Closed Mondays

I made the decision that I am going to start closing on Monday.  Many businesses are closed on Monday downtown.  It gives me one full day away from the sweet shop.  A day to make appointments and run errands.
As soon as I make the decision, post it on my page, you know I will have my all time best Monday.  I have already had a few customers.  I have been open half days on Monday.  It is a good time to do book work.  Do some banking.  That said, I can just as easily do it from home and have a day off. 
Tomorrow I am having my first special at Coco's.  I ordered too much fudge for the fall festival.  Need to get it sold.  Having a buy a pound of fudge, get $2.00 off special.  Hope it brings in some sales. 
I have great friends.  I have received a few good marketing ideas from my friends.  It is nice to have friends that care and will send suggestions to help my business.  It is also fun knowing that I have the final say in what decisions are made in my shop.  It is great to run my own business and terrifying at the same time.  All blame lies on my shoulders if things do not work.  (Like closing on Monday.)
I had a banner made to hang during the festival and for a time after to draw additional business to the sweet shop.  I think it was pulling some people from the train station.  Banners really stand out.  Unfortunately, banners are also susceptible to bad winds.  The banner did not blow away.  It did blow back onto the flat part of the roof where it cannot be seen.  Hope it is not completely torn to pieces.
Looking forward to a relaxing afternoon.  It is a beautiful fall day.  Hope you all can enjoy some outdoor time today too.

Kind Of Like The Cookie Monster







I know I have mentioned my super adorable great niece.  Here is what I am talking about.  Her Grandma brought her in for a visit today.  First, she came in wearing a Coco t-shirt.  You know that wins her some big points.  She knows my name.  She loves my shop.  In this picture she is on her way to the jelly bean case.  She sure knows where it is.

 She opens the case and gets ready to pick her bean.  The thing I love is she changes it up.  She asks for them by color.  Today she said, brown one.  How smart is she?  Rhetorical.  She is very smart.  Our family grows cute and smart.

 My family cannot take credit for the beautiful blue eyes are HUGE dimples.  That comes from Coach's family.  She is one of the adorable off spring of Coach's brother and my niece.  It can be confusing.  Brothers married cousins = double cousins.  Lots of shared DNA.

 Drawer is open.  She has made her choice.  Jelly Bean in the mouth.  Dr. Pepper.  My personal favorite.  She pays with her kiss.  Does not even whine for another bean.  Love this child!!

 Next she picks a sucker and heads over to sit and play.  She was laughing so hard playing with a super ball.  Her giggle made us laugh hard too.  How cute are her little capris?  Rhetorical again.  Super cute!!!

The crinkle nose is unfortunately her posing face.  Her family has many, many pictures like this.  She is a favorite here at Coco's.  After these pictures we went out front and played with sidewalk chalk.  Enjoyed the beautiful weather. 

The Boys

I have about four groups of boys that come into my shop on a regular basis.  One group comes in almost every single day.  Sure hope they are not using lunch money for candy.  There is a group of two boys that come in whenever they get the chance.  They like to get their candy and sit for a chat.  Very nice boys.  They started coming in during the summer.
Yesterday one of the boys came in the door.  He had a huge smile on his face.  He said, "I brought my family today."  He had his Mom, little sister, big sister, and niece.  He was so excited to show his family the store.  I told his Mom I might have seen her son in the shop a time or two.  I called him by name.  She said, I'm sure he is here quite a bit."  I told her what a nice boy she has.  I think it is important to let parents know when their kids are using manners outside their home.  We all liked to be reminded that we have good children.  She introduced herself and we chatted.  Her son showed her his favorite candy.  She was a little concerned when saw the $10.00 a pound.  I explained he gets one or two strings of rock candy.  That will run around $1.00.  The entire family bought some candy.  They all left with smiles. 
Young kids like it that I remember them when they come in.  I think it makes them feel like they belong here.  Which, they do belong.  Not a day goes by that I do not get a chance to see how many great kids live in my small town.  Nice feeling. 
I am going to need to consider making a frequent shopper card.  The kids would love having one.

