Glad I Didn't Throw That Out!

We spent a lot of Saturday standing at the counter, looking anxiously into our credit card machine. Instead of the usual "Processing" message that pops up on its little screen, we were seeing "Please Wait." So we waited. And waited. Usually a credit card transaction takes all of 30 seconds but a minute or two would go by. And another minute. Then - joy - the paper would start to scroll out - but then - X%$#@!! - the paper would read TRANSACTION FAILED PLEASE TRY AGAIN. So, obedient servants of technology that we are, we tried again. Often it took two or three tries to get the sale though. And believe me, most customers do not like to wait ten minutes to complete a $10 sale. Or a $2 or even a $200 sale. I don't blame them. At the end of the day I finally got through the service desk who suggested it might be a telephone issue - now the phone company will come to investigate on Monday. And today I will haul out our extremely antiquated charge machine - the kind where the card is imprinted by the heavy moving swipe bar. Just in case. I look at that old war horse occasionally and think, I should probably throw that out. So, thank you, instinct that keeps me from actually doing it.

Within These Walls

This rather Darth Vaderesque structure is the Jacob Javitz Convention Center. Within its hallowed (& leaky) halls, I found many things that will soon make their way to Joie de Vivre. Jellyfish ornaments, crayon rings, a cheezdoodle wallet, ballerina birthday candles, Japanese washcloths, scrabble coasters and mugs, and a silver rocketship usb port - to name just a few. I love getting to visit and talk with the people we do business with - exchange ideas, discuss the state of the economy, catch up on life, and I love finding new items for Joie de Vivre, and maybe best of all, I always leave feeling energized and excited to come back home and share all the new stuff with our customers. See you soon!

Hunting Season

So .. . here I am, in New York City, with my alarm set for 7 am - ready to go to the New York Gift Show in the morning. For me, the show is very similar to how customers feel about Joie de Vivre. They don't come into the store - at least the first time - expecting to find say - a yodeling pickle, or a singing goat - or the mind altering goldfish. That is exactly the way I feel before going to the Gift Show. I'm not expecting to find anything in particular - I'm just hoping to find those things that will make me think - wow, that yodeling pickle - or meowing cat clock - or book of awkward family photos - is exactly the right thing for Joie de Vivre. I have no idea what I will find . .. . but after all these years - I feel confident that I will find at least a few wonderful somethings. And then we will have the pleasure of introducing those things to our customers. Stay tuned . . . .

Summer Guessing Game

There's a little game we get to play a lot more in the summer here at Joie de Vivre. It's called "guess what language those customers are speaking." We certainly have foreign customers during the year - but in the summer we really have lots. Just in the last few days, I heard Norwegian, Swedish, and Korean. Spanish and French are so common that they barely register as a foreign language - and they are the only two that I can actually carry on a (simple) conversation in. Once, we had an older Chinese woman shopping who spoke not one word of English beyond hello. She picked up a snowglobe and was trying to ask us a question. We would each speak in turn but there was no "aha" moment at all and it's weirdly frustrating for both parties when there is not a bit of shared language. Drawing pictures was the key in that case - and I guess today we could attempt to translate via Google. Anyway, I enjoy listening, trying to guess, and then asking. Israeli always takes me by surprise - I often think it's some kind of Slavic. Anyway, we plan to enjoy all our out of town guests for the next few weeks, until the end of summer brings back our regular customers!

A horrible oversight

I just received the Joie August enews... a horrible oversight has been made by the Joie Scribe... maybe her mind is still on vacation... awesome! I love vacations... we used to fly over to Hells Canyon every summer and once my little sister... whoops! — I digress... missing from the newsletter is the best new thing to come along in a while (imho)... PEA! A tiny dynamo after my own heart... nothing can stop him... if he can't climb over it, he'll roll over and go off in a new direction. I haven't had this much fun at Joie since, well... hmmm — I do love that machine that tells me I'm awesome all the time... but Pea is awesome too!
—DD

Editor's Note: Pea is the newest windup critter by Chico Bicalho

Product Testing on Vacation

Sometimes I see how an item works when I order it. Or think it's neat, trust the vendor that it does what they say it does, but I never actually play with it myself. It was like that with the Mighty Kite. I saw a man wandering the aisles of the Javits Center flying a little tiny kite. I went up, asked where he got it, and found he was the maker. He introduced himself to me as Kitemando and we spoke and I ordered some. We've been selling them for several years, but after that first glimpse, I never personally saw one fly, though we did have some enthusiastic repeat customers. Anyway, I was packing up some Joie items to take to the beach - bubbles, a few puzzles, etc - and decided to throw in some kites. One of the families visiting us arrived with three kids and a giant toucan kite. One afternoon they were trying unsuccessfully to fly it and I remembered the little ones. We brought them out to the beach - and I can now personally say how great they are - easy to fly, and they go really really high. And they swoop and move around at the tug of a string. They will now be much more enthusiastically endorsed by me personally ! And as a side note, I also brought an affirmation button and we found a previously unknown use for it - it's a perfect tool for getting reluctant two year olds to eat their cereal. After each bite, we let our resident two year old press the button, and hearing "you are awesome" proved to be excellent motivation.

