Christmas in Retail

The joys of Christmas in retail..... the first time all year where your career of choice makes sense.

The woes of Christmas in retail..... working 24/7 to keep it all rolling.

Christmas Starts in January 

That's right, we seriously start shopping for Christmas inventory and our fourth quarter items in JANUARY. After a crazy eight weeks in retail, it's one of the hardest things to do. Ordering ornaments in January seems so crazy but it allows our vendors and manufacturers time to process the orders, order their goods, and get them to us. Yes, the cycle is really that long for turning around products. We are just in the beginning phases of our new children's brand, To the Moon, and we've learned so much about product life cycles and how long everything takes. So, yes, Christmas in retail starts in January. I usually forget about it from February until about July and then the panic sort of sets in. It's about to get really crazy and I try to squeeze in as many personal things in the fall as I can since November and December I am basically working 24/7 to keep things rolling for both storefronts, both websites, and now two in-house brands. All the things - beginning in January, pausing briefly, and then picking right back up again sometime in the summer.... I'll try to be better next year. 

Last Minute Panics for Christmas in Retail 

I started running reports, analyzing numbers, and planning inventory in January but I went back through it all in July to refresh my memory. We always try to have a theme to our Christmas specific items so that it all makes sense together across both of the storefronts. Our children's store, Rosebuds Baby and Kid Boutique, is connected so we do a lot of coordinating outfits and items in there to correspond with our collection in The Southern Rose. It's a lot of work and planning and strategizing but it's always so much fun to see it come together! This year, my panic is that I didn't realize we were already out of the 10,000 printed shopping bags I ordered so now we'll have to get creative or manually sticker them. I love the branded shopping bags but it's really hard to get them in smaller quantities and fast so.... sorry friends, but you might just be getting plain bags this year!