I have been quiet since the last post from Atlanta, but that is not to mean that I have not been busy! Several small NC trips (New Bern, Greenville, Mebane) have produced a couple of new customers, some revitalized existing customers and some potential new ones. The reason for my being local the last few weeks hinges on planning for a larger Virginia customer that needs major setup work in a new building but the construction is running behind. I blocked out one week for the setup at the customer's request, then that was moved to the next week. This effectively set back all my appointments for two weeks. Then last week early, they told me it still was not ready. It is now unknown as to when they want me to do the 2-3 day setup for our display. So, to fill the space that had been allocated for Virginia, I made smaller one to three day trips locally. This week, I headed down towards Ocean Isle Beach, NC for a couple of appointments with decorators and then on down to Northern SC to see a couple of existing customers. I found a new shop right on a main road between Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach run by two formerly retired ladies who are partners, friends since 2000. The day was windy and really rainy, so when I entered their shop, they asked, "What are you doing out on a day like today?" They spent two hours looking at our line and asking questions and wrote an order for mainly 'non-lace' products, such as Pellora linens (crab, lobster, pineapple), silks and embroidered linens. Really fun ladies, it was a great meeting - they have only been open since February, and said they had sold through half their inventory already! They said they just buy what they like and it is working - I think this is because they have a very unique product selection and their shop is very inviting - no collectibles or gifts 'lines' per se, just home decor for inside and outside the home. One of them bragged that they had the nicest bathroom (they had joked that they offer the nicest bathroom to customers who enter the shop) - which I did check out before leaving and it is in fact, very nice! I spent the next day visiting existing customers in Loris and Conway, SC - both towns were in full bloom with azaleas, dogwoods and wisteria everywhere. Reminded me of Tallahassee in springtime. In Conway, while meeting with the three ladies who run the curtain store (a mother, a daughter and a niece), they started talking about a fund raiser that day where they were serving 'orrycounty chickenbog', pronouced, 'chickinbog' as all one word. After seeing my confusion in trying to follow their conversation they explained to me that Chicken Bog in Horry County (pronounced /ˈɔəriː/ ORR-EEE) is something everybody makes and it is really good and filling. Basically, you boil one whole chicken, save the broth and remove chicken and debone it. Put the chicken back in with the broth, add half as much rice as you have broth (if need be, add more broth), add sausage (hot or regular, they said they use kielbasa) and maybe an onion (personal preference) and bring to a boil. After it reaches a boil put a lid on it and cook for 30 minutes or so. I was cautioned that one must not peek during the cooking or the chicken bog will be mushy. The younger gal said she makes a cheater version and buys a roasted chicken at Costco and uses canned broth, but she said it is almost as good as from scratch. You learn a little something new at every appointment! One of the prospects in Ocean Isle Beach, NC that I had an appointment with had asked me to circle back Friday afternoon on my way back from SC to make a full presentation, and I even confirmed this by phone from Conway. I arrived about 3:15pm and much to my chagrin after waiting for 15-20 minutes, the partner who really needed to be there was tied up again and could not meet (this happened Thursday midday too). I reviewed a few more things with the gal at the front counter and told them to call me when they were ready to look at products, or that I would call the next time I was in the area. Needless to say, I was a bit miffed as I headed out to return home again. No more than five or six miles down the road, I noticed my air conditioning was not cooling. When I looked at the temperature gauge on my car it was on hot! Shortly thereafter, I noticed smoke coming from under my hood and pulled over. (...here is where I have to admit that I had, for over a week noticed some small amount of steam or smoke coming from my hood when I started the car up and a bit of a strange smell, but I assumed it was a little oil burning off from my seeping gasket....wrong!). By this point, it was getting into late afternoon. I went to 'points of interest' on my GPS and looked for auto repair places that were close by. I settled on Don's Automotive about 2 miles from where I was. I called and spoke with Don and explained my problem. He said to try to get to him, but if I boiled over or ran into a problem, they could come and bring me water or whatever so I could try and get to his shop. I ran the heat on high and had to pull over three times to cool my engine back