Positive News Update

A while back I bought candy in the high school and grade school colors.  Hope to get some team spirit going.  I ordered some suckers that say, Go Trojans! Homecoming 2013.  Suckers are in school color too.  Today a lady came in looking for a bouquet for her son to give a girl to ask her to homecoming.  She bought a bag of the candy with a sucker tied on it.
I hope that is a shot in the arm that the sweet shop needs.  Want to get some high school kids in here.  One sucker in a small school can be talked about all over town in no time!!!  Hope there is a rush on suckers.
Feeling Better!

Coming Down Hard

I am coming down hard off my festival  high.  Bam!  Hitting bottom is hard stuff.  Ringing up the register is very addicting.  Everyone complimenting me on the cuteness of my shop.  Counting money!  That was fantastic.  When I hit bottom yesterday it was like, this is crazy.  I should just cut my losses and run now.  Going from hundreds of people through the door to a few.  Super difficult.  I over bought for the festival.  That is not a horrible thing.  All the stuff can still be used.  For a few weeks I will not need to order anything.  Well, maybe a few Halloween things. 
No matter how positive I try to stay, I can easily be brought back to reality.  Retail shops do not make it in my little town.  If they did, there would be more.  Trying to get back to the frame of mind that I need to wait and see what happens in the next few months.
On a positive note I will talk about an interesting group that came into the shop this morning.  It was a special needs class.  Maybe five students.  They each had $2.00 to spend.  With help they picked their own items.  Gave me the money, took the receipt, and received change.  While they were doing it, teachers helped when they were needed.  They also left some chalk drawings.  I really like that my shop is a teaching tool.
Day just got better, several adorable little girls were just in.  My little great niece is one of the sweetest, most adorable little girls.  I need to get her picture.  She comes in and walks straight to the case for jelly beans.  She picks the color.  I had her one.  She pays with a kiss.  I made the mistake of naming some giant butterfly gummis after her sister.  Now they all want candy named after them.  What was I thinking!  My grandkids were not jealous.  They just want candy.  They do not care what I call it.  In their world, the entire shop belongs to them.
I think I will sit outside for a little sunshine and fresh air.  Maybe do some reading.  Should try that more often!!  Not healthy to sit inside all the time.

Super Exhausted!!

The festival is over.  About 4:00 yesterday I became ova the festival.  Exhausted.  Super exhausted.  In bed at 9:00 last night.  May not get out of my jammies today.  I made the executive decision to close today.  Take a, I need to rest, Holiday.
It was an amazing few days.  I wish I would have taken pictures.  Pictures of my wonderful friends working at the shop.  Just using an entire day to help a friend out.  Blessed, I sure am.  Three friends worked their fingers to the bones.  Not enough ways to say thank you to these fantastic friends.  It is not just that they are willing to help that I love.  They are willing to help because they love my little shop and want it to succeed.  They are my cheerleaders.  Love, love these wonderful women.  I cannot say thank you enough. 
Friday my friend came and helped me with set up.  She helped make my shop shine.  She has great ideas.  She is good with flair.  Blessed to have her in my corner.  She drove back on Sunday to help work in the shop.  Gave up most of her week-end to help me.  Does not surprise me.  She has been that kind of friend for years and years.
The Old Lady came early on Saturday and stayed late.  It was an exhausting day.  After putting in a long day, she had a long drive home.  She has already offered to help any time I need her.  I know she had a great time.  She loves meeting new people. She met many new people.  It was a crazy day.  Glad to have her by my side.
Had a forever friend help on Saturday for a few hours too.  She and her sister love to hang out in the store on Saturdays.  This week they were put to work.  It was a good time.
Saturday morning was the Kiddie Parade.  It was more chaotic than I thought it would be.  Might need more people to keep the kids organized next year.  I was able to get all the kids lined up and the parade started on time.  It was adorable.  The parents did a fantastic job coming up with cute ideas.  The parade was a big hit.  I'll add a few pictures.  My little cheerleaders were amazing.  Mickey & Minne were a big hit.  It was two of Coach's nephews that put on the costumes and made kids extremely happy.
Met some very interesting people.  Interesting moment when I met a lady from Easy Rider's hometown.  She reads this blog.  Always surprises me to find out there really are people reading what I write.  Thanks for visiting Coco's Sweet Shop.  Great to meet you.
Here are a few pictures from the parade.  My girls were pompom girls.  Very adorable.
This is my favorite picture.  These girls took their jobs very seriously.  All the kids did.

