"Hi Ronn,

So we all know that for the most part people are browsers that sometimes turn into customers but are usually just out wasting time. The move of my business has illustrated this perfectly.

Over the last two or three months we've been at the store only on occasion, usually to meet with an appointment or to move stuff out. We have a GIANT sign in the window stating that we've moved with the new address and name of the store.

During the move we've noticed 4 types of "customers":

Type 1> The most common, they kind of notice that there is a sign and do a slow drive past the window, read the note and they keep driving, usually in the opposite direction of our new space.

Type 2> They don't notice the empty window or the sign. They park and walk up and yank on the door, if they notice me they'll knock. I'll explain that we've moved and give them the new address. Usually they half heartedly take the new address and drive off in the opposite direction.

Type 3> They are actually looking for something, ask if they can find it on the website and will go off towards the new store space.

Type 4> Will actually make an appointment to see specific items and usually buy said items.

I like type 4 the best of course.

Yesterday we had gone by to remove the final piece of the store, the sign. The building has been rented, the store is empty, it's very obvious that the store is empty. There is nothing inside but an empty display case and the giant sign in the window. You CAN'T miss it. We had just finished loading the last of the sign and were getting ready to leave. We see Type 1's drive up. They apparently decide to ignore the sign, they park, they walk up to the building. They walk past 4, FOUR! large plate glass windows showing an empty store, they go to the front door, they yank on the door. Locked. They peer inside, they press their hands to the windows and look again. Then they knock. It's obvious that there is NO ONE inside. They try the door again. Finally my husband can't stand it and rolls down his window and tells them that we've moved. They ask if they can come in and look around. At WHAT!?!?

He tells them where we've moved to and gives directions. While he is explaining where we've moved to they are already walking away. They hear nothing. Foiled in their attempt at window shopping and brain picking for the day.

He thinks we could have been open on a saturday with 2 pieces of furniture and one shelf of random crap and most likely only 1 out of 10 would even comment on the lack of items.

Browser ZOMBIES!!!

The Big Flea Market was this weekend, it's bi-monthly, and is always the same group of dealers with the same stuff. Mostly antiques and vintage, sometimes something interesting. Usually I don't go since load in is on Friday, they don't open to the public until Saturday and for the most part anything of real interest or value has changed hands several times and has been spirited off to someone's storage unit or storefront by Friday evening. My husband really wanted to go and we had free entrance passes and some free time so we went.

It was like a giant ant farm, lots of people, but very little money was changing hands. And it was quiet. Eerily quiet, usually in a auditorium there is a hum of voices and activity. Strangely everyone was just sort of shuffling around in a circle looking without seeing and browsing without buying. Browser Zombies, they're EVERYWHERE!!!

Rant 2

There is an interior designer here in town, I like him a lot. He has a great eye and buys good pieces as opposed to good LOOKING pieces like the majority of I-Ds. So he stops by the new place and mentions that he's looking for a pair of chandeliers. I tell him I have one and the match is on the web, he can buy one from me and one from there and have a pair. Mine is priced at a THIRD of the one on the web.

He mentions that he's been buying a lot on the East coast. I ask if he's looked in our lighting section, he tells me he always forgets to look at our site.

This burns my butt. I'm HERE, I'm affordable and there is NO SHIPPING. WHY is he looking at a distant store but can't remember to look at a local website. "Whhhyyy?!??!" she shouts into a void and a flock of crows fly up into a grey sky....

Yes, my feelings were hurt.

Not a rant but an aside..

Another friend of mine who has a very high end store here in town, a gorgeous mix of original abstract modernist paintings, 18th century (not in the style of but actual 18th century) antiques, and other gorgeousness called the other day. Did I want to come by for a chat and to maybe wholesale purchase some goodies? I love this guy, he's really on the ball, doesn't take shit from people looking to do some chain yanking and really knows his stuff. He's on more auction mailing lists than me and his research library makes my 500+ library look like a russian garage sale in the early 80s (pitiful). He's also been good enough to share info that I never would have come across on my own. So I pull up to his store, there's a giant For Lease sign in the lot. He owns his building. Like me he bought in an "up and coming" area that has fizzled in terms of upward mobility.

We shot the breeze for a few hours and I bought some great paintings, pottery and furniture. He has also moved into another shop and is also letting his 'space mate' deal with the day to day. It's a global thing we've decided. Everyone wants to look and no one is buying unless it's a giveaway.

It made me feel a little better that it's across the board.

Hows by you?"