gone fishing

Well we thought we might get the world-famous Devil Duckie to blog while the Joie Scribe is away — but his peeps say he can't be reached... vacations are awesome!

Item of the Month

We have a new item at Joie de Vivre that we're all a little in love with - and we've decided to make it our item of the month - those of you who get our monthly email newsletter will see it soon! For those of you who don't, here's a little sneak preview! Go there and see what it does! Then you'll understand part two of this blog - there was a little girl in the store the other day, probably about 4 years old. We pushed the button for her, and she smiled and said, "It's right! I AM awesome!"

And blogger disclosure: the official Joie scribe is on vacation this week, enjoying the beautiful New Jersey Shore (not the Jersey Shore inhabited by Snooki and Co - a far gentler, kinder place.) Blogs may be a bit infrequent - though guest bloggers may take up the slack! Oh - and the official Joie scribe brought one of the above with her - not being used to appearing in public much in a bathing suit!

The Sound of Joie . . .

is not the sound of silence, that's for sure ! Today, we heard the gentle clinking of the fork and spoon puzzle as someone tried to untangle it. The squeaking of the rubber duck. "To me that's an absolute disgrace" spoken in a British accent by the soccer sound machine. The yodeling of the pickle. The animatronic singing plush goat, channeling Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. The Rites of Spring - wind chime version. Mozart on a music box. the oinking of the pig keychain. the crying baby of the get off the phone excuse machine. the excited voices of teenage customers (three teenagers can seem like a dozen) or kids crying "Mom/Dad - look at this!!" Sometimes all these sounds occur almost in the same minute. No wonder that woman had a hard time deciding whether to buy that $150 music box . . . . and no wonder we sometimes get a little confused while adding up a sales slip and reach for the calculator. Yet - we really mean it when we say "that's okay" when someone apologizes for pressing the Emergency Meow button - once you've been at Joie for awhile, you achieve a kind of Zen about it all. At least most of the time!

Starting The Day Without a Bang!

Today we started the day off without a bang in the best possible sense. As I walked toward the store I saw a lot of commotion a few blocks down the street - flashing sirens, backed up traffic and something in the median of Mass. Ave. At first I thought it was a bicycle and that someone had been hit - but then I noticed the yellow crime scene tape blocking off a several block area. I walked down to investigate and didn't get far before hearing - there was a grenade in the street. It had a wire in it. (fuse?) And, as they weren't sure if it was a live grenade or possibly a toy (?) (wouldn't one be able to tell??) they had sent out the police in force. It was a good half hour before they took it away and we await the results re its nature - real or not. At any rate, we are very happy that the day did not start with a bang ! And I personally am glad I decided to walk to work and so did not have to sit in that traffic jam!

90 Degrees - and Snowing !

This post is not about global "weirding" as they like to call it these days - but it's 90 plus degrees here in Boston today - so it seems a good day to showcase one of our absolute new favorite items - the Eiffel Tower Snowstorm. That's right - this is not a snowglobe, but a snowstorm. Its so full of snow that you never see more of the Eiffel Tower than you see in the photo. And when you shake it up - you see absolutely nothing but snow. No gentle snow wafting past the tower, but as named, a raging storm of snow swirls and envelopes the tower completely. We love it. Think it's really funny. And on a day like this, sort of refreshing to boot . . . .

Independents for Independence!

A quick look at the newspapers reveals:
Bloomingdales - open
Target - open
Home Depot - open
Urban Outfitters - open
A quick look at our neighborhood reveals:
Nomad - closed
Cambridge Clog - closed
Susanna - closed
Tag Hardware - closed
and . ..
Joie de Vivre - closed !

Do we see a theme here? Big stores open,
small stores closed. We feel sorry that the
holiday has degenerated for some to a chance
to get 60% off designer shoes. Or whatever.
(We understand grocery stores being open,
what about all those who forgot to buy ketchup?
Or decided to make brownies at the last minute?)
We intend to read the Declaration of
Independence, maybe garden a little,
cook and have a few beers with neighbors
and friends, and think about our country,
its wonderful good, and its imperfections as
well. See you on July the 5th.