Suggestions Please!!!!

[heavenlygirl]

On the 1st of May it will be the first anniversary of me taking over my shop and i am looking for ideas of things i could do to mark the with my customers. I have had offer of face painting for the kids if i do it on a saturday and have thought about a 10% discount, but am not sure as still feel relitavly new to all this kind of thing, can anyone offer any thoughts on this please

Yours hopefully Heather

[icecreamgirl]

Just had a peek at your shop, looks really good!!
Do you do card making classes?
You could have a little Demo table for people to 'have a go' themselves.
And a discount is always a crowd puller!!
Something for the kiddies to play with, glitter and glue etc!!
Leafleting is as good a way of advertising the day as anything. Just rope the friends and family in on the day to give people in the town. (handmade leaflets of course!!)

[Katianne]

Could you run some sort of competition to celebrate? I.e. 100th customer through the door on the day??? Face painting sounds good, maybe balloons as well? Could you offer any demonstrations or run some simple activities for the kids using the supplies you sell (might get some sales from that!!!). I don't have a shop (wish I did) but these are just random ideas.

[heavenlygirl]

we do one to one classes in theshop regularly, they are quite popurlar but take upa lot of time. Thought about doing a make and take on shrink plastic as alot of people seem to be afraid of it.
Thanks for your input though i think i will do a leaflet drop in town.

[lizan]

Good ideas its my Birthday that day so may treat myself to some of your goodies Best of luck

lizan

[heavenlygirl]

I like the idea of prize for the 100th customer through the door on the day although it would have to be the 25th customer im not that lucky to get 100 customers in one day.

[EMEvans]

What about a raffle of some kind. You could start it asap and draw it on the day

[swirlyarts]

25th person through the door is a good idea - give them a little goodie bag of stuff. It needn't be expensive but make sure that you advertise the fact on the leaflets etc. Approach the local press too as it might be good promotion for you if they do a human interest angle. I agree with the others about having something for kids to do - I once did a make and take at a hobbycraft store and we got loads of kids doing the stuff while their parents wandered round the shop. The kids then pestered their parnt for some card making stuff!! Have loads of balloons outside the shop too to make it look enticing. If I think of anything else then I will let you know.

[EMEvans]

Or the 25th person to buy something.

[Katianne]

Or the 25th person to buy something.

Thats' a good one, that way you also encourage sales, no just people through the door!

[swirlyarts]

Actually thats a much better idea!!

[heavenlygirl]

I totally agree 25th person to buy something, thanks everyone, having all these people with all these ideas makes things a lot easier, wish id found this forum ages ago!!:) :)

[Funkyhand]

Hi
I haven't got any great ideas to add to the ones you have already had but I just wanted to say that your shop looks great. I wish I had a shop like yours close by that did classes. Good luck with your one year celebrations!
Anice xx :):)

[candles by lisa]

Another thing you could try is making the day like a sort of a party and have some red and white wine and some fruit juice and a few wee nibbles. BHS does that for the NHS staff at Christmas and I have to admit after a glass or two of the old vino collapso you buy pretty much anything. There was also a new shop opened up in Dunoon where my mum stays - it is really quiet there. However they did the wine thing and the shop was jumping. I even spent £100 that day, and I didn't go in to buy a thing.

Good luck

Lisa:mf:

[heavenlygirl]

Thanks will try the alcohol thing. Ive started the raffle off today and will draw the winners on the day.

[EMEvans]

Wow i think thats the first bit of advice i've given thats ever been used EVER, thats great. Can i ask what the prize is, i love raffles - I won a very small hamper once in a christmas fair, half of the tinned stuff in it was almost out of date.

[heavenlygirl]

1st prize £20 worth of flowersoft stuff, 2nd prize £7.50 Box of sticky stuff ie.. ds tape, tape runner, foam pads, 3rd prize £4 box of glass beads with about 5 diff types in.
Does that sound ok i havent sent out email yet telling everyone!!!!

Heather

I won the top prize of a bottle of whisky once on a raffle once when i was 14 but they wouldnt let me have it and i ended up with a bottle of pop instead. i felt cheated.

[EMEvans]

Yeah, they sound ok but could i make a suggestion?

What about doing a mixture of things, you could keep the value the same (£20), that way you'll more then likely have something in the prize that everyone would want - giving you extra raffle sales!

Another thing worth considering would be to have gift vouchers as a prize. You can be certain that when they come to spend there prize money they will go over the £20 - therefore giving you an extra sale.

Hope you don't mind my comments.

[heavenlygirl]

No i dont mind your comments i welcome them. I am planning on running a monthly raffle after anniversary event in which the prize will be a gift voucher, but for the anniversary event i think i am going to stick with prizes to make it different.

Heather
xxxxxx

[Pretty things]

Since the traditional thing for first anniversaries is paper, could you do something around the papers you sell? Maybe buy one pack, get one half price [or 25% off or something]. Or an area for kids to make stuff that can then be exhibited in the shop? Defintely nibbles & wine [try the fizzy stuff like Cava, it's not only really festive, especially if you get the pink stuff, but it's difficult to drink too much of it due to the fizz - so you won't get folks guzzling gallons of the stuff at your expense and not buying anything!] Keep the food & drink away from the merch, tho. And getting the media interested is an excellant idea, not just the paper press but also local TV & radio. They usually love local interest stories, especially good news ones.

[heavenlygirl]

Thanks for the info on Cava, im not a wine drinker myself so i hadnt got a clue what to buy!!!!

Heather:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)