Various Tiny things

The other morning freshening and straightening the front desk displays at Joie de Vivre, I saw something that gave me pause.  For years, we've had a little container of "various tiny things" at the desk.  It's been an odd little collection - tiny devil ducks, tiny ninjas, nuns, and brides and grooms, snakes,  rubber chickens, Japanese creatures of indeterminate species, tiny frogs, cats, cows, etc.  Maybe 5 years ago there was a big shake up in the toy world when a few companies were found to be importing things from China that might not be 100% safe for children. This led to industry wide testing and rather stringent new requirements that every single item that was to be sold as a toy go through a battery of expensive tests.  Every item - so if you paid $2500 to have your tiny rubber frogs tested, and your tiny rubber snakes were made of identical material - you still had to pay $2500 to separately submit proof for the snakes.  (My $2500 figure is arbitrary, but various companies have assured me it was in that range.) Needless to say - a lot of smaller companies dropped their tiniest items, rather than pay for the testing. This is why we no longer have tiny devil ducks and ninjas - a truly sad thing for us at Joie de Vivre.  Anyway, our available "various tiny things" pool has drunk considerably and when I looked at it the other day I noticed something truly odd. Our collection now features rubber chickens (evidently popular enough to justify the expense), a group of very realistic tiny animals from a major toy company - and a bunch of black men. And there is a reason for that - of the various races of tiny brides and grooms we had -(white, brown, black) - the black men were always left behind.  When they were scattered in with other races, it was fine, and I guess because I knew this I didn't really think about it.  But that morning,  I suddenly thought - what would a black man think if he came in and glanced down at this?  It really does look kind of bizarre. I think I will be removing the little black men from our display ! !

Strange But It Happens

I was changing a display the other day — taking some powdered metal hooks and shelves off the back wall to make room for some new arrivals.  As I took them down, I realized how few of them had sold in the year and a half since we'd gotten them in.  It was puzzling — they weren't particularly expensive, they were beautifully made, nice colors, and they were animal themed — rabbits, hummingbirds, cats, seahorses — when I ordered them I'd expected them to sell really well.  And I had moved them around the store a lot, trying to find a spot where they'd be noticed, but no matter where they were, they were very rarely purchased.  I mentioned this to the other person working — who expressed an equal sense of "why don't they sell?"  I said I was thinking of putting them in our upcoming sidewalk sale, then went about my business for the rest of the day.  I left an hour before we closed.  This morning, when I opened the store, I flipped through the sales books to see what had sold after I'd gone the day before...   and my eye was caught by "hummingbird shelf."  It's so odd — this seems to happen often.  Just when you think you're really going to give up on something, just when you think, "we never ever sell these" — then someone comes along and buys one.  It's like that odd experience when you think of someone you haven't thought of in a long time... and then within hours — you hear from them.  The world is a strange and mysterious place!

Kids These Days

I pulled a piece of paper out of my front yard the other day when I went out to get the newspaper in the morning - it was too big to ignore.  That would be exhibit A - above. We've had some beautiful weather this week, and it's school vacation week so it wasn't hard to figure out that some neighborhood kids had been taking advantage of the 80 degree weather to make a little money - after all, a time honored American tradition - the lemonade stand.  50 cents seemed like a reasonable price as well - but what was that little blurry note beneath the price?  I looked closer.  It said "we take tips."   Now I'm sure that grownups who patronize lemonade stands run by the younger set often do leave the whole dollar, or some extra change.  But I found it kind of odd that the sign was not so subtly asking for them.  Kind of reminds me of the day I noticed a tip jar in a fish store. The only service provided was the regular stuff of retail - you enter, ask for a pound of salmon, they give it to you, you leave.  The idea of asking for tips for that seemed - kind of greedy to me.  I can't imagine having a tip jar at Joie de Vivre, though people  very occasionally have tried to slip us an extra dollar as a thanks for gift wrapping - a dollar we always refuse. Anyway, these were just kids .. . .  but I found it an interesting indicator of how pervasive the "give me extra money" sentiment has become!  and full disclosure, I find the whole tipping thing, outside of restaurants, to be kind of confusing!

R.I.P. Moss

MOSS was a design store in Soho.  A wonderful store that showcased very very modern design alongside porcelain birds and squirrels.  A very carefully curated store.  A store after Joie de Vivre's own heart.  Beautiful displays, the first to show designers like Tord Boontje . . . and the "burned" show where a Dutch artist scorched almost beyond recognition iconic pieces of furniture . . . and the place I found my wine glass doorbell . . . a place I lusted for things I couldn't afford - for instance a $250,000 crystal chandelier, and bought a few things I could - a set of shot glasses.  This afternoon I was reading the latest Metropolis Magazine and read that Moss has just closed -  Various reasons were given from the health of its founder Murray Moss, to the way the web has made buying design products easier to an increase in rent - from an absolutely staggering $80,000 a MONTH to who knows what.  (Guess Joie won't be opening in Soho anytime soon!)  Anyway, I was a regular and happy visitor, and that block on Greene Street will seem oddly empty without it.  1994 -  2012. Moss will be missed.

Science Sometimes Surprises !

Well,  we have now concluded our scientific investigation into jelly bean preference by color, and the results upended years worth of previous experience.  This is a photo of our jelly bean bowl at the beginning of the test period.  We fully expected to publish another picture alongside it - a picture that would be dramatically different, showing a bowl full of black, green and a few yellow and purple jelly beans.  Much to our surprise, we could not take that photo - the bowl looked virtually identical at the end of the test period.  Maybe we influenced the results by telling people who expressed a preference for black beans to take as many as they wanted . . . maybe not.  Maybe the taste buds of our customers have been subtly changing.  At any rate, after several weeks of jelly bean consumption, we posit the theory that all colors of jelly bean are equally popular.  Next years results expected post March 31st - and we promise not to April Fool you !

and we apologize for the odd spacing of this post - another mystery - to us, anyway!

