The BelAire Courtyard

It's been awhile since I posted a picture of the lovely courtyard where my store is located.  Fine dining restaurant Cafe Margaux is on the far right (outside the camera range), with some of the outdoor tables and the pretty fountain in the foreground.  My store is in the back left corner of the courtyard.  To my "right" is a cute little shop featuring ScentChips fragrance melts.  To my "left" is a boutique full of fun and fashionable clothes.  We also have The Village Spiceman, with all kinds of yummy sauces and rubs, and Shoetique, with cute and affordable shoes, boots, and bags.  If you're local, you need to come down and reacquaint yourself with the BelAire Courtyard (especially ME!)

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Erin

This is Erin. Her "mom" is long time customer Jinny R., and I'm always delighted when Erin comes along to help with the shopping! She's an Irish Wolfhound, one of the largest dog breeds in the world. Impressively well-behaved for her size, too. What I find most amusing is when she politely lays down to wait while Jinny buys jewelry, she takes up nearly a third of my entire floor space!

Occasionally I'll get a shopper who will poke their head in my door, with a tiny little teacup-size dog in a bag or a stroller, and they ask if it's okay for their dog to come in. I get a kick out of telling them about Erin!

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Later Hours

This past weekend many of the merchants of Historic Cocoa Village started staying open later on Friday and Saturday nights. For a long time, most of us have heard complaints from the locals saying they wished the stores would be open later so they could come down after work. This is a good thing, IF they have the right mindset.

My concern is this: sure, there are those people who come down to one of the restaurants for dinner, then walk the streets window-shopping. They wish the store was open. They cup their hands around their eyes and press up against the windows of the darkened store. I know this happens, because I see forehead prints and side-hand prints on my windows occasionally. And I'm not even on the main street (although I am right next to a fine-dining restaurant). So, do they really want to do some SHOPPING? Or would they just like to window-shop INDOORS with the lights on? Because window-shopping indoors with the lights on doesn't do the merchant one bit of good.

Do people take into consideration the additional labor and electricity, if nothing else, that goes into staying open 3 extra hours? I highly doubt it. So if people just come to Cocoa Village and walk around pointing and saying, "ooh, isn't that cute?" but don't BUY the cute thing, then it's having a negative impact. It is costing the store owner money. I realize it takes time to get the word out that something has changed, no matter what that something is. We're working hard to get the word out to the local community that some stores are offering later shopping hours. For me, the operative word is shopping. To some of the people who might come down, the operative word is going to be some of the stores will be open.

In a shopping district like ours, with dozens of individually owned-and-operated businesses, you're never going to get everyone on board. It stinks, but it's a fact. There are some who won't even consider staying open late. There are others who are "waiting to see what happens". There are still others who will try it once or twice and if they don't make a bunch of money, they'll say "oh, that doesn't work for me". I wish it were possible to get everyone to see that an all-out, committed, group effort is good for ALL of us, even if every visitor doesn't buy something in every store every time they visit. Just as I wish it were possible to get the visitors to see that BUYING something is beneficial to THEM because it will encourage the shops to stay open and to be open the next time the evening-shopping bug strikes.

If the shops aren't open, the public can't buy. And if the public doesn't come and buy, the shops won't stay open. Catch-22? You bet. We'll see how it goes. I'LL be open every Friday and Saturday evening until 8:00 p.m. Come on down! And bring your wallet! I won't be upset if you don't buy from me (although it would be REALLY cool if you did!), but I'll be sad if you don't buy something, somewhere.

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Guys' Shopping Habits

Valentine's Day is coming. Would it surprise you if I told you I see a lot of men in my store on February 13th? (December 24th, too!) That's not to knock all guys, of course. Some are pretty good about thinking ahead. (My husband is actually one of them.) But others just can't seem to get it together before the last minute. My late stepfather used to call me the afternoon of December 24th or August 23rd--the eve of their anniversary--and ask, "So what does your mother want?" I'd always try to come up with some suggestions, of course, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "YOU live with her...you don't have any idea what she might like?" And Mom is not that hard to buy for--she pretty much likes anything anyone in her family gives her.

Anyway, for those of you guys who might be considering an online purchase of some really great, unique artisan jewelry, you can check out my Etsy shop or my Artfire shop for ready-to-ship items that I'm sure your lady will love! I ship USPS first class, and your purchase will be in the mail the next day, I promise!

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