ANTIQUES, RETIREMENT ENTERPRISE, AND STAYING THE COURSE
A NEAT PACKAGE - BUT A CHALLENGE TO CO-ORDINATE WITH GOOD HUMOR AND PROFIT
I HAVEN'T HAD A COLD IN THREE YEARS. I'D KNOCK WOOD BUT THAT WOULD BE TOO LATE THIS YEAR. EVER SINCE FINISHING UP A MAJOR RESEARCH PROJECT, EARLYH THIS WEEK, ALL I'VE WANTED TO DO IS SLEEP, DRINK TEA, HAVE A DOG LAYING ACROSS MY COLD FEET, AND A CAT OR THREE PURRING ON MY LAP. THIS IS ANOTHER ASPECT TO RUNNING A SHOP. LAST WEEK I KNOW OF AT LEAST THREE CUSTOMERS WHO STOOD BARKING LIKE CRANKY DOGS, SNIFFLING, SNORTING, AND THEN HANDING ME MONEY. I'M ALWAYS SO HAPPY TO FINISH UP THESE MAJOR PROJECTS, AND I INSIST ON SOME KIND OF TREAT, AT THE CONCLUSION, MAYBE FROM THE BAKERY, TO MAKE IT ALL PALATABLE. MONEY IS NICE BUT A FRESH CHELSEA BUN IS PRETTY NICE. SO KNOW I DON'T FEEL LIKE A TREAT, OTHER THAN GOING TO BE AFTER DINNER. I'M ON A DIET AS WELL, AND I INFORMED SUZANNE, WHO IS A TASKMASTER IF EVER THERE WAS ONE, THAT THE CHANGING MY DIET HAS LEFT ME VULNERABLE TO ALL KINDS OF BAD STUFF. SHE DOESN'TG BUY IT, AND HANDS ME A BRUISED BANANA. "NOW THIS IS GOOD FOR YOU…..IT'LL STRAIGHTEN YOU UP IN A FLASH. SHE REMINDS ME, JUST NOW, OF MY MOTHER MERLE, (WHICH I WON'T TELL HER ABOUT, IF YOU DON'T) WHO AT THE FIRST SIGN OF A SNIFLE, WOULD EMERGE FROM THE BATHROOM WITH A JAR OF VICKS VAPO-RUB, AND THEN GO INTO MY DAD'S DRAWER, TO FIND AN OLD WORK SOCK. NO KIDDING. SHE RUBBED THE TREATMENT ON MY NECK, THEN WRAPPED OVER IT WITH THIS OLD PRICKLY, HOLEY SOCK, AND CLIPPED IN PLACE WITH A HONKING BIG SAFETY PIN. SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO WARN ME ABOUT LEAVING THE APARTMENT THAT DAY. NOT WITH SOMETHING LIKE THAT WRAPPED BENEATH MY CHIN. IF I TOOK THE THING OFF, THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD RE-FASTEN IT BEFORE SHE GOT HOME. MY FRIENDS WOULDN'T HELP ME, BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T GET THE SMELL OF THE RUB OFF YOUR FINGERS. MERLE COULD FOLLOW THE SCENT LIKE AN OLD HUNTING DOG. "AH, SO YOU HELPED TEDDY TAKE THE SOCK OFF, EH?" SHE QUESTION ANY OF MY MATES MILLING AROUND THE PROPERTY.
NO TIME FOR SICKNESS. SUZANNE INSISTS I GET BETTER FAST, BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF WORK TO DO BEFORE THE VICTORIA DAY HOLIDAY WEEKEND. IN MUSKOKA, IT CAN BE EITHER AN INCREDIBLE WEEKEND FOR RETAILERS….IF IT RAINS. IF IT IS A BEAUTIFUL SUNNY WEEKEND, NOT SO MUCH. WHO WANTS TO SHOP WHEN IT'S BEAUTIFUL ON THE LAKE OR RIVER?