 Here are a few of the participants.  There was a band, bikes, characters, power vehicles.  Too much fun.

 It was a good sized parade.  I am proud of my involvement.  Huge success.

Very tired today.  Spent the morning relaxing with my puppy on my lap.  Now I am going to pick up the little girls.  We are going to enjoy this beautiful day. 
Next I need to plan some Halloween activities for Coco's.

Happy Harvest Days!!

Tens kinds of fudge for a total of 90 lbs.
Seven cases of water
More than 10 cases of soda
110 lbs of good chocolate candy
20 lbs of candy corn
More than 20 lbs of Salt Water Taffy
Hundreds, (many hundreds) of dollars of gift items
Awesome t-shirts
Friends coming from near and far to work at the shop
Banner for the kiddie parade
Over 40 children signed up for the kiddie parade
HUGE Minnie & Mickey heads for the costumes (need to store those)
Gummi - worms, butterflies (small & large), bears, cupcakes, pumpkins
Rock Candy in green, red, purple and yellow
Roof Banner
Parade Banner

check, check, and double and triple checked.....

Porta potties everywhere the eye can see (good, please keep your urine outside the shop)

Carnival Up and Ready to Go

Happy Harvest Days To All!!  Remember the true spirit of the holiday - drink too much, eat too much, spend too much, and most of all; have so much fun you cannot wait until it is over and we start planning for next year.

Happy Tuesday To Me

No matter what else happens today, it is a great day.  First, my t-shirts arrived.  They are for people that are working this week-end, for family, and I have a few to sell.  They are exactly what I imagined!  My t-shirt lady is amazing!!!  They are such happy shirts.
My favorite mail carrier had a HUGE box for me this morning.  Yeppers, my costumes came.  Kiddie parade is saved.  The heads are huge.  Very cute.  Sigh of relief.  I was still looking for two people to carry the parade banner.  A Mom came in this morning and offered up two junior high girls.  I can call it a day right now and have a "Best Day Ever" moment.  But, I will not.  It is still a work day.  I have many things to do to prepare for week-end. 
Big SIGH of relief........

The Carnival Is In Town

This is the start of a wild and crazy week in our little town.  When I lived out of town I loved coming back for the festival.  It is a great time.  Since moving back to my village it is not quite the same feeling.  It gets a bit crazy and exhausting.  Owning a business is going to give exhausted a new meaning.
The carnival arrived last night.  Is it weird that I am disappointed none of the Carnies have come in for coffee?  Little bit!  I'm hoping for a big week.  Carnies drink coffee too.  Plus I would probably get some great blogging material.  You know they have great stories.  They are set up on the other side of the train tracks.  They must not have discovered my shop. 
The festival starts on Thursday evening.  That is bracelet night for the locals to go to the carnival.  Thursday morning our school does Grandparents breakfast.  Not going to lie, it is a big hassle for about 15 minutes of time with the kids.  It used to be held on Friday.  We were able to spend time in the classrooms.  Not sure why it changed.
My plan is to stay open late on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night.  I probably will not get busy until Saturday.  I sure would not turn people away if they show up earlier.  I need a big week-end.  All of my candy orders came in.  Today I have to go out of town to pick up my Sam's order.  I am still waiting on a few orders.  Three orders of gift items.  A very important order of Mickey & Minnie costumes.  That is not looking good.  Very nervous!  Freaking out already!!!!  Looking for a back-up plan.  Maybe there will be two ghosts in the parade.  I can cut holes in sheets. 
This is what I am missing for the kiddie parade.  Two people to carry the parade banner.  Mickey & Minnie costumes.  Those are major items.  It will all work out some how, some way....  Worse case scenario, The Kid will be forced to find a friend and carry the banner.  Things will work out one way or another.
I am closing my shop Monday and Tuesday next week.  Need time to regroup.  I hope to be completely out of everything!!  Will need time to get some orders in.  I am very excited to see how things go in the next 6 days.  Could be a wild ride.
Happy Monday!

