Brand Spanking New

Lots of new items are in the Emporium now.  I've had several of these miniatures, including th birthday picks, laying around for ages.  I must try to improve my turn-around speed of when I receive new items to when I actually load them onto the shop!  If only there were more hours in the day.....

You may recognize the sculls from the Halloween mix, but I decided they were so clever they really ought to be sold on their own as well.  Death by cupcake, ha ha!  I do a lot of mixing, jumbling and sorting with these miniatures, as I am often not happy with them 'as is'.  I like offering specific colors, styles, etc.  That's how I like to be able to shop, and I hope that is something that my customers would appreciate too.  I've also been doing a lot of price restructuring, upping the amount of minis per set to be more conducive to heavy crafting and cupcake decorating.  Selling such small sets as I was before was pretty inefficient for me, and not such a great deal for the customer either.  I learn as I go, that's all I can do.

Over the last few months, I've spent a lot of time researching and finding new wholesale distributors and importers.  NOT an easy task, I assure you.  Especially since I'm picky about the items I want to carry.  There a loads  and loads of novelty decorations that I'm sure would sell well and are pretty cute, but I just don't think fit in the Emporium.  There are thousands of cartoons and licensed characters items (Dora, Sponge Bob, Disney, Bob the Builder, and on and on.)  But, when I started this shop, it was truly out of a love for these retro style, vintagey miniatures that were getting harder and harder to find.  I have even had to convince one company to continue selling a certain miniature, one of my most popular-selling items (can you guess which one?!)    It was discontinued one day and I refused to accept it, I pretty much begged the manager to keep selling them to me, and in a way, I feel responsible that they are still even out there!   It still gets tricky sometimes, I have to keep reminding myself that just because something is not my particular taste, that isn't a good enough reason to dismiss it.  It's funny how some of the most popular items I sell really don't appeal to me that much.  You just never can tell.   

I have so many ideas and dreams for this little shop, that I can get frustrated with my lack of time and how slowly I have to take everything.  That's just how it is when you are a one-gal operation, but branching out and hiring help is just too overwhelming an idea or me to grasp right now.  I'd rather be hunting for new things, and I have found even more good stuff lately!  I've discovered some to-die-for baking cups, and a new promotional item that I'm just dying to get made up.  I'm never at loss for new ideas, that for sure.  Time, however, is another story.      

 

Comments

[Shannon]

Oh, please do stick with your style!! It's beautiful, and anyone can go to any party store, dollar store and get all of those licensed things. Your style is so beautiful and vintage, it always reminds me of cupcakes of my youth (all the cupcakes I've loved before...:) The work has to be very demanding, but we all appreciate it!!

[t]

I came across your blog through another blog, which is great, because I love your shop!

[Linda]

I love the lil soda cans!

[kristin]

Also wanted to let you know that I'm having a giveaway on my blog. If you have a moment, stop on by and take a peek. :)