty similar.
We started out with limited inventory (at the time we thought it was a lot) and now it is amazing how much we have grown and the size of our inventory now, Wow... and it just keeps growing.
If your dream is to open a store or start a store with friends, I say go for it and remember the most important thing is to remain friends.
Future postings will be talking about our lines, making decisions, funny happenings with customers, and easy approach to problem solving.
After 11 1/2 years it is still "Just for Fun".