The Journey

Today a couple traveling through by motorcycle stopped at Coco's for some coffee.  They were a retired couple from Minnesota.  They went up to Ontario, over to New York, down the East Coast.  Making their way back home via Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.  Today is their 14th day of the trip.  I asked what route they are on.  They said they do not even know.  They set their GPS to their destination for the day and just drive.  No interstates are used.  Sounds great, except the motorcycle part.
They complimented me on the shop.  Asked how long I had been open.  I told them the story.  A shortened version of the story.  They loved it.  They are city people.  They were surprised that there are not retail stores in our little town.  We had a nice visit.
After they left I put together the similarities of our situations.  They are on a physical journey.  I am on a journey too.  I took a detour from my original destination.  I am sure they do the same thing.  If they see something they want to look at, they stop and spend time.  I told them about a few sights to see in town.  They were going to check them out.
Once again I was hit with the saying I have heard and read many times, Life is About The Journey, Not The Destination.  I finally get it!



Coco's Sweet Kiddie Parade

I think I mentioned that Coco's was asked to sponsor (organize) a Kiddie Parade for our town's fall festival.  Right now it is fun to watch it all come together.  Next week at this time I will be in a panic.  I ordered costumes for two lucky adults to wear in the parade.  Fingers crossed they come in time.  There will be stress about that.
At this point I have not had to do very much to make this happen.  Give info to the paper to get out to people.  Ask a clown to lead the parade.  Type up registration forms, type up information sheets for the school.  Talk about it, talk about it, talk about it.  None of it has been too time consuming.  It just falls at a time that I am busy trying to get the store ready for the festival too. 
In a little town it is all about word of mouth.  One person says something and the next thing I know there is a children's band for the parade.  A "pretend" band.  Complete with baton twirlers, pom pom girls, a child's police car to lead the parade.  Going to be so much fun.
I was in a conversation with someone on Facebook.  She mentioned I need a banner.  Next thing I know her friend, that grew up in Dwight, is making me a banner for free.  The picture above is the first draft.  She is going to make a few changes I requested.  I hope this banner is used for many, many years.  I hope it wears out from over use!!
Living in a small town is all about giving back.  We need to take ownership in order to improve for the future.  I am blessed to be able to organize something that is happening on one of the biggest days of the year in our village.  My grandson used to consider it a holiday.  Seriously!  I am sure this will not be the last post about the coming festival.......
I love my town!!

Tuesday In The Shop

Today has been a very productive day.  I figured how much sales tax I owed and paid my taxes on line.  Because I know how to do it.  Yeah, me!  I wrote down my hours for Harvest Days.  Pray I can survive it.  There are many open hours from Thursday-Sunday.  Any friend wanting to volunteer to help at the shop Saturday or Sunday let me know.  It is going to get crazy up in here!  I hope crazy fun!  I put in my last order for cute things to sell before Harvest Days.  Cutesy magnets.
I received a phone call from a lady that sells Mary Kay products.  She holds open houses in October, November, and December.  Normally, she has a large candy store in Joliet come to her house and sell seasonal items.  She heard about Coco's and asked me to do it this year.  That is awesome.  She lives in a town about 10ish miles from here.  She gets 30-50 people at each open house.  Great exposure for Coco's.  Now I need to figure what items to take.  How to cute them up for sale.  I am excited for any opportunity I get.  It is free publicity and easy sales.  I never imagined I would be doing home parties.  I love the idea!  That opens up another avenue for me.  This is why I should not let slow days get me down.  But, rainy days and Mondays, always get me down.  Sorry, could not help that.
I am open a little late tonight and tomorrow.  The Yoga Studio next to me has children classes.  Tonight Hip Hop, Thursday night Yoga.  Some of the parents bring their little children in after class.  That works for me.
What a journey I am on.  So much to learn.  So many people to enjoy.  There is stress but it is my stress.  So much of what I do is within my own power.  There are days I am sitting at a table in Coco's and I really cannot believe I opened a sweet shop.  How did that happen?  There are also days I cannot believe how arrogant I was to start a sweet shop. 
It is interesting the ways I learn new things.  Sometimes it is on my own, reading things or researching ideas.  Sometimes ideas are dumped in my lap and I take it and run.  People come in and make suggestions.  People send me notes. 
I know I do not have a handle on holiday ordering yet.  Some of that might take me a year to learn the schedule.  Might not be on top of Halloween this year.  Giving it my best shot.  Should already have candy corn and I do not.  It was already back ordered.  Ugh!  I assume I will get better at all of this.  Huge learning curve. 
Let me know if you want to experience Coco's first Harvest Days.  Old Lady will be here.  She is running the outside operation.  She will have a great time people watching.  That is why she is going to be outside. 
I'm hungry.  Maybe  I should listen to my brother and sell hot dogs just so I have something around for lunch!  Or maybe not.

