direction

For the first time in 3 weeks, I'm not at my desk, working, as has been my nightly routine. My folders and stuff weren't sent home to me from the accounts people, so, it appears, I have myself an unexpected reprieve. Should I read? Sleep early?
I've been thinking a lot about the direction the store is taking. Running the store has been a 'point & shoot' experience, like those handy digital cameras...this , that, a little bit of everything. There are so many aspects of this scrapbooking thing. Somehow I feel everything has gotten a little out of control. It's become a 'who dies with the most toys' scenario. And , alas, I have contributed to this greed. I'll admit I love my crop a dile , and Esther, how did I ever scrap without that super paper trimmer but there is a limit to this madness.
Ok, so there's art and creativity. Then there's the element of play. (& here's where the glimmer mists come in!) There's the story; words & pictures. And then there is product. And this is what I'm getting at. It's not just about the product!
Our 'first ever' client came in today. We found her at the bookstore,almost 3 years ago, looking at craft magazines and told her about our little store. It really was little then, all the product we had could fit into the boot of a GTI. Yet she found loads of things she liked. Today she came in for some cardstock and I noticed she chose red, black & white. Just as she did all that time ago. There is another client, who in the past few weeks has bought the same patterned paper at least 5 times.
Scrapbook stores are running out of ideas to market the ever growing, (no kidding), product range! Undercutting has become the norm. Hey , hold the bus! What is it we're doing again? Scrapbooking? Sounds like guerrilla warfare! Everyone has a design team, hmm should we?? Sales, discounts ...What the consumer/ scrapbooker doesn't know is that it takes each purchaser/ scrapbook store owner a good 7 days of work to put that new product in her hand. My husband says, for the time & effort I put into the store , I could be running a very large corporation. For some store owners, the wave has taken their exhausted bodies so far into the ocean that there's no turning back. Don't even ask how often they/ we scrapbook...
But wait, I love to work... but at what? Which brings me back to thinking, about that direction. The goal being to encourage people to preserve their memories, to guide them , help them to tap their creativity. Which will make the whole experience worthwhile. To show them how to find their sense of play, find their style, their groove. Product is necessary, but not the reason why we scrap. Which should be 'people'. Maybe creating a minibook that ROCKS for someone you love. But that's about people too. Or putting together a family album that everyone will cherish for years to come. Wait a minute, that's about people too. Well, you get the picture...