Another Week
Another Week
It's been an interesting week at the store with another one coming our way. I've had some highs, some lows and some tears, but I'm still standing!
Are We Ready
We made a decision last week not to re-open until we re-evaluate on May 30th. It was a huge relief after we made the decision. Many factors went into our decision and we will use the same formula on the 30th. I know people have very strong views on this pandemic, and so do we. When we make a decision, not only do we have to think of ourselves, but we have hundreds, no thousands of customers we have to take into consideration. On top of that, we have our employees and their families that we care so much about. Then on top of that, we need to think if it is financially smart. It costs a lot just to turn the key at the store to open for customers. If we aren't going to have the sales to meet that goal for the week, then it just seems silly to put anyone at risk.
We are following the CDC recommendations on the re-opening of retail establishments. At the moment we do not have the proper supplies or barriers to open to the public. We are busy locating those at reasonable cost. We are also moving displays around to aid with the social distancing.
We appreciate our customers so much, you've been so awesome supporting our online store while we've had our storefront closed. We can not thank you enough!
My goals for our online store is to see half the sales we did when we were open compared to last year. Frankly, March was a train wreck, but we didn't have much online yet, our website was under serious construction. April we met our goal! Thank you so much for helping us get there! May isn't looking good at the moment. But we just added a bunch of new product, and I'm going to add more fun stuff to our pre-order page that we are waiting to receive when it becomes available to us. I will let you know when I have finished adding the new pre-order items via Facebook. I'm hoping that helps us out and we meet our goal. If not, no worries, I know I've tried my hardest and there is always June!
I am completely obsessed by this. I dream about how I'm going to make this work, I obsess over all the scenarios in my head, day in and day out. It's seriously unhealthy, I need to talk to my therapist about this! So believe me when I say I will do everything in my power to keep this store running in whatever capacity I can.
If you are wondering what you can do to help, spread the word for us. Tell people you know about our online store. Share our emails, share our posts on your Facebook page, mention us to your crafty friends. Word of mouth is our best advertising!
We added a "Shop Online 24/7" to our billboard in the last week. When I finally saw the 4'x8' sign that I thought was so big, I almost died laughing! Little did I know how big that billboard is, so 4'x8' looks like a speck! Ha! To top it off, it's an obstructed view, you can't even see it unless you are looking for it! So that was a waste of $225, live and learn right?!
On The Upside
Did you know we offer curbside pickup? Place your order, check the curbside pickup button, we pull your order and let you know via email when it is ready. You can either email us or call a special phone number to set up a day and time for pickup. We have changed things a bit so now you can pretty much pickup 24 hours a day 7 days a week!
We have also been busy cleaning strange things we never get to at the store. Ummmm I'm a pack rat, I'll admit it, I am a collector of many things! There is 14 plus years of junk in that place! We are going to have a pick up load going to the thrift store next week. It's ridiculous what I have kept over the years!
We are about to celebrate Lauren's graduation in a week, so I've also been busy getting ready for a small party of 9 of us. It will be small and intimate but it's what we have to do to stay well and not spread this virus. We pulled Lauren from public school early in her 11th year so we've already had time to mourn the missed graduation ceremony, prom etc... she is very resilient and knows this is just what we have to do to keep people safe. I'm very lucky that she has just rolled with all the "punches".
Again thank you for your help on keeping the dream alive! Air hug the ones you love, stay well my friend.