Happy New Year from Disco Buddha

We won this Buddha in a raffle at the New York Gift Show . . . . entered under slight duress, but threw in our card, and were rather surprised to have him show up a few months later. We've become quite attached to the way he reflects light, and he's been gracing the blogger's living room for the last month or so. When the light hits him during the day it's really amazing. We decided to go for a change of pace for our New Year's window - simple and silver - so stop by and admire him for yourself - he'll be here for the next few weeks. And we wish a happy, healthy, fun, and satisfying 2013 to all. May we all come through the inevitable challenges with our spirits, hearts, and joie intact!

I Don't Have to Work Tomorrow?

The Joie blogger is quite excited that - tomorrow will be her first day off in - six weeks! Plans definitely include sleeping a bit later than usual (no really young children involved in this particular celebration!) It's been the usual crazy whirlwind . . . and we've enjoyed seeing many of our customers who, like Christmas, come but once a year. (and "we" would like to acknowledge that we're aware that we shift somewhat often and somewhat erractically between "she" "I" and "we" when writing this blog - tonight, we plead fatigue!) (And, said blogger would also like to acknowledge that it might be possible to work less during this season and that working every day has become a habit that is difficult but could be possible to break.) Despite the grueling hours, we enjoyed a lot of things about the season - our wonderful customers, the wonderful people who return to work for just a few weeks in December, the wonderful people who work throughout the year . . . . and now, the wonderful opportunity to do nothing more than relax and be with family tomorrow. Thank you to all for making our existence possible, and "we" wish you all a happy and relaxing holiday tomorrow !

Midnight Madness !

The Joie blogger is tired - because the Joie blogger has not gotten much sleep in the last few days. Our extended December hours and last weekend's Midnight Madness are to blame! We had a tradition with our beloved neighborhood store, Susanna, of hosting a little holiday party for employees and a few friends a week or so before Christmas that many years ago morphed into the idea of having a shopping party and inviting customers to shop - with wine, cookies and a more festive atmosphere than the typical crowded Saturday day - until midnight. Louder music, slap happy staff, and also a guest appearance by our one night a year much loved helper, Joe D! None of us remembers exactly how long ago this started, but it's been well over 15 years now. And we have some regular late night shoppers who show up faithfully every year. But by the time we get to bed, it's quite late . .. and then we get up and do it again - so. .. let's just say we are looking forward to sleeping in on Christmas Day! And, perhaps we will see you in the last, mad, week before that happy day.

Joie . . . de Foie? ?

It's the busy holiday season, and we feel like we have about twenty more things to do than we can possibly do - every single hour. Naturally, this kind of chaos can result in mistakes; the incorrectly added sales slip, the invoice that winds up in the trash instead of the "to be paid" file, the item left out of a bag, the forgotten phone call - etc! The last few years, due to our website, we've also had a lot more internet sales to keep track of. This evening I got a call from a gentleman with a heavy French accent. He said he was having trouble with his computer, had placed an order with us, and wanted to know if we had shipped it, as he was unable to check online. I took his name, and asked him what the item he had ordered was. "A case of foie gras," he began, and I instantly realized, much to my relief, that we were innocent of all charges. There is a French food and housewares catalogue called Joie de Vivre, and people often find us when looking for them, because we are Joiedevivre.net. That name taken, they took FrenchSelections.com. but we are the first Joie de Vivre found when googling. I explained to the gentleman that he had the wrong Joie. "Well, can you give me their phone number?" he asked, "my computer is not working." I suggested perhaps he had a friend or acquaintance with a computer? He seemed a bit put out that we were not the Joie he wanted and I mentioned that I didn't even approve of foie gras. "I know, I know," he told me. "But I'm French," he continued, "and we eat everything." We said our goodbyes, and maybe twenty minutes later the phone rang. Someone else picked it up and I heard her telling someone - presumably the friend of said gentleman - to trying googling FrenchSelections.com. And so it goes. At least it wasn't our mistake. And, just to reassure you all, we will do anything to fix a mistake, never fear!

Eiffel Towers ! ! Lots of Them ! !

We get these beautiful Austrian snowglobes every year for Christmas, but some of them are not overtly Christmasy, like this beautiful Eiffel Tower. We ran out of them last year in February, and spent the last 10 months trying to get more. It's true they can't ship them from Austria when it's cold, because if the water freezes - the glass breaks. But once April rolled around we thought they would arrive soon, and so did the customers who had ordered them off our website. (Evidently we are the only store in the whole United States who sells them - or so you would think!) Anyway, the distributor thought she could get them for us by May . . . . then June . .. then August .. .then October. The special orders piled up and it started to seem like an episode of the Twilight Zone - the distributor, who had been working with the company for years, could get no response from them, no reason why they would not ship her the globes. It was very very frustrating for all concerned; the customers who wanted them, we Joie de Vivre denizens, our poor distributor who received several anguished emails from us . . . but - today was the red letter day. They arrived, and are already winging their way to homes across the country from New Orleans to Nebraska to California and more. We were happy enough to break out the fake champagne (not so "joie de vive" but we had a lot of work to do) So all is good- though there is this little question in the back of our minds . . . is this going to happen again next year?

It's Crazy Making Time !

Keeping track of inventory and staffing during December is - just plain a challenge. One day it's crazy busy and we need at least four people to carry on, then the next day is suddenly dead and two are more than enough. But - you never know - so how many people do you ask to work? And, we ordered six porcelain Rob Ryan plates last apring. They weren't expensive - $24 - but exactly one sold in the first six months of their life here at Joie. Needless to say, we did not reorder them. Then, yesterday, someone bought the remaining five. The law of retail says that soon, someone will come in and be desperately disappointed that we have no stock. Or - you call a company to get 6 dozen more of something that's been selling well and they say - oh that's discontinued. Or, as happened to us recently, the company, who had a giant booth at the New York Toy Fair this very year, has just gone out of business. They have a message on their answering machine saying leave a message, we'll call you back - but they don't, and their emails bounce back, and their website is gone - it's enough to make a retailer crazy! But - we've survived 28 years of this - we have a feeling we'll survive Christmas #29 at Joie de Vivre as well!

