Who knew Scrabble letters were seasonal?

In my world, I am the queen of Scrabble letters, able to unearth tile boards and find the elusive “Y” on demand!  And still…I did not know, until recently, that Scrabble letters were seasonal!  Popular? Yes. But seasonal? They must be. I’ve sold some almost every day over the past couple of weeks. 

And I’ve become a bit anal about my letters.  Sometimes, at the end of the day, I’ll take the whole bunch home. I stack them up according to letter, to make sure I don’t have an overabundance of any one letter.  The excess letters are then put into baggies and used randomly for jewelry projects. Once I refresh the stock, I carry the new letters back to the shop before it opens the very next day.  Because a day without Scrabble letters would be like a day without sunshine. 

Soft drinks may be a convenience store’s cash cow.  Mine is Scrabble tiles.  And at only a quarter a piece, everyone can afford one or two.  Plus, my hand gets a workout pricing those littler boogers.  My friend Bea would say, “That’s a lot of sugar for a nickel,” but I’d ignore her.

I don’t have a corner on the Scrabble letter market.  One vendor *cough, cough* added magnets to the back and sold the letters for a dime more.  Another vendor — new to the store — undercuts my price by a dime.  Yet my letters continue to sell.  When I got my big space at Homestead, I didn’t give up my original spot.  Why? Well…I wanted everyone to be sure they could find the Scrabble letters!  Okay. There may have been other reasons too.  But, still… 

And I don’t limit my tile supply simply to Scrabble.  I’ve been known to throw in different letter tiles now and again. Old black Anagram tiles have been highly popular. I just don’t find them at a reasonable price very often. But everyone loves a Scrabble letter or two or three.  And they leave me messages.  I wrote about someone leaving me the o-v-e-r-p-r-i-c-e-d message a while back.  But lately the messages have been sweeter.  One time I left “Cake is good.” I came in later to find the message changed to “Cake is not good for you.”  But when I come in to find “luv you,” once again all is right with the world. It’s like my own little, and by little I mean short, www.postsecret.com world.

Everyone likes something different

If Stephen Covey (is that his name?) were to write a book about successful selling habits, the first rule to remember would surely be “everyone likes something different.” And by different I mean three distinct concepts. First…change your space around. Customers are more likely to visit you if it appears you have something new. And add new things even when sales seem slow. Second… if you’re in a co-op, don’t knock vendors who don’t share your tastes. A shop that offers many different styles has a wide customer base, and not every customer is going to buy from you. I’ve been on the receiving end of comments like, “Who would buy that?” But I’ve also dished that out as well. It’s good to have a variety of merch, and equally good that you’re able to sell what you enjoy buying while leaving the rest to someone else. Ahh…the beauty of the co-op. Finally…look for unique items. Create something no one else in your store is doing. Take a few measured risks. You’ll be rewarded with good sales. Whenever I bring in something a little out of the box, it sells quickly. So I’m getting pickier about what I buy. Hope these tips help. They’re nothing different, but they are extremely important. Happy junking!

Something cool for a hot summer day

Yes, you can always visit my goods at Homestead. But I want to point you in the direction of two real decorating websites. You know…for emergency use only, like when it’s too hot to play outdoors.

Today I met a new friend, thanks to C-List. Well… we’d met before, but today we bonded over our mutual love for mid-century furnishings. He turned me on to www.decomyplace.com Lots of different pictures of different styles, and you can upload photos of your own place. Me likey.

The other site worth visiting is www.apartmenttherapy.com.  The owner of Whimseys, where I have my far-away space, was featured a few months ago. Lots of cool places to dream about on that site, too. So keep your cool this summer and surf safely indoors!

This is a test

This is only a test. I’m trying to blog from my phone. I took some swell pix at Homestead earlier today. Let’s see if I can load one! This is my juxtaposition girl…

**Okay…now I’m on my computer.  It worked! Yay!! Suddenly I see myself becoming a contributing member of  blogland again. Is that good?!  (I just need to remember to watch out for auto-correct spelling.  Plus I didn’t know it loaded the image above the text … minor distractions.) **

Tennis, anyone?

What a racquet!  I don’t think I’ll be purchasing these, when I can pick them up for a song at flea markets.  See what you think:

Seriously.  That’s a little out of range, and looks ridiculous next to Target prices.  I’m not familiar with the source, so I don’t know the whole story.  But I must admit it leaves me wondering if CL is being paid for product placement.  I hate it when that happens.