Hooray! On friday I signed the lease on my new shop (pictured left). I'm so excited I can't sleep properly, well, excitement and a good dose of what Lily Allen terms 'The Fear'. The to do list is seemingly endless, thankfully I already have some pretty big stuff sorted such as customers, products etc (LOL). Also sorted is the PDQ machine for taking cards (this also means being able to take payments over the phone, something we're increasingly asked if we can facilitate), shop fittings- just gotta fit it together which could be easier said than done, staff, insurance...
Still to do? Fascia, cleaning and decorating, populating the shop, advertising (though my gob alone would probably do it he he), fitting a stainless steel sink to replace the miniscule hand basin that currently resides, shifting the 4 draw steel filing cabinet... Thats a job in itself!
All while keeping up with orders. We're getting through them much faster now that the storage unit is housing the shop fittings- previously it was sat in the middle of my workroom taking up valuable space, hence the long delays getting stuff out. Nightmare!
Well! Next job in the shop is cleaning and painting. The latter doesn't really need doing but I feel a splash of colour will really lift the whole place (again, not that it needs it but I love colour and can't live and work in Kansas, Toto, take me to the Emerald City ;) ). The unit has been empty for a whopping 2 years which I find hard to understand, it's a lovely unit, good decorative state, beautiful lighting with recessed spotlights in the ceiling and floor! Laminate wood floor, heck it even has a fitting in the bay window that I've got a lovely light for...
Advertising and SEO on the two websites continues with a lot of focus being put back on the retail site, www.thesoapycauldron.co.uk , as our wholesale cosmetics site now is quiet and we anticipate it being so until about july/august when our stockists start thinking about Christmas. There, I said it! Yes, we are planning that far ahead. As my Nan used to say, fail to plan, plan to fail :) We'll be pushing our gift baskets heavily this year within the shop, and we'll have a gift wrap service available all year round for a nominal fee. We offer 2 types of basket finish- shrink-wrapped (top pic, Rhubarb and Custard Gift Basket) and cellophane fronds (middle pic, Bath Bomb Selection Basket). The latter is stunning and great for dressing up an otherwise uninspiring basket (mostly this doesn't happen, but occasionally you'll get a basket request and feel it needs jazzing up a bit). The former lets the baskets beauty shine through and is fantastic for baskets with a good assortment of items and colours, and for smaller baskets. At Christmas we'll be adding metallic wire edged ribbon for extra pizzazz among other things for a lovely festive feel.
Back to today, I can't do anything about the shop (probably a good thing) so I'll be doing mundane housework, lovely playing with kids and a spot of shea butter whipping with soap making and a wholesale order to finish on the agenda for this evening...
Busy, just as I like it :)
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