It’s a little hard to buy anything in the Hallmark store today. If you look at the pictures there isn’t much on the shelves today, and by tomorrow I think we’ll be looking at a bare store. Everyone seems to think that this would be a great time to take a vacation.
AND THE CUPBOARD WAS BARE
You can’t go on vacation when you are responsible for cataloging and doing inventory on the entire store. Dealing with the decisions of what is going to be destroyed (about everything) and finding storage for fixtures and other items that will be re-used.
NEED A BIRTHDAY CARD?
Carpet has to be selected, (something in stock) installer found fixtures out of the way and carpet installed. Then of course, there are those card lines that have been discontinued. You can’t have 20 feet of empty space in your store, so now it’s finding a replacement line.
BARE SHELVES WHERE ANTIQUES ONCE LIVED
Selecting new product, ordering and coordinating the shipping. Oh, that’s out of stock. Can’t ship for eight weeks? It all sounds wonderful that vacation.
LOOKING FOR A GREAT DEAL?
You have to order equipment, merchandise and coordinate restocking all of the merchandise back on the shelves. Yes, it has to look beautiful when you are done. So, you are working about twice as many hours during the day as you normally do. Stress levels are high, and you worry about your customers. Vacation might be a wonderful thing but it isn’t happening.
The Hallmark lady is still smiling, but she is working really hard for her customers putting her store back together in just the right way.
Gerald