The Monday Blues

Monday's are rough.  Many businesses are closed downtown on Monday.  People are not used to shopping on Monday.  That makes Monday a long day for me.  I am usually open 8-2.  Good time for me to get things done.  Place orders, pay bills, all the fun stuff.  There are usually just a few people in.  I made the decision last week to start closing at 1:00.  Does not make sense to stay open later.  Gives me time to get home and relax.  Yesterday, on my day off, I worked 5 hours.  Cleaning up and reorganizing the back room. 
It is almost time to close.  There have been two sets of people into the store.  Only one made a purchase.  Panic starts to set in.  I think, I better stop ordering things.  When I go out of business I do not want to have so much to pay off.  (This could be attributed to several negative people in my life.)  I try to take a deep breath and relax.  Remind myself that I am not going to get rich or go broke in one day.  Even a slow week.  This is going to take a longer commitment.  I need to keep moving forward.  Listen to ideas.  Think of ways to draw people into the store.
Harvest Days is only 11 days away.  I have high hopes for a crazy, busy week-end.  Hoping to make enough to feel very hopeful going into Halloween and Christmas. 
Happy Thoughts, going to go to my Happy, Happy Place!! 

Gotcha

A lady came in today looking and said she was looking for a bouquet.  I asked her if it was for a special occasion.  She said yes.  It is her Gotcha Day.  I heard the expression but could not recall what it was.  Gotcha Day is the day a person receives their adopted child.  That is awesome.  She has a boy and a girl.  She brought them home on the same day.  Both are from the Ukraine.  They were like 4 and 7 when she brought them home.  They were not blood siblings.
She likes to get them something in the colors of their home country.  That is blue and yellow.  We settled on salt water taffy.  Both of the kids are older now.  I put them in a cute gift bag and put blue curled ribbon on the bag.  It looked adorable.  I was proud of myself.  Who said I am not crafty?  I'm looking at you Tru Stories.
We were chatting.  She showed me pictures of then and now.  They are really good looking kids.  They look so much alike.  I feel like Paul Harvey at this point.  The big ending.  Her daughter is pregnant.  Her due date is, TODAY.  Gotcha Day.  She probably is not going to have the baby today.  At least nothing has happened yet.  I might never see the lady again.  I guess if I'm writing the story I can change the ending.  Here is how I want it to end:
As I was ringing up her order, she received a phone call from her daughter.  She was on her way to the hospital.  Her water broke and she was having major contractions.  The lady grabbed her change and ran out the door.  Gotcha!
Another day, another great story!

