So you want to be shop owner? - Just call it what it was... C R A Z Y!

What a Day!

Being a Shop Owner can be a lot of fun. Other times, well, you can just write it off as “What a day.”

 

No one will really believe this, but I thought I’d just tell you a bit about what happened this past Tuesday.

It started early because on Monday the internet had been out much of the day in the entire town of Dade City, which affected us tremendously. We had tried to do our Monday afternoon Ken and Rachael show at 3:30 using my cell phone, but evidently half the city was also using their T-mobile based cell phones, so our bars weren’t strong enough to work a live feed.

I needed batteries for our new lanterns that I had purchased in case of another power outage. Seems like we’ve been having a lot of those lately, so I was in Walmart around 7 a.m. for a quick in and out!

 

At the shop, we had all the fabrics scattered around the show room floor. It was either have the show EARLY in the day, or put them back on the shelf to await another time. We decided to try to “get er done.”

So, we had to go live EARLY since we were opening the store at 9:15 a.m.

Normally it takes a good hour to an hour and a half to have the show and then put away all the fabrics into their proper homes. On Tuesday we had to speed things up.

We started the show around 8:20 a.m. or so and we went as quickly as we could

We were able to get the fabrics shown and most of them shelved by 9 a.m. Then, Ken went and put out the road signs.

I had gotten in shortly after 7, so I could check on the connectivity of my tv’s/computers/internet and wireless connections. Sometimes they can work like clockwork. Sometimes they are dreadfully slow to get hooked back up after an “internet downage.”

TV’s on, signs were out, OPEN sign flipped around, pay stations working and staff in place.  The doors opened and people were casually coming in and looking for things.

 

We were busily answering a lot of questions. People wanted to know where beach panels and flamingo panels were, along with fabrics to go with them. We were squeezing in some of the overnight internet orders in between customers, and Sarah was funding our new “battery operated lanterns” with brand new batteries, in preparation for the next power outage.

Debby Toole had come in with her flannel pajama Pants, to use as demos for our newest class that we’re about to schedule. We had just finished discussing this…

We had a discussion about doing a flannel pajama bottom class.

And things were going smoothly until about 10:30. I got a call on my cell phone from an unrecognizable number. I often don’t answer it, but it did NOT say “Spam’. I’m glad I answered. It was a big rig truck driver. He said that he was out in the parking lot and he had FOUR pallets of fabric for us. Where did I want him to unload?

I told him we’d be right out. Thankfully, Ken was there, and I took his spot at the cutting station, and he went out to help the driver push the pallets up the ramp into position. They put them at the far end of the strip center, in one of our relatively empty units, since I needed to have a spot to store many of the fabrics, as our store had no room, since people were everywhere, and it’s also a very full store!

Thankfully, Cheryl wasn’t needed out front to cashier, so she jumped on the box opening, in the outside heat. While she was doing that, up drives UPS, delivering, not 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 boxes, but SIX more boxes of fabric!

Around 12:15, I thought I should go and check on Cheryl, since things had calmed down a bit inside, and it was incredibly hot outside. Hot and humid makes for a very hot time opening boxes. So, I grabbed the pair of scissors and started opening boxes.

I knew I couldn’t help for long, as we had a group of 20 from the VILLAGES scheduled to come in at 1 p.m. for  private shopping. I knew that I could help outside in the heat to get some of the boxes opened, and at least get some opened, until I had to abandon ship to go inside.

I worked as fast as I could to open boxes… the regular store hours were over, but we still had people inside. But then I saw carloads of ladies drive up. I figured I should hasten down to the other end, so I could meet and greet the ladies who had driven an hour to shop in our store!

I was incredibly thankful for a/c. When you have FOUR pallets of fabric, every little bit of work on opening the boxes, and getting fabric moved into position is a relief, and even though I had only been outside for a little over 30 minutes, I was indeed, very, very hot.

Sure enough, it was our wonderful group from the Villages. So, for the next 1 hour and 20 minutes we worked feverishly inside, helping one very enjoyable group with their private shopping experience. We found fabrics, we helped pick colors, and when needed, I fired up the register, and helped to check ladies out, so their cars could pile out of there!

While they were shopping, up drives the FedEx man, with 12 boxes, and wanted to know if I wanted them inside or outside. Since the doorway was clogged with ladies, I suggested that he leave them down the hallway, outside the door.

This group had me take a group shot, for us all to remember this trip by!

