Ask Me if I'm Happy

Lawreston

Lawreston

En-Route
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
4,573
Location
Georgetown, ME
Display Name
Display name:
Harley Reich
Boothbay Harbor, Maine is a huge "tourist" town, so to speak. From Memorial Day to Labor Day its population has a massive increase(part time residents whose families have been going there for generations). And it's vacationer's "must see" during those months. After Labor Day? It gets deader and deader.

I've been trying to get "into" it for several years, other than going for the many fine eating establishments. Of the many shops in town I finally found an entrance. More after this:

HR
 

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My hand-done greeting cards are at Gimbel's Country Store/The Smiling Cow, a terrific duo of incredible inventory and Maine souvenirs. The display was hard to photograph because of the glossy surfaces and the incoming sunlight. Some of the pockets are empty because my favorite paper supplier closed and I've had to scramble to find the same stock without having to buy a lifetime supply; and more photos need to be printed. And then the day got better. A nearby waterfront restaurant is putting in my cards which only feature that restaurant in the photo. And over on nearby Southport Island is Robinson's Wharf/Restaurant & Gift Shop. Getting into there, too; cards featuring photos of that facility. Retirement project: sure beats sitting around and doing nothing. So here I sit at this crazy hour, printing up a storm; good thing I'm a night owl.

HR
 
As a life long retailer I would like to suggest this; Keep the rack full, don't let any shop worn cards or envelopes ever be on the rack. If you don't have enough product to fill the rack, get a smaller rack.

Check the display at least every month or so, replace damaged or soiled product, and keep it full. You have to work that floor spinner like it is a whole store, keep it clean, full of merchandise, and looking fresh.

Congratulations, it's hard to get card racks in stores. Look after it.

John
 
Are you happy?













(someone had to ask)
 
Well... hope you are happy! :D

Very pretty country, some fond memories of a small town not too far away - Five Islands? Stayed at a B&B called the Squire Tarbox Inn, very nice place. Been many years since we toured Maine, need to head back there sometime soon. Wish you the best on the displays.

Gary
 
Gary said:
Well... hope you are happy! :D

Very pretty country, some fond memories of a small town not too far away - Five Islands? Stayed at a B&B called the Squire Tarbox Inn, very nice place. Been many years since we toured Maine, need to head back there sometime soon. Wish you the best on the displays.

Gary
Click to expand...

Five Islands? Six miles south of my house; or as the crow flies, less. See photo.
Five Islands is part of Georgetown. The fog shot of the Private float pertains to the cast-off for Malden and Hen Islands. Those two and Mink Island are privately owned by just a few families. Malden got its name over 100 years ago when a couple families from Malden, MA bought and settled them. One needs to be invited to get on the three islands(part of what's known as "Five Islands"), though Georgetown is an island in itself. Malden & Hen appear, below; Mink is not in the image.

Squire Tarbox Inn is on Westport Island, just down the road from Wiscasset Airport.

HR
 

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John Baker said:
As a life long retailer I would like to suggest this; Keep the rack full, don't let any shop worn cards or envelopes ever be on the rack. If you don't have enough product to fill the rack, get a smaller rack.

Check the display at least every month or so, replace damaged or soiled product, and keep it full. You have to work that floor spinner like it is a whole store, keep it clean, full of merchandise, and looking fresh.

Congratulations, it's hard to get card racks in stores. Look after it.

John
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments. The vendor told me to start with "3 of each." And to "come back every 3 or 4 weeks to check inventory"(which I had planned, anyway). A real shock was to discover that my favorite card stock supplier had posted a sign, "CLOSED - Thanks, all, for 15 years." What to do? The large paper company suppliers wanted me to buy huge quantities of card stock which would be cut from large sheets and then deckle-edged and scored. Nada! Couldn't compete with the price I'd been paying. Scramble! And found a printing firm that happened to have an open box of my exact pieces, same price but not scored. So I bought the "Scor-it-all" device for $40 and do it myself. And that print shop can supply me in the future.
Now I'm printing me arse off to fill the other pockets. End result will be 48 sku in the completed rack.

The restaurants will have a counter-top display of some sort, as in photo, but will only be displaying cards which feature a photo of that particular establishment.

HR
 

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:eek:)) Here's Boothbay Harbor(from my 20' I/O). The restaurant on the right is one of my vendors.

HR
 

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Gary(or any pilot): My guest room is "Open." I'm 12 sm from Wiscasset Airport.

HR
 
Doesn't Moody's have a card rack of Maine type cards??? I think they've got a gift shop out back too.....
It seems that just getting your stuff on the shelves is a major accomplishment and a lot of work....now the hard part is keeping the stuff stocked and expanding. I guess if it was easy everyone would do it so congrats on seeing some results from your hard work.

Frank
 
Ok, if you're not Happy, perhaps Grumpy or Sneezy? :)
 
The guest room is "The Evelyn Room." It's a recreation, though smaller, of my late mother's room as it was in Scottsdale, in which some of the furniture goes back around 100 years. Its doorway is blocked by a clear lexan* sheet high enough to prevent intruders.
Mother: "I don't want any damn cats on my bed." Tradition reigns.

:eek:)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Very cool! I also see that there are plenty of aerial views... Nicely done. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

When I designed the logo, if I had known I was going to get back into a boat(having sold sloop to buy a house and then got into airplanes), I'd have set the logo as Photos from Land, Sea, and Air. But there are so many Pagemaker modules/overlays in that logo it would be a PITA to go back and change it, let alone being too crowded).

HR
 
Ah; you mussa be'n one o' them there "Satdy Night at Moody's Dinah" people. I've made contact with the lady in charge, but no results to date. Waldoboro is only a short distance from my home town Cushing, and Until I moved away there had been a family "Lawreston" in the area since the mid 1800s, the name being recoginzable. Of course, the natives probably hit the diner, not the gift shop.

Interesting: while I was typing this I received a call from Mrs. Gimbel, Boothbay Harbor.
She wasn't there when I set up the display.
"I'm just calling to let you know we love the cards -- very nicely done. However, we've moved the cards into a better display unit and have repositioned it to better set-off the cards. You can pick up your display unit at your convenience." As the late Marshall Dodge -- Bert and I recordings -- would say, "I'm sensin' another trip to th' Hahbuh.

HR
 
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I used to have a series of commercials I wrote, produced, and narrated, based upon the dialect related to Maine. There were numerous who accused me of "copying Marshall Dodge." I knew Mike Dodge as a customer during the years he had founded the Maine Festival, held on the campus of Bowdoin College(across the street from my store). I told
Mike what others were claiming, to which he responded, "Not at all; I don't see it that way. There are quite a few who are doing the same type of inflection, often overdone and not accurate. Yours are good, and effective in your pitches." It was a loss when Mike was hit, while bicycling in Hawaii, by a hit & run driver and died as a result of his injuries. Nice guy.

HR
 
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