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?

Mini-me got me to read the first three books in the Twilight series sometime last year while waiting for the last Harry Potter book to come out. (The family that reads together, gets into book series theory debates together, or something like that.) Since that time they have become somewhat of a phenomenon in the world of teenage girls.

We pre-ordered our copy of the latest in the series, Breaking Dawn early in the summer and Mini-me has been waiting for the midnight release party ever since. The internet is awash in release party costume ideas and heated discussions about who will win Bella’s undying love (excuse the pun!)

We figured if the rest of the world was as or even more into this book as we were we’d might as well make a party of it! We’ve spent the past week brainstorming ideas for fun and original crafts that relate to the story and have come up with some great ones. I lucked into finding a fabulous jewelry company at CHA that has fabulous pewter pendants ready to be personalized and embellished. We’re also making red satin book thongs, bottle cap pins and decorating canvas tote bags.

If you already have plans for the midnight release join us beforehand for pizza, crafts and fun, we’ll be finished up in plenty of time for you to still make it to your local bookstore to pick up your copy well before the break of dawn!