Hen Cam !

We meet a lot of interesting people through our lovely chicken purse, and Terry Golson is one of them.  She raises chickens, and a few other creatures on her Little Pond Farm, and she has a very nice website with a hen blog . . . and a hen cam - live footage of the happy hens, 24/7.  What could be better for an Easter post?  Take a look - it's peaceful (mostly), relaxing, and slightly habit forming . . . .

Here comes Peter Cottontail . . .

These bunnies are waiting to cross Mass. Ave and staring up at the traffic light . . . they're on their way to Joie de Vivre.  Easter is approaching - if you come by the store you can participate in our scientific study - we're evaluating the patterns of disappearance of jelly beans by color.  (We will publish our findings, along with photographic evidence, in a future blog,)  Easter is one of those holidays that took me by surprise when I opened the store - I never thought of it as a gift giving holiday, but I soon learned that oh yes, it is.  My current theory is, regardless of one's religious persuasion, when spring starts "busting out all over" - and it certainly has here this year - you just feel like celebrating.  And wind-up butterflies, chenille chicks and bunny puppets are as good a way as any!

A Classic Gets Controversial

Okay, so most of us have by now heard the remark made by would be President Mitt Romney's aide concerning campaign strategy: "I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again."  It wasn't a particularly smart or considered statement, but one good thing - it brought the Ohio Art Company, makers of Etch-a-Sketch, a LOT of free publicity.  We have been selling etch-a-sketches at Joie de Vivre for over 25 years, and did not notice huge rush in the week after this statement, but guess what?  Some people did. Amazon reported that their sales of the classic toy increased 1556% in a matter of a few days.  (Of course I wonder why none of those people bought them from us, but that's another story, more about the change in American shopping habits than Etch-a-Sketch publicity.)  Anyway, I would like to give a shout out to the Ohio Art Company here. They are a pleasure to work with and very very friendly to small business - I can call them and order a dozen etch-a-sketches and they will send them the next day. (Unlike some toy manufacturers I might mention - okay, I'll say it - how about $5000 worth of Magic 8 Balls as a minimum order from Hasbro?)(That's a LOT of Magic 8 Balls!!)  So, we're happy to see Ohio Art Co. and the Etch-a-Sketch get some free publicity . . . and hey, a little more flack for our ex-governor is okay with us too!

One of These Things is Not Like the Other Ones

A customer was in the store last week, and told us he had something to show us. He pulled out a camera - or maybe his phone, scrolled through some photos and there it was - one of our plastic finger tentacles, poking up from some coral in an exploratory kind of way. I can only imagine how delighted that tentacle was to get out of Joie de Vivre and into some real salt water! I asked if we could use the photo and was directed to his website where I found many other beautiful photos - though I think our tentacle was hands down the best of course. (And thank you, Mark, for letting us use the photo.)

Sunday Afternoon Story

A mother was in with two young daughters today, during a quiet spell on an otherwise busy Sunday. The youngest daughter - maybe three? or four years old? - soon informed me that "I have $5" and pulled a crumpled bill out of her pocket to illustrate her wealth. She asked me if we had anything that cost $5 in the store. I showed her our section of small toys - all under $5 and she started to browse. In the meantime, her older sister was peppering me with questions like "where is the penguin race?" (an item I had moved since her last visit) and "what is this?" - "how does this work?" They spend a fair amount of time looking around, playing with a few things, while Mom browsed the grown-up sections The girl with $5 finally picked out an elephant eraser that cost $1.50 but seemed a little confused about it not costing exactly $5. Her mother and I explained that she could buy it, and I would actually give her money back. (Her mother had told me she was trying to get the girls to understand money.) She sat on the floor, digesting this information, and then suddenly asked me "What did you get for Christmas?" She didn't seem too impressed by my answer: "books, and some hand knit socks, and a sweater." (I made up the sweater part because my mind had suddenly gone blank.) She looked at me sadly. "Your birthday will be coming soon!" she suddenly said. I allowed that this was true. "Christmas is coming again too," she added. I agreed with her again, (though thinking to myself, thank goodness it won't be here anytime soon.) Then, Mom said it was time to go, so the elephant and the $5 bill were thrust on to the counter. I wrote out a sales slip for $1.50 plus 9 cents tax, and handed her her change. I think she kind of felt she hadn't spent anything as it appeared she was getting back more than she had given me - three bills and a bunch of coins - and, an elephant! It was a very fun half hour for me.

First Day of Spring !

We just began our garden today - and then I realized that it's actually the first day of spring! So . . it also seems like a good time to show you all the Easter window that someone painted for us this Sunday. Much to the delight of passerbys, the artist sat (& stood) in the window for almost 5 hours. First she drew the scene with sharpies, then colored the bunnies in, then the grass, then the birds - it was fascinating to watch, and we think it's rather magical too. Come see!

Can't We All Just Get Along?

I was in New York a few weeks ago and stopped in to visit Eataly - an amazing if slightly overwhelming Italian food emporium on 23rd Street, owned by restauranteurs Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. The seared bitter greens at the vegetable bar alone ensure my return. Actually, I'm kind of glad I don't live close enough to be constantly going there - as you might imagine, Manhattan emporiums full of exotic delights are not generally known for their bargain prices. And so many treats and temptations in this one. (and, to be fair, all of the pricing is not completely over the top.) Anyway, to get back to the matter at hand - i.e. this blog post - they had a sign in the Expresso Bar that I particularly liked! And . . here it is!