The Demise of Retail Shopping

Have you heard? Retail is dying. People still shop but not in retail stores like we once did. I’ve been reading and hearing lately that the way we shop is changing. Malls around the country are standing empty just like downtowns did when the malls were built. Even the big box stores are closing being forced out like they once forced out many mom and pop businesses. Here’s a report about it. 

If you haven’t ordered something from Amazon you are in the majority. Many people have Amazon Prime. We pay monthly for the privilege of getting free shipping as well as digital movies, books and music literally at our fingertips. Online shopping is replacing store fronts. 

There are many advantages and some disadvantages to online shopping. Many times you have a huge selection and you can comparison price. You can search for exactly the item you want from the comfort of your home. Recently I was shopping for drawer pulls for a dresser I was painting. I went to several stores including a big craft store that I prefer not shopping because of their support of organizations that I do not support.  But when I’m desperate I go there. They had the pulls I liked but they were $5 each. Often this retail craft store will have the pulls at half price. But not that day. $40 was too much for me to use on a dresser to resale. While waiting my hubby to foo oath shopping in a sports store I searched online using my phone and found 10 beautiful pulls  for $15 from Amazon and they arrived 2 days later. That’s what is killing retail. Online you have multiple selections, fast delivery, easy payment and you can buy from home, your car, vacation or anywhere you have cell service any time. 

Of course there are disadvantages with online shopping. If you like to actually touch and feel the article you are buying you are  not going to do that online. This is especially true if you are buying clothing. And if have trouble finding the right fit in clothing, online clothing shopping will be difficult for you. I recently decided to try Switch Fix and luckily everything fit perfectly. Switch Fix is an group that will choose an outfit for you based on a survey of your likes, activities and preferences. Again ending the need to go from retail store to retail store putting an outfit together. Here is my first Switch Fix and thanks to losing 100 lbs over the last year and a half everything fit. 

Another disadvantage is the delay in arriving. With Amazon Prime most packages arrive in 2 days. Anything shipped USPS Priority Mail will usually arrive in days. Shipping costs is also an added disadvantage when you not using a service like Amazon Prime. 

Damage in shipping is another disadvantage. I’ve had good luck with shopping for the most part. A set of foam tiles in a plastic box was delivered from Amazon but the box was cracked. After contacting Amazon I was given three choices of which I chose a 30% refund which I thought was very fair. I was delighted to receive an email that since I was such a “good” customer  they were refunding all the expense and my grand daughter’s teacher ended up with a free box of foam tiles. Let's not discuss how "good" a customer I am. 

For elderly folks or those that do use computers the demise of retail shopping makes it harder and harder for them to find the things they need and want. I order things for my 91 year old mom all the time. Most recently a carpet sweeper. But many people in this situation don’t have someone to order things for them. 

What does this mean for small business owners like me? It means I should be prepared for change. Boutiques and specialized stores are still surviving. Many in those small downtowns that were displaced years ago by big malls. With the addition of great restaurants, craft beer businesses and other unique stores places like the antique store where I have two booths are surviving.  There is a trend to buy handmade and artisan products. And thanks to Joanna Gaines, from HGTV’s Fixer Upper, antiques and vintage items are all the rage now. 

But a business like my antique and collectible business cannot rely solely on a storefront for all their income. We have to have addition revenue sources. I sell on eBay, I have an Etsy shop (GoodsonVintage) , I sell on Facebook Marketplace and occasionally to friends and family as well as the store where my booths are located. Many vendors like us sell at Vintage Market Days which are much like the craft shows of years past. Some even have their own "Barn Sells". 

So we live in a rapidly changing world. Being prepared for changes will enable to deal with these changes in a smooth and seamless way.

Remember to buy what you love. 

Vintage Light Bulb Wreath How To

Vintage Light Bulb Wreath How To

I’ve been buying old light bulbs for several years because…I like the colors and shape of them. They are so much prettier than the LED bulbs we use today. But when you have about 500 of them it’s time to do something with them. 

