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.

It Is A Wild Ride

Something I did not anticipate when I opened the candy shop was that there are so many highs and lows.  It is easy to feel panic on slow days.  I have to get the mind set that it is not a sprint, it is a marathon.  There will be slow days.  There will also be crazy, wild, busy days.  I need to remind myself that next month I have a town festival, October is Halloween, after that is the Christmas season, January might be slow, I should benefit from Valentine's day.  I need to focus on long term.  That does get difficult when I am putting out so much money.
Today was an exciting day.  I received my shipment of Melissa & Doug toys.  Love them.  Start selling them before I had them all priced.  Feel like that was a good decision.  Last week I received my adult gift items.  I am very close to having everything in place.  The shop looks great!  Just needs a few tweeks.
Tomorrow is the first tour bus coming to town since I opened my shop.  There are usually a few a month.  Hope some of the visitors stop in my shop!  There will also be a bus next week.  Fingers crossed for a busy day tomorrow.
Had some great people in today.  In the morning a Mom & daughter that I know a little came in for coffee.  We did some "how to improve our town" chatting.  In the afternoon a Mom & daughter came in that I did not know.  The daughter now lives in Colorado.  We talked about all the great places to visit in Colorado.  Meeting new people is so much fun.  My daughter will tell you I do not mind chatting with strangers.
A Mom brought in her toddler today.  She said he slept in his big boy bed so he got to pick a sucker.  He picked one of my new HUGE suckers.  She was thinking .25.  He was wowed by the big one.  Almost $3.00.  Mom said next time she will be more specific.
My Coco spent the night tonight.  When your Grammy owns a candy store you can go in after in closes and get some bed lunch.  Rumor has it the store is being opened for the Grandson and his friends late tonight.  That is fun stuff!
Making memories at Coco's.  When my dream came true I did not know how many great things would come with it!

A Man Was Buried and Coco's Had A Busy Day

There are many reasons business can be good or bad.  If it rains, no kids on bikes.  Farmer's Market means more business.  Never would have imagined a man's funeral would cause me to be busy.  First a couple of ladies came in.  They were having lunch at The Mansion and heard about my place, they came to check it out.  Next a few kids way over dressed for the sweet shop came in.  Looked like city kids to me.  They bought quite a bit of candy.  I asked why they were all dressed up.......not a good question.  They were burying their Poppop.  Very nice kids.  They were concerned about their Grandma.  They bought her a cake pop with hugs and kisses on it in sprinkles.  They were debating if they should get her a coffee.  I told them to just take her a cup.  After they left more people from the funeral started to trickle in.  They saw the other kids with candy bags and decided to come in.  They were all out of towners.  All of them bought quite a bit. 
So very strange that it caused my shop to become busy.
Today the fudge finally came.  The last few days have been exhausting.  So many deliveries means that I needed to carry boxes, move things around.  My storage area is small.  I need to be very organized.  Hard to do with the constant mess of empty boxes to be recycled.  I am over boxes!
Today was a very busy day too.  Wish I had sales like this everyday!!  No set reason for the business.  Just random people coming in.  The fudge arrived.  That always helps with the sales.  Purchased the fudge in cake pan size instead of loaf.  That should help me keep from running out.  At least I hope so.
Guess who was in to visit me today?  You are right.  She loves the chocolate covered caramels.  She must be so lonely.  Little bit crazy too.
One Grandma brought 7 grand kids in the shop today.  She said each child could get $2.00 worth of candy.  Those kids did not mess around.  Five of the kids figured out how to spend exactly $2.00.  The other two were too young.  Grandma ripped the two young kids off.  They did not know how little she spent on them. 
Meeting so many people.  Enjoying so many children.  I so love the little ones.  Especially, my two cuties.  My big kid grandchild is always busy now.  He might be outgrowing me.  Ugh!!
Good day in the candy world.  Hope tomorrow is more of the same. 

The Kids

A person does not open a candy store if they do not love kids.  I am no exception.  I had a home daycare for years and years.  I devote as much time as I can to my grandkids.  There is a 6 year old that comes into the store.  He lives on a farm and fancies himself a cowboy.  He does chores and gets an allowance.  He comes into the store with a bag of change.  His little brother does the same.  The little brother looks around grabs something and pays - done.  The cowboy has a system.  He brings one thing to the counter, pays, takes the change and finds something else.  Over and over he buys smaller things until he only has one or two pennies left.  Of all the kids that come into the shop, so far he is the only one that has it down to a fine science.  He is always very proud of himself too.  It is so much fun to watch the little kids that are using their own money.  One of the joys of my job!
Update on Molly Moped.  Yep, she was back in the shop today.  I am sure that is something off about her.  This is not a person working with a full deck.  She walks in the door and before she is even in she starts talking.  You would think we were best friends.  Today she had a story about someone stealing something from her son and how her son handled it.  She was very upset about it.  She was so worked up she did not give me an update on her health.  She also went to a garage sale and bought a Coach purse for $2.00.  The zipper does not work but that is fine.  She got another purse to.  She will bring it in and show me another day.  Looking forward to it.  Before she left she reminded me to go buy a lottery ticket, it is over $400 million.  Done.  I could rejuvenate the entire downtown with that amount of money.  Fingers crossed!

This Just In

I should have started writing this blog as soon as I knew my dream was going to come true.  Playing catch-up is going to take some time.  Some things cannot wait.  Unfortunately, I am going to need to jump back and forth when I have thoughts that cannot wait.  Would hate to forget them.
Today the elderly have discovered my store.  I am happy when anyone finds the shop and becomes a happy, regular customer.  I will not turn down ANY cash customer.  That is not to say, I will not suffer from some guilt.  An article appeared in the local newspaper about the shop this week.  That is bringing in new customers, big YEAH, applause, applause.
Now for the downside.  There have been two elderly gentlemen in the shop today.  The first one appeared in good health (until now).  He bought two slices of fudge and asked me to wrap them separately.  I'm sure his plan was to eat one piece now and the rest later.  Within an hour he was back for another LARGER slice.  Come into my web kind sir. This time he did not bother asking to have it cut and wrapped separately.  He is now out there with the fact it is his fudge.  At that moment I think I knew what it must feel like to be a crack dealer and have the customer come back immediately after one use.  Not a great feeling.  Well, it is somewhat of a great feeling.  I own that old man now and all of his exact change!
Next elderly gentlemen pulls up out front in his scooter.  Not the first person to ride their scooter to the shop.  He could barely get up the steps and into the store.  He said he wanted something with low sugar.  He did not mean sugar free.  I am going to guess that guy suffered from diabetes.  Don't you look down on me.  I have to sell to him.  It might be his only joy in life.  He asked for black licorice.  I do not carry it (will order it now).  I mentioned the black jelly beans (more sugar), and SOLD.  Another happy customer.
While I am confessing I might as well admit to the fact I sell fudge on a regular basis to my diabetic, on dialysis, brother.  I deliver it so he does not have to navigate the steps at my store.  Don't you JUDGE me.  I am not selling him the fudge by the pound.  Just a few slices. 
It is just another day in the life of a Candy Lady!