Our Tribe

The Joie blogger has just returned from a few days in Vermont, engaging in the time honored tradition called "Leaf Peeping."  But another time honored tradition, and certainly one that helps the Vermont economy no small amount, is the tradition called shopping.  It's amazing how many cheddar cheese/maple syrup selling "country stores" there are.  But there are lots of lots of other gift shops too and all of them count heavily on leaf season.  It's interesting how easy it is to spot owner run stores - or to spot an owner.  Maybe it's just a case of takes one to know one - but I had a number of nice conversations with other small shopkeepers.  One of them asked me where I had bought my necklace, and when I told her I had a store, it turned out she had visited it on her last trip to Boston - that was fun. Her four year old daughter was helping out and proudly informed me that she wore size 4T.  And then there was the guy with the store full of Steiff plush animals, and Christmas pieces, Austrian pewter, Matroushkas, and lots of other enchanting things - some of which have been seen on the shelves of Joie.  He and his wife have run the store for 30 years - just a bit ahead of me.  And there was the guy who ran the birding store, who remembered us from last year, and remembered I owned a store and was happy to chat about displays and that bane of retailers everywhere, the assortment.  (Yellow maracas on special this week!)  Anyway, it really does feel like a tribe of sorts - the quirky, stubborn, still there small business owners of the world.  We may be slightly endangered these days - but it's nice to see the range - people just starting businesses and those who have been around for years.  I'm happy to have a tribe!