Greatest Day Ever

It is only 9:40 and I have already had a fantastic day.  Seriously!  No matter what else happens my day was great.  About 8:30 this guy walks in.  He wants coffee.  Immediately, we hit it off.  Within the first few minutes of our conversation he mentions he was at the Ellen show for her 12 Days of Christmas.  Done!  At that moment we are bonded.  I, of course, get to share my Oprah story.  Patrick was at the Oprah show 6 times.  He also attended the Rosie show when she tried to launch a show with OWN.  We even discussed the fact that Rosie was so self destructive but we loved her.
Patrick has the greatest enthusiasm.  He bubbles with it.  We even high fived and hugged when he left.
 His husband is a farmer.  I was blown away.  Hard to imagine someone growing up on a farm having to come out to their family and community.  Must have been very difficult.  In our conversation he made me laugh so hard.  He brought tears to my eyes.  Two of the gifts they received at The Ellen show were very expensive scooters for kids.  One day they stood outside of Toys R Us.  Saw a family with two kids.  Gave them the scooters.  Paying It Forward.  Love it. 
Patrick promised he will always stop in for coffee when he comes into Dwight for work.
Everyday I have the potential to meet interesting and amazing people.  I am blessed. 

Part II

Greatest Day Ever Continued -

Second person into the shop.  We are chatting.  It comes up that she owns the rural church outside of town.  She lives in the rectory.  Another great story.  You know the saying that everyone has a story.   I said, why did you buy a church.  She said, my husband was crazy.  She told the story of buying it.  There is a ghost that was a Priest at the church.  She said the first time her husband saw him he never would have believed it but their dog saw the ghost first and started barking and barking.  They have seen him several times.  Her husband passed away.  She is alone in the rectory house.  The church is empty.  When they first bought the property they would have craft shows in the church.  They gave tours of the church and grounds too.  Now that she is alone, she does not do anything with it.  Her daughters want her to move.  They think it is too much for her to handle.  She loves having all the property and not having neighbors. 
I have a great job!

Ouch!

A little boy just came into my shop.  I'm going to guess he is 8 or 9.  He walks in and says, "Hi, I'm just wondering if anything is free here or not."  Of course, I said no.  It was painful not to give him something.  The problem is, the word would get out that I give candy away.  I'm too soft for some of this. 
Note to self:  Grow tougher skin.

My Flag Is Flying

Remember that post about Flying Your Freak Flag?  Yeah.........me too.  Put my flag up today. 

If you follow Pinterest or read hints on Facebook, you know what this is.  It is a beautiful morning today.  I want some fresh air.  I have read many times, many places that putting change in a bag of water will keep flies out.  Giving it a try.

 

Not going to lie, I saw two flies come in while I was writing this.  I also saw one fly leave.  If you are keeping count flies are up by one. 

 

Freak Flag Flying.  Hope Coach runs over for a quick snack today.  He will be on the phone to Tru Stories about her crazy Wicken Mother.  Who is enjoying the fresh air this morning?  I am!

 

The Gift?

I am sure that Arizona has wondered why I have not put a picture up and blogged about her shop warming gift to me.  The reason is, I could not put it up myself.  My door needs special screws and drill bit to put it up.  That meant, Coach had to do it for me.  Unfortunately, Tru Stories had a long list of things for Coach to do.  On top of all the many things going on in their home on a daily basis.  So I have waited patiently, (not super patiently) for the gift to be mounted on the door.

Arizona and I love to buy gifts for each other.  It is not about how fancy the gift is.  It is about how perfectly it fits into the other person's life.  I know Arizona put quite a bit of thought into this gift.  I had not even thought of looking for one.  For Arizona this gift has bonus points.  She knows I will think of her many times a day when it rings.  I might not think nice thoughts during really busy times.  She won't care.  I bet she has a smile on her face right now knowing in a way, she is a part of my daily life.  We are long distance friends that work hard at staying in each other's lives.  After listening to the bell she might be inserting herself a bit too much into my day!
Ironically, the first person in my shop was deaf.  She closed the door softly and it only rang once.  Otherwise, she would have heard it.  I might need to tone it down a bit.  The next group in was someone that is a regular.  He thought it was a bit loud.  He suggested taking it down.  He also shook the door laughing when he left.  It did not ring when someone came in that shut the door softly. 
Fun stuff at Coco's.  Thanks, Arizona.  Love you!

Update:  My granddaughters and some of their cousins were just in the store.  They are madly in love with the bell.  Cannot get enough (that's enough of the bell, get out) of it.  What a surprise they had when they opened the door and the bell rang.  Fun stuff!!