I'm not one to make New Years resolutions (I could write a whole blog post JUST on that!) but I do vow to do better in the coming month with Zoe's blog. It is important to me but I just haven't been placing the right amount of emphasis on it this month. There was this thing called Christmas...
Speaking of Christmas, it is a perfect segue to talk about Black Friday. Technically, this was Zoe's THIRD Black Friday at her location on Union Street. Let me explain....
The first was just after I had signed the lease for Zoe's space. The signing took place 2 days before Thanksgiving and I spent the day before Thanksgiving running around like a mad woman to get things done now that I had a REAL address! So on Black Friday 2010, I was eager to show the new space to Jim (you might remember he had been afraid to look at locations since I seemed to lose every location he previewed!) We went to Old Town so I could take him in to show him the space!
The second was in Zoe's first year of business, 2011. As you can read from last year's blog post, I was nervous and didn't know what to expect but was pleased with the result (and exhausted!) And I always learn lessons that I can apply the following year.
Well, one thing that hasn't changed is that I'm always nervous. I got to the store an hour early to turn up the heat, make sure the computers and credit card processing capabilities were in good shape, and make some last minute adjustments to the store. Janice and Tara joined me and we had our first visitors not long after 6 am!
The publicity for the event was very well done and more stores participated this year than any previous year. The Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association were very much behind the effort and the DASH bus system operated the King Street Trolley beginning at 6 am that day.
Zoe had several customers "pre-shop" this year, which was very wonderful. It is great when people do this - they try on items prior to Black Friday, have us hold them and then are able to come in to pay during their chosen time period (we did the same sale as the previous year - 30% off from 6 am - 8 am, 20% off from 8 am - 10 am, and 10% off from 10 am - 6 pm).
We also had our first Facebook Store sale during the 30% off time period! So exciting!
I was so pleased that the store was pretty consistently busy the whole day. It was so much fun to get to see so many of Zoe's customers, especially since I am not in the store as often any more.
One woman and a friend came into the store and had a number of bags from other Old Town Boutique District stores! We told her that it looked like she had had a very successful shopping day thus far! We found out that she was the Grand Prize winner from the Old Town Boutique District Scavenger Hunt held back in September (remember this blog post?) and she was making the rounds using her gift cards! We thought that was SO cool! I had to have my picture taken with her.
Patricia with her Zoe purchase!
My second fantastic surprise was a visit from designer Kathlin Argiro and her husband! They were in town for the holiday to visit Kathlin's parents and stopped in to see me. Kathlin had seen Tara in Firehook Bakery (just down the street) and had thought to herself "She must work at Zoe - she looks very stylish!" And in she walked and saw Tara behind the counter! So perceptive! It was such a treat to see Kathlin - she is one of my all-time favorites!
Me with Kathlin and her gorgeous wrap dresses - already thinking about what to order for Spring!
Although I have never been a Black Friday shopper myself, I am glad that there are Black Friday shoppers out there! Like last year, many people were buying for themselves although we did sell a few items as gifts. It was a long but enjoyable day!
Next Up: Small Business Saturday (Year Two)
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