Now open for business!
 On September 1st we made the fateful decision to
build a specialty camera store from scratch. Monday, November 1st at 9:30 a.m., the doors
opened to the public for the first time.
The first customer in the door Monday needed a replacement
battery clip (AP-1) for a Vivitar 285. Amazingly I had it - one of the few exotic
accessories in stock. Had a couple of small sales and one nice one, an Olympus IS-30 DLX
with case and filter.
Some traffic but almost no money on Tuesday.
More traffic Wednesday and again one good-size sale for a
digital camera.
Friday we will host a "get-acquainted reception."
I've mailed a lot of invitations. It will be interesting to see who shows up.
Is everything 100%? Of course it isn't. A few details aren't
completed. We're set up to accept Visa and Mastercard, but not yet AMEX. And we've got the
numbers for Discover but haven't yet gotten the programming done to the terminal.
We've got some merchandise in the store for which we have no
prices. We'll figure it out.
There was no sink in the bathroom. Our handyman had started
to emulate the Stealth fighter F-117. We know he's around, but nobody can find him! There
are temporary telephone wires dangling from the ceiling, but we've got one phone that
works and an answering machine (must remember to change the message today.) (UPDATE-
new sink is in place, telephone wiring is done, new message on the machine)
Saturday we worked on details and tried to do a little staff
training. This time I told the new hires that qualifying as a CPC within 90 days was a
condition of employment. From 3 until 5 Saturday I took pictures of the Trick-or-Treaters
at a community event, and passed out claim checks saying the parents could pick up their
child's FREE photo at the ALL-NEW Chris' Camera Center. About 80 kids showed up (the
location wasn't that great). That should bring in 50 people or so this first week.(UPDATE-
the lab didn't get them back on time - first 3 rolls showed up Wednesday instead of
Tuesday, and one is still out there. Not making the first impression I'd want to make, but
the parents tend to be understanding, and we giving kids the left-over Halloween candy if
they have to go away empty handed.)
Sunday Thelma and I spent about 3 hours putting up the last
trim mouldings, painting, and cleaning up the selling area. There's junk tucked in every
closet, but the place looks pretty good if I do say so!
And during that 60 day spurt of activity we took off 10 days
to go to Maryland, New Jersey and Myrtle Beach. And two days last week to visit
Charleston.
Now we're settling in for the busiest two months of retail
selling in the calendar, as the holidays approach. We'll keep you posted.
Our story so far
|
