Another New Year

No photos.

Just thoughts...


A new year always bring thoughts of new challenges and progress. 2010 was a year of progress and change in the world of Black-eyed Susan. Good change. I left my tiny flagship location in Yardley, Pa. of 18 years, and traded it for a tiger by the tail store in Buckingham, Pa. (I recently was told that Google doesn't recognize "Holicong, Pa" which is just fine with me! Holicong sounds so back-woods. I suppose it's a historic Indian name of sorts, but Buckingham works just fine for me!

Good: Great location on a main design corridor of bustling Bucks County, Pa.
Bad: Many more hours of required floor time and "night shift" merchandising!

Good: Retail growth and recognition; many new clients and a lot of my old ones too.
Bad: More inventory requirements and bigger cash flow requirements!

Good: Expanded offerings such as our Vanguard Furniture Gallery
Bad: Flipping the entire store as often as I like to do takes an immense amount of effort and manpower.

Ugh.

Good: My design library and personal office is fabulous and back up to par!
Bad: The stockroom is about the same amount of space as my teeny tiny Yardley stockroom!
Bad: The increased inventory is a real problem for this current stockroom.

EEK!

Good: Connie hasn't quit yet.
Bad: Miki hasn't come back yet.

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with one of my fabric sales reps. I expressed a dream for what I called "the return of the mohair economy"! Some years ago, I sold tons of mohair. I love mohair! You find it in the most exclusive hotels (i.e. The Ritz ), fine department stores, (i.e. Nordstrom) and on vintage sofas and chairs (because it doesn't wear out!). But, it's expensive.

My dream for this year for all of us in and out of the design trade: the return of the mohair economy.

I'm also excited to launch my new Redesign service. Watch for more information on this. It is an exciting new trend for instant gratification and less expense in design offerings.

Additionally, I am working on the new menu of events for Spring 2011 to be published soon.

Lastly, next week...yup, I go to Market to buy Holiday 2011. You know how I feel about this...I'm not really ready to face another Christmas idea, my trees for this year aren't even put away yet. Ugh. But something happens to make it all magical once again-some kind of spell, I swear! I can count on being up to the task once again.

Don't worry, I'll keep you posted on the good and the bad of the 2011 Holiday purchases!
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Welcome, New Year. Change is good.