down but I made it the two miles to Don's shop. By this point it was about 4:30 pm, on a Friday afternoon - eeek. I wasn't sure that I would make it home for the weekend at this point. When Don raised my hood, he was shocked - not that my radiator hose had blown, but that it was the original hose! (here is where I remind you that my car is nearly 13 years old and has over 176,000 miles on it!! - and here is where I boiled over thinking that with all the major required maintenance I have paid for over the years, no one saw fit to replace this hose?!?!). At any rate, Don said he thought it was just the hose that needed replacing but they would make sure. A young fellow named Jimmy took the hose off and jumped in his sports car and zoomed off to the auto parts store to try to find a suitable replacement, since they had nothing to match my 13-year-old Subaru hose at the shop. About 10-15 minutes later he returned with one that he could cut down a bit. Don walked by and told him to go ahead and replace the clamps too. Shortly, I had a new hose on my old paint. Jimmy added a ton of anti-freeze back into the radiator and turned the car back on. She purred like a kitten and the gauge was comfortably back in the middle where it had been for 13 years. Don rang me up, $75 and an hour's time, and I was back on my way home again! Now here is where the whole day started to make a little sense to me. Had the last appointment been available for my presentation as I had hoped, it would have possibly been 5:30 or 6pm when I started to head for home. At that point on a Friday I would more than likely not been able to get an auto shop to help me. And, I had planned to go home a more interesting back route through the country; had my hose not blown early on, I would have been out in the boondocks on a Friday evening and who knows where I would be right now or what I would have been dealing with. Earlier in the week I had told a rep that the Lord is riding with me, and today, I have proof!

Sitting here at the Atlanta Gift Show on a Sunday morning I wanted to take a minute and reflect a bit upon the latter part of my week. Thursday (after living through my harrowing night in Greenwood, SC) I headed to check on existing customers and found one nearby (the buyer had already told me she couldn't see me that day but to check with her in late April, since she couldn't buy now) and wanted to see what the nature of the store was. It was a huge, eclectic mix of antiques, gifts, kitchen and a 'wine cellar' room (not actually a cellar); it also appeared to be the local gathering place for the retired fellows around Greenwood to find fresh coffee - not really our demographic, but can hope their wives also frequent the store! I went on to Abbeville, where I found a 'customer' to be a house in a very rural area - my guess was they made some personal purchases at a gift show at one time or another. I did find another potential new customer in downtown Abbeville who hopes to be able to purchase by the end of April, before their street festival the first week of May. I will check back in late April with her. I then headed towards Batesburg to see a customer who had also told me that she would not be available, but I wanted to get a read on the store where I saw several retired items on an old wooden Heritage display, but they had Gala valances hanging in their windows across the front of the store and they looked great - gives me thoughts for my plan of attack at a later date! The woman working the store said their business was decent and they were holding their own, so I want to see them again in late April and make some suggestions for a good update to the products. Moving on to Lexington to see an inactive customer, I saw a great barn type building general store and went inside to meet the owner who told me things are tough for them right now and to check back . . . in September. They really did have inventory stacked to the rafters and we would be a great match, but not until they move some products out! I made it to our inactive Bed & Breakfast and restaurant in Lexington (the two pictures are of this place with Heritage Lace in every window) and unfortunately I JUST missed the impressive Southern Lunch Buffet (now this should make your mouth water as I list the menu, although I feel certain they don't serve all of this every day, but maybe they do...): fried chicken, pork chops, baked ham, pot roast with carrots and potatoes, chicken and dumplings, meat loaf, early peas, lima beans, green beans with new potatoes, mac n cheese, cabbage, corn, fried green tomatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, creamed potatoes & gravy, rice, coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad, corn salad, southern bread salad, fruit salad, corn muffins, biscuits and a dessert selection....hungry?? Price is $8.95 per person. The owner was very gracious as he was counting large stacks of bills, so I believe the lunch crowd is coming in. He just recently started serving lunch again and said it is really picking up. Unfortunately, the buffet is where the gift shop used to be, so we