Okay, so I'm starting off the blog with a mild rant regarding our Lehigh Kent/Winston/Kool cigarette machine. Chris fell in love with this thing about a year or so ago, so we bought it and put it into our antique mall space last year. I worked at the antique mall part time but never really had too many inquiries about the machine...that is, until we got our own shop and moved it in.
Assuming that say maybe 100 people come into our shop in a week...my guess is that at least 85 of these people will feel compelled to say something to me about this damn thing. "Oooh look at THAT! A CIGARETTE MACHINE! Boy I haven't seen one of those in years." "Hey ya don't see THOSE around anymore, do ya?" "Wow look--a cigarete machine. Gee I can't remember the last time I saw one of these!" This is what I'm hearing on a constant basis and it has begun to drive me insane. Everybody digs it, the price is right but nobody's buyin'.
Prior to the Lehigh, we had an orange Eames chair and ottoman that was the item everybody flipped out over but never seemed to want to purchase. I talked about that chair, photographed it, Craigslisted the crap out of it, measured it, emailed about it, answered emails about it, etc. ad nauseum. I almost broke down and cried tears of joy when the girl who bought it loaded it into her car and drove it out of my sight.
It's fascinating to me how one item can draw the same response from so many people. People of all different ages, sexes, races, etc. This makes me wonder if I am one of these people, although I doubt it. I rarely make conversation with people in stores as I am usually too busy shopping to chit chat. I am not inclined to make comments on merchandise I'm not interested in buying. As a customer I like to be greeted and then sort of left to browse on my own. As a shop owner I am finding that most customers really dig chit chat, which is fine. I like it to a certain extent. My thing that bugs me is when every friggin' Tom, Dick and Harry wants to talk to me about something I've been talking about for months. Literally every day for 4 1/2 months, I have spoken to someone about the Lehigh...and I'm OVER it! It's $425 people, and it's Don Draper's dream friggin' cigarette machine. It lights up and it's amazing and you haven't seen one since forever. Buy it and take it home today! Your friends and neighbors will be talking about it for years to come.
A few weeks ago a really nice (and completely foxy Ethan Hawke lookalike!) customer from Santa Barbara came in and expressed interest in the machine. I offered him an insanely good deal on it and he seemed very interested, but I never heard back from him. No dice. Earlier today a woman walked in and started in with the cigarette machine dialog and I swear I almost jumped over my desk and started choking her! URGH! I'm ready to take this thing up to Big Bear and use it as a toboggan, for Christ's sake!
Hey welcome to my blog, everybody!! Haha! I welcome any tips or information about anti-psychotic medications that may help.