WE ARE EMBARKING ON OUR LAST EXPANSION. THERE AREN'T ANY MORE ROOMS LEFT IN THE OLD MOVIE THEATRE. AS A COLLECTIVE OF FAMILY BUSINESSES, WE HAVE MADE AN ARRANGEMENT TO TAKE OVER THE LAST ROOM OF THE UPGRADED COMPLEX, OF THE RETIRED MUSKOKA THEATRE, HERE ON THE MAIN STREET OF GRAVENHURST. WE HAVE A PLAN. LET'S JUST SAY WE'RE GOING TO KEEP IT SIMPLE AND ENTERTAINING AT THE SAME TIME. I DO SUGGEST IT WILL ALSO BE ONE OF A KIND, AS WILL SUZANNE'S "NOOKERY COOKERY," HER OWN ANTIQUE BUSINESS DEALING WITH COOKBOOKS AND COOKING RELATED COLLECTABLES. SHE HAS ALREADY BEGUN THE TRANSITION, WHICH WILL BE COMPLETE BY THE FIRST OF JULY, WITH THE ADDITION OF HER PRIVATE RESOURCE COLLECTION, THAT SHE WILL BE ABLE TO USE FOR REFERENCE, TO ASSIST THOSE WHO ARE LOOKING FOR SPECIFIC, BUT HARD TO FIND RECIPES. THE FINAL EXPANSION WILL INCORPORATE MUSIC AND COLLECTABLES, IN A CREATIVE WAY, AND IT WILL BE KNOWN AS OUR MUSKOKA RECREATION ROOM, HAVING A REGIONAL SIGNIFICANCE TO COLLECTORS…..AND BROWSERS, LOOKING FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT. THIS WILL MOST DEFINITELY BE AMBITIOUS, BUT WHY NOT? IT WILL ALSO DOUBLE AS OUR "JAM" ROOM, FOR MUSICIANS WITH AN ITCH. THE FACT THAT ANDREW AND ROBERT ALSO WORK AT THE LOCAL ENTERTAINMENT VENUES, AND OFTEN INVITE PERFORMERS TO DROP DOWN TO THEIR SHOP FOR A VISIT, WE THOUGHT WE'D SET UP THIS BIG BACK ROOM WITH A SMALL STAGE DESIGNATION, AND OUTFIT IT WITH EQUIPMENT AND GUITARS……AND CHAIRS FOR FOLKS TO SIT, JUST IN CASE AN INFORMAL MUSICAL EVENT BREAKS OUT…..WHICH IT DOES, HONESTLY. THE VINTAGE MUSIC SHOP HAS HAD HUNDREDS OF VISITS BY WELL KNOWN ENTERTAINERS IN THE PAST EIGHT YEARS, AND IT'S NOT UNCOMMON FOR THEM TO DROP INTO THE STUDIO TO TRY OUT SOME OF OUR VINTAGE EQUIPMENT. IT'S FUN WORKING IN THIS PLACE, LET ME TELL YOU. WE DO PROTECT THEIR PRIVACY, IF THEY CARE ABOUT THIS (SOME LIKE THE ATTENTION), AND RESPECT THE FACT THAT SOMETIMES, IT'S NICE TO GET AWAY FROM PUBLIC SCRUTINY. WE HAVE A FEW SANCTUARIES TO WHISK THEM OFF TO, IF THERE'S TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THE STORE AT THE TIME THEY VISIT.
SINCE THE LAST WEEK IN MARCH, HERE IN UPTOWN GRAVENHURST, IT HAS BEEN QUIET AND IT WAS THE PERFECT TIME OF THE YEAR, FOR THE BOYS TO GET THEIR TWICE YEARLY RESPITE IN OTTAWA, WITH FRIENDS; AND FOR US TO DO SOME CHANGE-OVERS. I DON'T REALLY HAVE ANY COMPARISONS WITH PREVIOUS YEARS, OTHER THAN WHAT THE BOYS VINTAGE MUSIC SHOP HAS DONE THROUGH SLOW MONTHS PREVIOUSLY; BUT I'M SURE THERE ARE LOCAL BUSINESSES WONDERING WHAT'S HAPPENING OUT THERE. IF WE WERE BASING OUR EXPANSION ON BUSINESS OVER THE PAST MONTH AND A HALF, WE WOULDN'T INVEST ANOTHER DIME. HAVING DECADES OF EXPERIENCE IN THE TOURISM SECTOR HOWEVER, DATING BACK TO SUZANNE'S FAMILY BUSINESS, IN WINDERMERE, IN THE 1960'S, AND MY WORK AS A DELIVERY ASSISTANT, FOR CLARKE'S PRODUCE, AT AROUND THE SAME TIME, WE BOTH UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN IT ARRIVES, SUMMER THAT IS,……THE TOURIST SURGE, THERE WON'T BE TIME TO TWEAK ANYTHING. LAST YEAR, OUR FIRST SUMMER, WE HAD A HECK OF A TIME GRABBING A MID-DAY SANDWICH. WE'RE NOT COMPLAINING. YOU'VE GOT TO RISE TO THE OCCASION, BECAUSE BUSINESSES LIKE OUR, HAVE UNTIL THANKSGIVING, TO MAKE AN IMPACT, OR IT WILL BE A LONG, LONG, POOR WINTER SEASON. WE HAVE DEVELOPED A NUMBER OF SHOULDER SEASON STRATEGIES, WITH ONLINE SALES, TO KICK-IN NEXT WINTER, TO DEAL WITH THE TYPICAL SLOW-DOWN.