By 2:40, the group was gone, but we still had some people wandering in, so, we let them continue to shop. I had to get down and help with the pallets. They weren’t going to get inside by themselves and it was way too hot out there for one person to be doing it all.  I left Sarah, Margaret and Brenda to cope with the remaining customers. Cheryl had sweat dripping down her face when I got back out, and asked her to go inside. I’d open boxes, flatten boxes, for a while, and get more fabric inside.

Then, Ken got free from where he had been cutting, and he came down with his truck, and loaded in boxes and pallets, as I got them emptied. We finally got all the fabrics down to the main store that needed to go immediately.

While I was helping with that, at the far end of the strip mall, I could see a couple walking up to the door of the store, and one of our staff popped out. I could see the hesitation and disappointment in their eyes and on their faces. I hightailed it from the other end of the strip center, and asked if they’d like to go in. I knew we still had a couple of slow shoppers. I found out that the lady and her husband had driven over an hour to come and see us, and that she was born in Poland! How cool is that! They actually live now in the UK! So much fun! After I showed them around, (They’re going to come back next week with some friends,)  I went back outside into the heat to where Ken was unpacking and opening some of the boxes.

Debby Toole popped out of the Sewin’ Shop and offered to help get the fabrics inside the salon. What a blessing it is to have another pair of hands. With Ken, Debby and me, it didn’t take too long to finish pilling beautiful and fun novelties on the 4 tables we have in that room.

Sarah FINALLY was able to help the last customer out the door around 3:30, just 3 hours after our official closing time. She came down to check out what we had. By then we were down to moving some of the fabrics that I had ordered in for bundles, into my Chop Shop.

So, she and Nora, the 3 year old, helped with that chore.

Around 4 p.m., they had to leave, and I went back to the main store to get something to drink, and see what needed to be done. Cheryl had been putting up fabric the whole afternoon, when not hauling them in. I started shelving them. She had HUGE stacks of fabric to put away. It was in carts and on tables.

In the middle of putting some Grunge Paint on the shelf, I remembered that I had told the FedEx man to deliver 12 large boxes outside the door down our hallway. Since we have 4 doors on the front (and 4 on the back), that door is not one that we regularly use. I went to check, and sure enough, they were still out there. No little Good Fairy had brought them in. So I did. They were huge, heavy and awkward. I managed to push, slide and roll them end over end into the building.

These are all MODA Grunge and Grunge Backing waiting to go up on the site. They were outside. The best of this is that they weren’t out in the blazing hot sun!

Then I went back to putting fabrics onto the shelf. Around 5 o’clock I started to feel really faint. Ken asked me to sit down for a bit.

Did you notice that in there, we hadn’t had time for lunch? Yes, that’s right. No lunch. I got some water, and we decided that since it was now after 5, that we should go and get some food. I knew that I had yet to go and vote, (Yes, this crazy day was also election day), PLUS, I needed to get BACK to the store, and take out all the “dead bolts,” count them, record that, and pull the packs and panel orders that I had not gotten to, because the pallets showed up!

We decided for our local Chinese Buffet, because it’s quick, delicious and less expensive than fast food! However, when we got there, they were closed for the rest of the month of August. The clock was ticking. Polls closed at 7. I needed to eat. So did Ken. Neither of us had taken time for lunch, and we had both been out in that incredible heat. (We had been drinking water, however.)

So, we went to Taco Bell, for a quick meal, and then headed to the polling place, Ken with his truck loaded with cardboard and pallets, and me in my own van. I had to get back to the store after voting! Supper, voting and I was back at the store by 6:45 p.m.

I took some pictures for future use down the road, grabbed some more panels that need to go up on the site, and around 7:40 p.m., decided I couldn’t stay any longer.

Lots of things remained undone. Fabric was still all over tables and the floor. I had NOT drawn a winner yet for the daily prize drawing, and many other things remained undone. But I had to leave. Exhaustion was setting in. I hadn’t slept well the night before, for many reasons, but it was really starting to hit me how tired I was.

So, many things remained to be done when I got home.. record keeping, removal of sold products, My daily newsletter to write, packs to photograph and put up on the site, and maybe even emails to answer and requested items to order.

10 p.m. came and went, and I was still at it. But at least we had gotten some food in us. And what doesn’t get done this day, can usually be done on the next.

So you want to be a store owner? This particular day was truly C-R-A-Z-Y! We’re all glad that not all days are like this!

Come and see us when you can! Please check our open hours, first, however, so you can catch us NOT opening pallets of fabric in the extreme heat!

And I pray it’s a long time before another day that as this C R A Z Y!


(Added by Becky…and then she decided to write this blog post!:)) Thanks, Rachael! All that fabric in one day!

Rachael Woodard3 Comments