The managers go on buy trips all around Asia and Germany and we bring it into the shop at really low prices.
It is lots of fun. I work about 12 hours a week. I say that, but really with the shipments, it can be 30 hours a week.
The Gift Corner has been around for decades. We have a photo of Bob Hope is his younger days at the Kadena Gift Corner at the register.
The first set of photos is from our Bali shipment in January. The next set is from our Germany-Easter shipment that just opened this past week.
This is the view of the shop as you walk in the door.
It took Bill two days to put together this swing from Bali. No instructions included. He even came in during his lunch hour to finish it before the opening.
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| I started recruiting Bill to help move and put together furniture. |
These hand chairs were so weird but they flew out of the shop in two days. I still can't decide if I like them or not. They are comfortable though.
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| Michelle, Toni, Pam, Me, and Kate Getting ready to open the doors! |
It is not always glamorous!
Here we are with the Germany shipment getting ready to unload the truck. It is always exciting because we don't know what is in the boxes. It is really fun opening up the merchandise.
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| Chelsea, new Operations Manager |
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| Kimberly-volunteer |
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| Pam-volunteer (and buddy!) |
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| Kate-Manager |
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| My buddies and fellow Sales Associates: Toni and Michelle |
We are waiting for the truck to be opened up. It is about 3 pm and we know it will be quite a few hours before we are done.
Time to unload...
We get very excited when we finally see the back wall of the truck.
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| Michelle |
Taking a pizza break out the back door.
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| Pam, Karen, Charlotte, Shannon |
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| Me, Toni, Michelle |
This will surprise no one who knows me but I am known as the OCD cleaner and organizer of the shop. I hated the old vacuum cleaner because it didn't pick up anything. I would walk around with a broom and dustpan constantly cleaning the carpet. Finally, we got a new vacuum cleaner. They named it, "Ann." I still walk around with a broom and dustpan but at least I have a real vacuum cleaner. You can tell that I was very happy as I took it on its maiden voyage.
Bill was recruited to move furniture again. Here he is sitting on the swing he made from Bali shipment.
Day 2-4. Setting up the floor and pricing...
Pam brought in a great lunch. It made our lunch break special.
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| Clockwise: Shannon, Julie, Karen, Pam, Kate, Charlotte, Toni, Michelle, Chelsea |
I decided to head outside and plant some flowers for opening day. It was a beautiful couple of days and I wanted to be outside. It has been rainy or overcast for several days, maybe even weeks. The outside has needed some attention anyway.
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| Chelsea working on the fountain. |
It is starting to come together.
This is what the shop looks like as you walk in the door. It really is cute. Lots of folks come in just to look around at the decorations. The kids go crazy when they come in.
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| Karen and Pam |
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| Charlotte, Me, Kate, Chelsea, Toni, Michelle, Pam Getting ready to open the doors! |
On Wednesday, the day after we opened the shipment, we got together for coffee after work to say good-bye to Karen (far left). She is going back to the states for a few months. It was nice to sit down after the shipment/opening craziness and just relax. We were still really exhausted.
Kate gave Karen a gift from all of us. Notice how empty the shelves are after day 2. We sell out of everything in one or two days after an opening. Especially the Germany shipments. We are the only shop that has a Germany shipment, so it is a popular shipment.
I know this picture is blurry but I am keeping it in. We were laughing so hard that I couldn't hold the camera straight. I told you that we are so tired that we laugh at everything at this point. We have a good time.
I really love working at the shop. It has been good for me. I am surrounded by great people and beautiful things.
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