NOW THE HUSTLE BEGINS IN EARNEST
Since the middle of December, I've been working on a history research project, for a well known regional recreational organization, and the work was spread out over the slowest months of the year, in terms of antique and collectable retail. In the past four weeks, I've had to write the rough draft, and conduct some final interviews. I love the research component, but I don't like the stage from rough copy to finished manuscript. I am one of those writers, who can take a simple proof-reading assignment, and basically create a whole new text…..because I can get that persnickety. I never count on this, and it's never budgeted into the time allotment, but I do it anyway; and by time I'm finished with the final edit, and send it off for approval….or not, I'm suffering daily headaches and neck pain, all the result of being hunched over this keyboard in my office. Mrs. Ferrie, my high school typing teacher, warned me there would be days like this, if I didn't improve my posture. When I'm working on stories about my antique hunting, and personal biography, I always have a lot of fun, and it's all very spontaneous. It's very therapeutic from the freelance jobs, that have a strict protocol of preparation and the information gathered.
It was what I performed every week in the newspaper business, but I was a lot younger then, and I liked all writing challenges. Today I write far more "for fun" feature related columns, and blogs, because it's my own foray into retirement. I wanted to start early, you see, and as Suzanne will be retiring in a month and a half, after thirty-one years in the teaching profession, I dearly want us to be on the same page, when it comes to what we have planned for, since 1988, when we opened Birch Hollow Antiques. It was created to set up the framework and track-record, of a business that would be ready for both of us, some time down the road. The end of the road, is now identifiable, as July 1st, 2013. I'd be excited about it, if this headache would diminish, and the freelance projects would wrap-up successfully. Of course, the biggest hurdle, is to get everyone on the recreation group to give the copy the "thumbs up," instead of the big chill of a "thumbs down." We writer-kind fear the request for a "re-write" as much as we fear the transmission falling out of our vehicles.
Suzanne and I have both looked forward to this countdown to semi-retirement for decades. We are planning maniacs, and preparedness is good advice to any one out there, considering a similar move into a retirement business. Antiques and collectables, in our region, is a largely summer-season enterprise as far as the retail component; and although we do get some local traffic, it's certainly not enough to keep us afloat. Even this week so far, we have had only three locals and thirty from out of town. This is typical. There are times, weeks and a few months, when this changes, but still local business for us would only represent five percent of revenue. That's not very good on the main street of town, but it was roughly the same, when we had a main street shop, in Bracebridge in the 1990's. It's certainly not strange, that we have run into a similar attitude here in Gravenhurst, but as Suzanne and I both appreciate, the trade through the summer months, is usually so vigorous, that it can stave off the wolves through the winter season. The trick is, to have other ways of earning income during the shoulder season. We will use the shop to once again re-introduce online sales, which we pursued for more than a decade, with pretty good results.
I have been tardy with some of my recent blogs, simply because I was writing six hours a day, to get this regional history done, and off for approval. In our former Bracebridge shop, I wrote five manuscripts while we had the shop open; which was about six years, and I was also writing then for The Muskoka Advance, and The Muskoka Sun, which kept me busy through the long and lonely days from November until May. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing roughly the same thing here, in Gravenhurst, and turning a cubby-hole into my main street writing office. I tried at Christmas, but we were quite busy, and I couldn't handle the interruptions. Hey, I will take retail business over fill-in writing any time. So one day soon, Suzanne told me that she's going to buy me a lap-top, so that I can move about through the store, to cover customers, and get some composition done as well, during hiatus periods from being an antique dealer. I broke Andrew's lap-top last summer, apparently, by treating the keyboard, like the old manual Smith Corona I used to beat the crap out of, on a daily basis. I'm told I have a George Chuvalo-like punch, on the wafer thin keyboard, which is not suitable to the sensors…..which I pound into dysfunction. I have done the same with word processors and other computer keyboards in the past. So she's shopping for an industrial strength unit, that will adjust to my musical keyboarding. I like being able to hear myself hitting these keys…..and yes it is music to my ears. Just costly, when we have to get yet another keyboard to replace what I destroyed with over-enthusiasm.
What was music to my ears? When I went on a school trip to the Toronto Star newsroom, and saw and listened to, over a hundred typewriters pounding out copy. That's where I wanted to be. Today I can't handle the ring of the phone in my archives. I completely forget my place, and have to retreat to re-group.
Thanks so much for being patient with this blogger, over the past few days. Right now, Suzanne has made me a lovely cup of tea, and what's this? She's waving around an old sock. She's such a joker. I hope that a night of hot tea, the company of some household pets, and maybe a hunk of that chelsea, and I'll be fine by the morning. I hate being sick. Don't you. Even buttoning my shirt hurts. See you again soon. I'll have to employ Suzanne, as our cat "Angus" has fallen asleep on my shoulder, and he doesn't like to be disturbed. I've got all kind of scratches from these wee beasties. Geez, like that Ted Nugent song, I hope I don't have "cat scratch fever."
Please take a few minutes to visit my other blog.
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