have lost our real estate. He did invite me to come back, skip breakfast, enjoy the buffet and after lunch he would let me make a presentation. He loves our window treatments, and says he does pull a catalog out to order if anyone asks. He loves the quality and the price; I just have to find a spot to get products into that house somewhere! I called on a customer in Irmo, who is in a 150 year old house with a beautiful shop. She only does a bit of business with us, but isn't really interested right now in 'growing her business' as her main focus is the upcoming construction to add on to her shop! Wow, I will check back after construction is complete and try to claim some additional space for our line. On to West Columbia to see a couple more inactive customers; one was a small house (personal order again more than likely) and the other was a gift shop / hair salon - the owner was not in, as she was taking her elderly mother to the doctor. I asked when I could check back and see the owner and was told that Mondays and Tuesdays were good, but the rest of the week she 'does hair' . . . I have to admit when I got to my car I did have a good chuckle over that one. Friday I saw a couple potential window coverings prospects, one in Columbia where I will need to check back because I will need to present to all three folks and the second in Aiken who was a really nice man who loved the product. His wife recently passed away quickly with a brain tumor but his business was really booming after a few months of being closed with a combination of grieving and Walgreen's construction next door. He said now that Walgreen's is open, the additional traffic was giving him even more exposure and business. He had an award on the wall for 2008 Aiken's best window designs. He told me to see him again in late April when he hopes to purchase the launch kit and the portable countertop display, but first he had to hire more help! He is taking three extra days at Easter to hike another portion of the Appalachian Trail - he is 72 and his goal at 75 is to take several months and do the whole thing! I have a feeling he will also sell some Provinaire. It was an interesting week, lots of prospects, but not one order - I think that will come though.

Tonight another not so savory hotel on the road in Greenwood, SC. This was supposed to be a Quality Inn (chain brand reliably consistent usually) but when I arrived it was called the 'Economy Inn' with a no brand sign and yes, soap from India, again. What is the deal with that? My door had a brand new, shiney bolt on the inside, you know the kind that swings a U-shaped thing over a knob to keep folks out when you open the door after hearing 'land shark' or 'candygram' - new bolt made sense when I looked at the outside of the door, with obvious scarring and paint gone from some wild person with a screwdriver going at the poor, unfortunate lock that was removed to be replaced by the new shiney one. I just had to wonder if it was an altercation between roommates, or perhaps they had to get in here to remove a body? I am just kidding, but you know dealing with the general public on the road is a real experience. The creamer shot is just a part of my usual unsavory hotel rant that I go through when the room is not the best - I love it: 'Non Dairy Creamer' but in bold print at the bottom: Contains: Milk. It did give me a quite a chuckle. Now, let me jam every spare chair against this door and get to bed :-))

This week sees me in the upstate of South Carolina as I work my way down to the gift show in Atlanta this weekend. Yesterday I had an appointment with a small customer in Chester, SC and also went over to Lancaster to prospect some. Amazingly, Lancaster did not appear to have any gift stores or window coverings dealers. All I could find were strip centers consisting mainly of payday advance type companies, E-Z financing places, pawn shops and lots of insurance providers of all kinds along with fast food restaurants a plenty and of course, Wal Mart. Lancaster is decent size, but seemed very depressed. This would be easy to explain if you take into account the massive, empty textile mills everywhere, with weeds growing, buildings falling into ruin and all for sale. I saw two huge Springs Industries mills shuttered, a huge F. Schumacher mill for sale or lease and several other textile related places shuttered. It really hits home when you see these buildings vacant. I made my way back up to Greenville for the night. Today I prospected all over Greenville and had a good appointment with a potential for window treatments and several possible follow up presentations the next time I am in the area - many times the buyer or owner is not there when you need them to be. I also went over to Easley to see an inactive customer who had not purchased since 2005. Very nice store and I will try to meet the owner for a full presentation when I am in the area again in late April. Tonight I am in the Greenwood area making my way down towards Columbia and on over to the Aiken area. I will cover whatever I can before I head to Atlanta on Friday afternoon for the show.

