A Week in the Life of a Gift Shop Owner - Day 2

It is currently 12:01 am and I am dead tired! I know - waaaaah - right?:) I'm up late b/c I was drinking wine with my friends after market so I guess I shouldn't complain. But all work and no play makes Mandy a very dull girl - right? I went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta and I still have a lot of friends (and family) who live here, so I try to see as many as I can when I'm in town. I even stay with two of my sorority sisters when I come for market (Go Alpha Xi:))! It makes it so much more fun to come to market - I get to hang out with people that I love but only get to see maybe twice a year! So on top of working our butt off during the day, our social calender is pretty full too! Yes - I do love my life!:)

Okay - enought about that! How was market - you ask? FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! I'll be honest, I was a little nervous before coming that the vendors weren't going to have developed that much cool new stuff - with the "economy" and all, but I am HAPPY to say that they did the exact opposite! I think all the vendors got off their butts and put their teams to work - harder than ever before! The design teams must have been working some SERIOUS overtime because the patterns and fabrics and colors and designs are awesome! Do I sound excited?!!!! I was thinking that maybe I am so excited because I didn't expect much, but honestly I am excited because the stuff is fabulous! Don't worry you will see soon enough!

The hardest part of my job these last two days have been practicing self control! I want everything to come RIGHT NOW, but I can't, so it has been really hard! Not sure if you guys know this, but when store owners go to market they usually buy for the next 6 months following that market and any major holiday that is about 1 year away. So, for example, this market we are buying for July thru December and Easter. In January, we purchase Jan - June and Christmas. So when I see stuff that looks very "Swagger Like", I "date out" the invoices so I get a certain percentage in July, a certain percentage in August, etc, etc.

Today our meetings started again at 9 - then 10, 11:30, 2, 4, and 6! A man on the marta train asked me what my favorite thing I found today was - and I actually said, "I can't remember what I bought but I remember they were all my favorite!":) And that basically sums up Day Two! I since went through all my invoices and "remembered" that we purchased luggage, tote bags, lots of new baby stuff, cool new inspirational jewelry, some of the funniest cocktail napkins I have ever seen, a bunch of tiaras and tutus, and so much more!

Tomorrow I promise to take some pictures so you guys can visually see what it is like to be at market! 7.1 million square feet of a bunch of gift stores! Sound cool? And maybe a little overwhelming? It is both - and I LOVE it! :)
Good night - I need some sleep!
Mandy

ps - and now since it is technically Friday I am going to post our Facebook Friday of the week and the winner from last week! If you don't know what I'm talking about check it out here!

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