Is it really October already?

My last post, over a month ago, told a wonderful tale of me, the new store owner.  I have to say, this has been the most tiring and exciting month I’ve experienced in a long time!

My new store is called Benjamin Twiggs.  It is the oldest purveyor (we like to use big words) of cherry products in Michigan.  Its just one little store, but its been around so long that people think its a franchise.  (All in due time, my friends… all in due time)

How nice it would be if we could close for a week and get everything done!  But while we are running the store, some major changes are happening.  This week we had the carpet shampooed for the first time in probably 15 years, and totally rearranged the store.  A little shout out to the Traverse City Central Trojan Hockey boys for the help!  The store looks amazing!

The previous TWO owners kept every piece of paper, every receipt, every bill (we even have vintage mousetraps in the corners) that came through the store.  Every night after the store closed, I would choose a file cabinet drawer and go through it.  Ninety percent of it was garbage (yep, oil prices really did go up in the past 20 years and I have receipts to prove it), but I found some priceless items. 

Benjamin Twiggs was founded in 1966.  It has gone through about 6 owners.  The ephemera I have collected from those drawers is priceless.  After the Christmas season I’ll go through it all again.  I can’t wait!

So I am finally through all of the drawers and to give you an idea of how much hoarding was going on, I now have 4 semi-full file cabinet drawers, down from 16.  Not to mention all of the typewriter ribbon, Windows 95 software and floppy disks, that were in other drawers!  The fine folks at Goodwill now know me well.

One of our first big projects is a new catalog.  There hasn’t been a catalog in 5 years.  Imagine pulling out a 5 year old catalog from your favorite store and how unappealing it would be.  Not to mention priced incorrectly..  So I’m working with the greatest agency in the world, Green LIght Marketing, to product a new catalog.  We’re almost done!!  Its going to be amazing!

Here’s the cover.. in the early stages..

Cool, huh?  We’re going for that Americana look.  Because we ARE the oldest purveyor… you know the rest.

Now imagine a website that was created 15 years ago.  Yep, 15 years.  The only thing that’s changed is the prices.  Oh this is a really funny story.  When I called the web hosting company to get the owner’s name changed to mine and make a few pricing adjustments, I was DUMPED because they don’t have anyone who knows how to update that archaic code.  They were happy to collect their $500 fee every year for web hosting,  but now that I need changes, oh sorry!  I was really kidding about it being a funny story.  Ugh.

So, please know, that if you go to benjamintwiggs.com, it works.  Its embarassing, because it is so NOT how I want my company to be portrayed, but if you order from the website, the prices are lower than they should be, and the shipping is lower than it should be, and I of course honor those prices.  Thanks again to Green LIght Marketing, a new website is in progress.  I REALLY hope its done before the Christmas rush!

Since there aren’t any Pixels OR Stitches in Benjamin Twiggs, I’ll start a new blog.  I’ll let you know when and where!  I really want to tell you about my amazing employees!  Maria, Luann, Lisa, Amanda, Suzie, Sami, Brittany, and Deb.  They are more like good friends than employees!

Thanks for visiting!  And thanks to our biggest supporter, my sister Jana!