Context is Everything

In most job situations, if an employee said "I found an arm" it would be cause for horror, fainting, calls to the police. Here at Joie de Vivre, such statements are received with a laugh and a "Oh, I think I know where that came from" - fill in the blank - the Marilyn Monroe magnetic paperdoll, the wind-up frog, the light up Santa Claus . .. the possibilities go on and on ! And just this very second, in a very cosmic twist - we have received a Waving Jubilee Queen of England - sans one arm !

Notes on Black Friday

The Joie de Vivre blogger feels that this whole Black Friday thing is getting seriously out of control. We noticed this year for the first time some of our suppliers websites - those with a retail arm - participating in some way with sales and promotions. And we noticed a chain store in Harvard Square offering 50% off ALL their merchandise the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, as well as Black Friday. This strikes us as a race to the bottom - which doesn't bode well for anyone. More sales and constant promotions, lower and lower prices - equals no profit for businesses already struggling to make ends meet. And we're honestly a little offended by American Express promoting "Small Business Saturday" - because far from supporting small business, they take a much higher percentage from small businesses than large ones, and a higher percentage than Mastercard and Visa. And because we believe in shopping small stores all the time, not just one day a year - as do most of our customers - for whom we gave sincere thanks yesterday before the Thanksgiving meal. A meal we did not exit early in order to shop! The day after Thanksgiving has been the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, albeit without sales, for years - the blogger, who has been in retail on and off since high school days remembers well. We believe the name Black Friday originated in the idea that that particular day was the day that put businesses into the black. But it's starting to seem more like the black death to us . . . . anyway, we apologize for the seriousness of this post, but after seeing a Youtube clip of people physically fighting over smart phones at Walmart, we felt impelled to comment. To end on a happier note, we hope our blog readers all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we hope to see you soon at Joie de Vivre, where it's small business day every day of the year!

Mini Con-Artists !

The other afternoon we were standing around the desk - three of us, one customer, chatting about something, when a boy entered. He looked like your typical middle class kid, and was probably 11 or 12. He approached us, and asked if we had 85 cents which he needed for bus money. We were surprised. I, cynically, instantly thought of all the people on the street who had asked me for some exact amount of change that they needed to get the train home - especially the guy who after I gave him the money, headed off in the opposite direction of where he said he was going. We all looked at the kid for a bit, and one of us asked "well, what happened to your money?" I happened to be standing facing the street and noticed a taller boy looking into Joie intently and a bit impatiently - somehow I felt he was an accomplice. "Where do you live?" I inquired. The kid gave an address maybe ten blocks away. It was a perfectly nice day, so "Why don't you just walk?" was my next question, and he blushed, stammered a bit, and exited the store. We think they were junior con-artists, just trying it out. Would have liked to have followed them at a discreet distance to see what happened next but . . . got back to work instead!

No !

One of our most popular items for the last year is our No! button. It says "no!" in ten different voices and is kind of irresistible. We generally order them in batches of 3 dozen, and just unpacked a box yesterday. Last night, I was working at my desk, when I heard a voice coming faintly from the stockroom. "No!" it said, albeit in a rather muffled way. There was a pause - then I heard it again. It would stop for awhile, then start up again and soon I found myself standing in front of the 36 boxes, realizing that it's actually quite difficult to tell which box a sound is coming from. I picked up 6 boxes and then heard a "NO!" that clearly did not come from a box in my hand. So - that was the way to do it. I set them aside and waited. All was quiet. After waiting awhile I walked back to my desk - but of course it started up again. Went back but still did not find the culprit and it quieted down again. I left for the night, but when I sat down this morning, I heard it again. This time I found it and brought it to my desk where I decided to see how long it would be before it drove me crazy. Turns out - not long at all - soon I had to get my screwdriver and dismantle it. And a relative peace fell once again in the backroom of Joie de Vivre ! Will it last? Probably - no!

The Election is Over ! !

As you blog readers will know, we had a Halloween window featuring our two main Presidential hopefuls, dressed as Superman and Dracula. We took it out on November 1st - as partisan as we are, we didn't think it was appropriate for the actual election, but we kept the stand-up guys in the back of the store, thinking we could do something with Obama if he won. And - win he did ! He's back on the floor and we've been photographing customers with him all day. And Romney . . . we will remove his Dracula cape and he will be consigned to the cardboard dumpster of history . . . it sounds bad, we know, but it's probably the most dignified thing we can do - don't want to give the figure away and have him end up as a dartboard or anything . . .

Blog Apology

Joie de Blog would like to apologize for not posting anything new this week . . . . between being glued to media for Hurricane Sandy coverage, and feeling anxiety about the election results on Tuesday, Joie just hasn't been thinking blog. Up here in our part of the world, damage from the hurricane was minimal - some downed trees, some power outages. But everyday we are reminded of just how major this storm was. Many of the companies we order from are based in Manhattan, and most of them are not up and running after a week. So, for instance, we're running out of our wonderful new Safari book, but Workman's phones are still not working. And we need a postcard order, but ditto for Fotofolio. It's interesting how when a "weather event" doesn't really hit your part of the world, and things return quickly to normal, how easy it is to forget that life is far from back to normal for everyone. As for the election - that's a whole other kettle of fish . . . and we'll no doubt have something to say about that soon. To be honest, we're hoping we can resurrect the Superman part of our Halloween window for a few days . . . . we'll see . . . . .