The best laid plans.... well for the week of March 2, I had planned a nice full week trip going to Fredericksburg, VA north into Maryland, to see as many of our existing customers as possible. I had a pretty good docket of appointments, and with a trip that far away, needed my full 5 days to get there, get 'er done and then get back home by late on Friday night. Then came Sunday night and in Raleigh about 3" of snow, but in Northern VA into MD, much much more snow. On Monday, I couldn't even reach anyone by phone and even by Tuesday, a couple of MD customers said the roads were rough. I regrouped and went into major planning mode to cover the next month and laid out my future trips. I went into the Mill on Wednesday which was a good and productive day, working on a few projects. Thursday I planned for my SC trip next week as I work my way down to the Atlanta Gift Show March 14-16. Friday was a good day as I left early to see the bakery I missed earlier in New Bern and then to prospect in Kinston and Goldsboro, NC. The bakery/restaurant is going to only do the wall hangings now as their space is limited, but from the looks of the dining room at 10:20 am they are doing a booming breakfast business. The buyer I worked with told me she is really pleased with the look of the new wall hangings. She plans to order in several styles and loves now that our pack size is 2, giving her an opportunity to order and try more looks. I asked her for direction as to who in New Bern might try our table and window lace and linens and she really couldn't suggest anyone. On the way in I had seen a Tea Room/Restaurant, so headed back that way to check it out. There was lace in the windows, on the tables, on the shelves and it was all low quality and miss-matched - I saw an opportunity there for sure! The owner was not in but was expected around noon, so I went around to see if there were other opportunities in New Bern, where by the way, Bike Week is moving from Myrtle Beach this May; I found a party store that I showed halloween too, a fabric store where the owner was not in, and then circled back. The owner still was not in and the lunch crowd appeared about to descend, so I took my catalog out to get the wait staff interested so they could share my thoughts with the owner. They loved what they saw and promised to pass the catalog and my card along to the owner. I thanked them, and let them get back to work. Onward to Kinston where I found a great gift, gourmet and home decor store with an unusual concept, it was connected to a huge independent sporting store for hunting and fishing and the parking lot was full. The buyer was at lunch so I left my card and told her I would be back in about thirty minutes. I ate my yogurt and banana in the car and went back again. I met the buyer and she seemed interested as I told her about Heritage, our USA made story and flipped through to show her the diverse looks. I shared that a huge gourmet store in Chapel Hill was putting some products in and showed her what they had liked. She asked for a catalog and for me to follow up with her again to make a presentation - she had a shipment of furniture that had just come in and needed to attend to that. I moved on towards Goldsboro, where I had seen a curtain store in a strip center right on the US highway. I stopped in and shared our story with the owner and she loved what she saw, only problem was she had a customer appointment in a couple minutes and could not take time for a presentation, but begged that I make an appointment and come back when she could really take the time to look at everything. I told her I would come back. I went on into Goldsboro where I checked out an interior decorator's home decor store, but there was so much stuff piled in there they couldn't possibly have displayed another thing. I thought maybe Provinaire, but they turned out to be a dedicated Hunter Douglas dealer. I found another curtain store where the buyer there was going through some tough times personally and we talked for a good long while about many things before she let me dig into my sample bag and show her our products. The look in the store was very youthful and so her interest was only in a few of our window treatments, and possibly the pendant lighting - most products in her store were pretty low priced items from China so she was a bit resistent to our price points. I explained our quality to her and answered any questions. We may do some business there later, with follow up but not today. It was getting late, so I started to head back to Raleigh. But wait, a phone message, so I checked and it was the owner of the tea house very interested in the concept of using our lace and selling it too. We talked for a long time and I agreed to get back down to make a full presentation in the next few weeks. Yea! Looks like I need to make a trip back down for three follow-up presentations after Atlanta. And today, a catalog in Virginia emailed me to say they are putting two collections in the Fall catalog. So some weeks don't go as you planned, but even then some good things happen!

Just a few shots from my day - the coastal plain, pancake flat, the water everywhere and long, long bridges and the Carolina blue sky!

Okay, I know this may sound crazy but I stayed in not so savory a place last night in Elizabeth City, NC and the room did not have a coffee maker - that is a make it or break it thing for me - the coffee maker is a room essential. I can put up with the strangly lumpy crumbled foam pillow if I have to, the hard as a rock bed, the low lighting, but no coffee maker is a deal breaker - I won't be booking the Traveler's Inn again that's for sure. But one thing I found really strange is the soap.....a brand in shiny wrapper, and note the back, Made in India! How much cheaper can soap be because it comes from India? Very curious indeed. What would Proctor & Gamble think?