Plug me In to 2012

Here at Autism Plus all the retail shops have been implemented with computers and the World Wide Web. It is proving very useful.

We can make our own posters, signs, keep spreadsheets of data and forms and do research on items for price checks etc. It’s all very modern but I must admit I quite liked the novelty of working in a place where this it could still be 1940 - well in the back anyway with a wireless.

I fear like anything else as soon as its modern it’s outdated and we can’t keep up. The main obstacle was finding a suitable place for this equipment as it is very sensitive and at home I’ve often found myself contemplating throwing mine through the window when it crashes and pops up with a blue screen of death. The situation is that it’s such a small premises there isn’t room to swing a cat without hurting someone or the cat, so it was a real challenge. Thankfully we were innovative and created a space and in doing so created an oasis of paperwork, files and pin boards.

It’s a real micro office now I can even sit down which is not sarcasm it is a real treat. But there was drama we couldn’t use the card machine at first as we weren’t supplied a splitter? Or something like that and our printer broke it started crunching and eating the paper it turned into a cannibal printer.

One of the guys from IT whizzed over on his motorbike with a printer in his POD and whipped it into shape. I’ve sent a number of emails now so I’m well and truly plugged in!

The case of the missing febreeze plug in

The other day I went into work after my day off and the shop didn’t have its usual lovely ocean breeze smell. Hmm I thought suspicious, so I looked down at the plug socket which was discreetly covered by a large cardboard box full of knitting patterns and I pulled it away to reveal....NOTHING.

Someone had unplugged our air freshener and stole it. I know this because none of the other staff had moved it. I was so shocked, then disheartened and then ultimately angry. Why would someone stoop so low (literally) i mean whats the world coming to...having to lock up your air fresheners, or worse alarm them. Goodness me.
Anyway rant over, last Monday we had a retail meeting, I use the word “Retail” as we are encouraged to drop the charity shop label and use Retail Shop instead which I like as it is more present and current.

More charities are using this term to describe their shops. It’s a good move but it's still perfectly ok to call them charity shops - we sell items that have been donated by kind people like yourselves which is charitable and we make money to help our charity which is very important to moving forward.

Can I just say though more and more people are stopping donating and doing car boots instead to make quick money, this is a little bit saddening  and makes it more important people that people continue to donate to charities as we still offer a great bargain and you are making a difference to a cause.

On the other hand its often very surprising people’s generosity, we have had some lovely donations lately including a nice hand painted vase which we sold for a good price, old antique clocks, vintage tea sets and more. It's great to be able to displays these creatively, for example we used an old CD rack and transformed it into a scarf rail by tying scarves and belts on, other shops I’ve seen using old rails and painting them in kitsch colours such as baby powder and blue with the organisations logo on them. I’ve seen antique mirrors draped in jewellery, old antique chests of drawers with scarves and hats peeping out the draws tempting customer’s imaginations.

I love all this free thinking creatively and if the people and charities embrace this it’s such a step forward into the modern merchandising world such as a time like this when the current demand and boom is for “other world, old fashioned” bespoke ideas and items. I use this in a loose term and many phrases have been coined to this effect and that just goes to show anything goes! 

So I look forward to the future of display as it keeps growing and growing, forget the stolen plug in.

I love the image below imagine a lovely tree like this in our shops covered in jewels and diamonds!!!!!