Toy Store Saga

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I am. On the inside.

Join the club. I just came across the thread this morning and read through the entire story so far.

I can't help it but I'm dying to hear the rest of it.

[Kanalah]

Gonna try to make then ending one big post.

I don't want people to run out of popcorn.

[rose_metal_nz]

I am. On the inside.

Me 3!!! c'monc'monc'monc'mon!!

[BlaqueKatt]

I don't want people to run out of popcorn.

too late..........ran out 6 pages ago, ran out of starbursts, dots, and jujubees two pages ago....am now gnawing on the cat....she is not happy with you....

[dendawg]

too late..........ran out 6 pages ago, ran out of starbursts, dots, and jujubees two pages ago....am now gnawing on the cat....she is not happy with you....

sooo you're....eating pussy??

Hey, it was there...I just HAD to take the opportunity.

[rose_metal_nz]

sooo you're....eating pussy??

Hey, it was there...I just HAD to take the opportunity.

This is pretty ironic, given your profile pic (and that you're quoting BlaqueKatt)

[ApolloSZ]

This is pretty ironic, given your profile pic (and that you're quoting BlaqueKatt)

"I think it would be ironic... if we were made of Iron!" - Cabose (Sorry, couldn't pass up an opportunity to quote Cabose.

Anywho...


POSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST!

[Kanalah]

Part The End

While we were out of town, a cell phone company decided to build a new tower - right in the storage center that Mom and Gma were using to store their extra stuff. Right in their unit in fact. The storage unit gave them a cash settlement and offered a discount on another space. Mom and Gma turned down the discount because they decided that they wanted to pay me to use part of my backroom. It was true that I wasn't using most of my backroom - because I kept it organized. I liked having a large open area to unpack boxes.

But no, they decided for me, and for the princely sum of $50 a month, I lost half of my backroom. I was livid, but took it in stride. Besides, most of what they had in storage was trash (huge boxes full of shredded paper and old outdated catalogs). They didn't notice that I was throwing away a box a week of garbage. And yes because I love my mom I was checking things before I threw them out. I didn't get rid of displays or merchandise, just the old catalogs and shredded paper. So far they still haven't noticed or said anything about it.

The landlord was pissed that he'd "really gone out of his way to try and help us and then we'd gone off and had a holiday on his dime". Like wtf dude? Raising the rent and yelling at us isn't helping, and you certainly didn't pay for our vacation. He said he wanted us out of his shopping center and he was either going to sue us for the remaining rent on our lease (I can't recall if it was a 5 or 10 year lease), or we needed to pick a date that we would be out by. I told him to give me a week because I needed to talk to Hubs. Bottom line was, we needed to move out these toys and fast. I started pulling down and returning what I could to the vendors, which was luckily more than half. It was also our best selling stuff. I marked down most stuff 25% off, and the dolls at 50% off. We told the landlord that we would be out on Sept 10th 2005.

It was then that those delightful customers that I call "vultures" appeared. They were the people who came in when we first opened and were waiting for us to go out of business so they could buy at a discount. They were either incredibly polite and understanding or rude and demanding. There was no middle ground.

But now that I was closing, I was mad and I wasn't going to bend over and take it anymore. People tried to drop off their kids, and I'd run to the door and tell the parents to come back or I was calling the cops. People would come in and try to haggle insultingly low and I would tell them to get out. One couple was looking at a play tent I had for sale at 50% off. They wanted a bigger discount since it was out of the package, and it was already at wholesale. Then the husband said "now listen here little girl." and I said "Okay that's it, get out. I'd rather pay to mail it back to the manufacturer then sell it to you. Out. Now." The store was packed all day. Hubs had told his co-workers about the sale and they come out and helped and were polite too.

After a week everything was 50%-75% off and the dolls were 90% off. Still didn't sell any dolls. We picked out what we wanted to keep and took it back to our apartment. We didn't have enough space for the big castle and knights that we wanted though.

It was getting late in August and we still had a ton of stuff. The new maintenance guy who the leasing office had hired (after they fired Drunky) had a brother in New Mexico who was a business investor. He came out to visit and just loved our store. But he offered us a laughable amount for the remaining stock and our business contacts. Hubs said he would handle it and have me focus on selling what we had left.

Finally Hubs and business guy reached an agreement and in a few days they came and loaded up all of our stock. It still wasn't nearly the amount of money that we had put in, but at least the space was cleaned out. We had to leave our custom built train and slot car tables and our counters, which really bummed me out, but we had no place to put them.

Epilogue:

I really loved having the store and I do miss it sometimes. What I don't miss were the people who just thought I was a babysitting service. (Seriously I had no clue people even thought that way until I opened up.)

I learned how to properly run a business, and that Mom and Gma have no clue.

If I had the time and money, I'd open another toy store because it really was a lot of fun.

And speaking of money, it costs us about $8-10,000 per month to run it.

As far as redemption and happy endings: After we closed the big store, Mom and Gma begged us to come back to the Bordello, but we turned them down. Good thing we did because the Bordello burned in June of 2006 and the people who had shops up there lost everything.

Because now we didn't have the store draining our finances, in January of 2006, we bought our first house. I'm glad we decided to keep some of the toys because I found out I was pregnant in February with my daughter. And now I only deal with cranky people at shows and through emails.

[Gizmo]

Wow. I'm speechless. So many lessons about business in this thread!

I'm also really annoyed that your mother and grandmother presumed to take over your space without asking. After all they'd done to you all ready!

[Kanalah]

That's just how they are. They just naturally assume that I already know/are okay with whatever they're planning.

But apparently I'm not good enough to invite to fun family stuff. I wasn't invited to mother's day stuff since according to my mom I "had a c-section, so it's not like I'm a real mom."

[muppet101]

I've been following this epic tale over the last weeks without commenting- I'm in awe of the way you handled and conducted yourself throughout- you are one awesome lady.

[AnaKhouri]

Uh, if you treat a child with motherly love, you're a real mom. And I would say that going through the weeks of pain associated with a c-section while dealing with a squalling, starving newborn is pretty damn heroic (even if I did have one myself ).

Glad your epic tale turned out relatively happy.

[Victory Sabre]

Thank you for posting this story. There's a lot of WTF going in it against you. You and hubbs are strong people to make it through it.

[Gimli]

That's just how they are. They just naturally assume that I already know/are okay with whatever they're planning.

But apparently I'm not good enough to invite to fun family stuff. I wasn't invited to mother's day stuff since according to my mom I "had a c-section, so it's not like I'm a real mom."

Wow. And I thought my ex-husband's family put the 'fun' in dysfunctional. Kudos to you for rising above it.

[XCashier]

But apparently I'm not good enough to invite to fun family stuff. I wasn't invited to mother's day stuff since according to my mom I "had a c-section, so it's not like I'm a real mom."

Wait, what?! Not a real mom because you had a c-section?! Bullshit. Just complete, total and utter bullshit.