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.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
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!
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!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
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.
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.
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