I had seen wreaths made out of the bulbs on Pinterest but had not tried to make one. So it was time. There really was not a DIY instruction anywhere so I studied the photos and went at it. I was pretty pleased with the results so I made another. By the time I got to the second one I think I have a fairly good way to make them. Here’s the step by step instructions. 

First separate your bulbs by color and if needed (mine were filthy) clean with wipes. 

Take a wire wreath form and wrap with gold or silver garland.

The thicker the garland is the better. I purchased my form at the Dollar Store. The garland I collected at estate sales as well as my light bulbs.  I tie my garland and hot glue it to the metal wreath. Attach a heavy duty wire to the top of your wreath form and be sure to secure it firmly. The light bulb wreath is quite heavy by the time you are finished. 

Using a hot glue gun, start attaching the bulbs one by one to the outside of the wreath. I squirt hot glue on the garland and on the bulb. I lay this first row down with the point of bulb facing out. I keep the colors in order but a random color arrangement would be fine. 

Next put a second row of light bulbs for the middle row, laying them down on the previous row and going in between the bulbs on the first row. 

For the last row, insert the row of bulbs one at time and stand them up. I continue until I have the inner row complete. If you have some areas where a bulb seems to be too exposed, just cut small bits of the same garland you used to wrap the wreath and glue them in those spaces. 

I think three rows of these larger bulbs looks great.

 If you use smaller bulbs you may need to add more rows. If you make one be sure to share it with me on Facebook - Goodson Vintage Treasures or on Instagram at Goodson Vintage Treasures. Or just email it to goodsonvintagetreasures@gmail.com. 

Remember to buy what you love and maybe you will figure out what to do it later. 

Christmas Configuration Boxes

Several folks have asked me how I make my Christmas configuration boxes (Shadow Boxes). So here is step by step directions.

First I purchase a vintage shadow box. I have found these at yard sales, estate sales and thrift stores. I'm lucky because a friend bought me two that are shaped like a house at a thrift store.

Next I gather the ornaments and Christmas decorations I want to put in the shadow box. That will help me determine the size of the divisions. I use a Dremel tool with a saw blade to remove the dividers I do not need. I always remove dividers from my configuration boxes because the spaces are just too small.

These are some of the items I have collected year round for this project.  I look for old Christmas light bulbs, vintage knee elves, old bells, old seals, putz houses, bottle brush trees, flocked Santas, plastic reindeer and more. 

After removing the dividers I cover the inside of each square in scrapbook papers that will blend with the item I am going to place in that space. I use white glue using a brush to spread it smoothly over the area. I use an exacta knife to cut the paper. You could also use a paper cutter. I cover the back and inside of each cell. 

I also put vintage garland and Washi tape on the inside edges of some of the cells to add more detail.

Next I put the ornaments and decorations in the cells. I use removable glue dots, white glue and even some hot glue to place the pieces in the cells. 

Next I cover the edges of each cell with narrow Washi tape. I love Washi tape but it is not the stickiest tape I have ever used. I brush white glue on the edges before placing the tape on it. 

Last year the local one dollar store had the cutest glitter cardboard Christmas ornament words. I bought as many as I could find before they got gone. I place one of these on top or in a cute place on the box. Here's my final piece. I really love it. 

Letter? Letter? What to do with these letters?

Signs are all the rage now and I have quite a few in my booths. I also sell Scrabble tiles and tile holders, and they are great smalls to sell. Today we hit an estate sale in a nearby town. I had noticed on the photos they posted before the sale that this home had sign making materials and what looked like boxes of letters ( read my post on Junkin 101). Sure enough I found 3 boxes of letters at the sale, and I bought them all.

A huge milk crate full of black plastic letters.

A box of large orange letters 

Rest of the black letters on plastic and under them were red letters.

