Even though I sent out emails, posted posters, and passed out postcards I didn’t generate enough interest in tonight’s Breaking Dawn pre-release craft party. A few people did say it sounded like fun and passed the word on to others but no one actually called and made a reservation. So I’ve had to cancel my plans for this event.

Lesson learned: I have to plan these kinds of events well in advance of the date in order to get the word out. I also need to figure out the best way to get people to act and make the call when they see something like this that may interest them.

Also Cancelled: Next week’s Summer Camp. I actually had an almost full slate of participants for this one. But two canceled this week and another never came back with their registration/deposit. That left one girl.

On a positive note; birthday party bookings are up 100% over July for August!

Well, I didn’t really get a summer vacation this year so instead I’ll tell you what I learned at CHA two weeks ago.

The most valuable seminars I took were run by Kizer & Bender. Georgann and Rich are retailing gurus of the highest caliber. What I didn’t realize going into this was that they are also neighbors. Their office is also located here in St. Charles.

The two seminars I took with them were all about appealing to “Generation Z” those wonderful creatures the rest of us call ‘tweens and teens. This just happens to also be my favorite age group of people to work with so I knew I was sure to come away with some great ideas. The Friday seminar was a panel discussion with a dozen actual in the flesh Zeds. We had the opportunity to ask them what they liked and didn’t like in crafts, stores, etc. My only complaint was that the group wasn’t very diverse as far as demographics. Fortunately for me they did match my store’s particular target market but if I had been there from a more rural or urban area I may not have gotten quite as much out of it. The Saturday seminar was more about how to take what we now know about this generation and making it work in our stores. How do we reach them? How do we offer events they’d be interested in?

These seminars were where the idea for the “Twilight Party” came from in a way. We were discussing what was hot with different age groups. I had come home Friday very excited to share with my family what I had learned and I took the opportunity to poll my two in-house Gen-Zeds. Sarah brought up how popular the Twilight series had become in her school and with her peers. On Saturday I brought this information back to Georgann & Rich and it snow-balled from there.

They were so impressed with Sarah’s suggestion they even mentioned it on their blog. So I sent them information about our planned party and they posted that too!

What I’ve also learned this summer is that opening a store and planning cool events isn’t like “Field of Dreams.” You can’t just build it and they will come. I’ve been pounding the keyboard and the pavement trying to get the word out about this event and the business in general all in the hopes that someday the crowds of mythical creatures called customers will find me. I wonder how much rent Kevin Costner had to pay on that cornfield of his?

 
Sarah (Mini-me) and I are having too much fun planning this party for Friday. We have some really cool crafts planned and have been trying to get samples made today. (Keeping my fingers double crossed that the jewelry blanks I ordered Wednesday to be sent Priority arrive on Monday!)

Today she painted this wooden toy truck to look like the main character, Bella’s, old truck. We also made some polymer clay beads for our ribbon book marks. Sarah put it all together for this cool display.