Now my dilemma is what to do with them. So naturally I went to everyone's favorite resource in this business....Pinterest. Here's a link to some projects I found.  https://www.pinterest.com/search/my_pins/?q=plastic%20sign%20letters
If you don't use it you should. First I found several links to Etsy. With those links I saw that some folks screw them to old white washed boards, hand them with clips on twine to make a banner and even create trays like in Scrabble to hold the letters. I love all these ideas and can't wait to try some them. Of course hubby will need to come up the the letter trays, but honestly he can do anything.

We also bought these old lead and glass flower frogs. I love these and use them around the computer as pencil holders and scissor holders.

Floral frogs make great desk accessories. 

We also purchased this small table. I'm going to paint it. Not sure what color yet. Suggestions are appreciated. I also found one bubble light and a roll of copper wire. We also stopped by a flea market and I bought some old Christmas post cards and some old gas station maps. All in all it was a fun morning and as usual I bought things I love. I'll blog about those letters when I do something with them.

Old Table

Update: Here is the first sign I made from my letters. I sprayed the red ones orange and mounted to a barn board. I love it. 

I hung this style on clips and sting. 

When to Close A Booth Space

This blog entry is really more for those who have a booth or are interested in having a booth.

I've been at a booth in a local antique mall for about five years. I started with a small space 5x8 for $50 and never made a big profit, but I also made at least double my booth expense. The mall I was at had 3 buildings and probably 300 plus booths. My first booth was on the outside aisle of the third building. This building was once used as a boat manufacturing business.

Our First Booth 2012

Then after a couple of years I got "smart" and decided to move to building 2. The space in building 2 was in the second row and it cost $80 for an 8x10. I thought a bigger space would be a good thing. I think you can tell by my tone that this move was not a success. Again I always made more than my booth fee but that's not really good business.

Booth 2 - Bigger

Upon observation I realized that things were changing at this antique mall but I wasn't sure why. First the lighting in my area was not as bright as the other building. My hubby actually changed the lightbulbs in the fluorescent lights near our space. The building was always clean and the staff friendly but the sales were off.

Booth 2 - 6 Month Later

Last summer I opened a booth in our local town in a new smaller antique and collectables store. It is in a downtown setting with bright lights. Wooden walls in each booth, hardwood floors and vintage tin overhead. There is a nice quality and variety of goods in this mall. There is blacksmith, a clock dealer, vintage and antique dealers, potters, soaps, candies, sauces, dried beef, hand sewn goods, paintings and other art and hand crafted items. The owners are very friendly and incredibly business minded. Sales in this new mall have been great.

New Booth 3 in Local Town on 1st Week

But one of the biggest differences is that this mall uses social media. In fact, I take the photos and make the posts for them for a slight fee. The owners often boost posts for special events on Facebook. If there is a special activity or festival in town they open the store later hours to match the timing of the event. Even though this store is closed on Sundays and Mondays, they have lots of traffic in and out of the store. Downtowns are not really dead. They can be sources of wonderful restaurants, specialty stores and antique stores.

So we finally made the decision to move out of the first mall. It wasn't an easy decision personally, but as my husband told the owner when she very kindly asked why we were leaving.; it isn't the people as everyone was very nice. It was the bottom line. We just were not making money with the same items as the new booth.

Was the fault mine? Perhaps. I would often take things to the new space instead of the old one. I had more enthusiasm for the new booth. I started to care less for the old one. Were my things lost in a huge space and lots of booths? Maybe. Was the mall advertising as they did in the beginning? I have no idea as there were no meetings of vendors and no newsletter. Was the quality of items in the mall declining? Maybe. Was a lack of advertising? Definitely, there was no use of social media. The payment methods were very reliable and honest. These were great people. They even dust every space once a week. You won't get that many places. I will miss the folks at my old space, but as hubby says it is all about the bottom line.

So our next decision was what's next. Read in a future blog how to look for a new antique and collectables space.

Booth June 21, 2917