Monthly Archives: December 2017

Where I’ve Been & the Breyer 2017 Collector’s Club Appreciation Offer

I truly feel like I’ve gone through a bit of a time warp. Thanksgiving crept up on me and now Christmas is just 1 week away. Yikes! Business has definitely picked up at our retail store, our eBay Store AND our Website Store. This is FANTASTIC but I’m physically and mentally drained. Aside from our online business, I have never worked in retail before. When we opened our retail location in July, I had no idea just how big of a chunk I had bitten off.

Truth be told, our primary intention with the retail store was to move our massive Breyer inventory out of the house and to provide me with a quiet place to work on the online business. We were keeping a watchful eye on the commercial space available for rent and when a down town location opened up, we jumped on the opportunity. And when we jumped, we jumped high and we jumped blindly.

Our first hurdle was getting the store into move in ready condition. We took possession of the store in June and set our opening date as July 4^th. That time frame was optimistic to say the least. The store had mold on the floor where it met the back wall. And by floor, I mean uneven sheets of plywood. We were able to get the owner to cut out the mold and even out the plywood. We installed new laminate flooring ourselves, we painted the inside blue and spent a silly amount of time masking off the molding which was to be painted white. We finished installing the flooring and had the painting completed the last week of June. But nothing went smoothly. We failed building inspection twice. Once for not being ADA compliant and once for not having exit signs that lit up when the power went out.

While waiting for the signs to arrive and be installed, we started to set up shelving. The checkout counter arrived in the nick of time and the day before opening we were still stocking the shelves with inventory. Somehow, we had made the store presentable enough to open as planned on July 4^th. But then I blinked and POOF, summer came and went and then fall went missing. Just where had all the time gone?

I was mystified and to a point still am. I put a lot of time into placing orders, tracking inventory, stocking the shelves and sourcing new product. I spend a huge amount of time promoting both the retail and the online store. To start with, I was able to work on our online business for several hours while watching the store. Much to my amazement, the holidays brought out the customers (duh!). I found myself accomplishing less and less for the online business. With the increased foot traffic, there also came an increase in online sales. We’re still scrambling to pack and ship orders while having the retail store open 7 days a week. As of right now, on Sunday evening, we have 15 packages to ship out Monday and the night isn’t over yet. I can’t wait for Christmas to come so we can go back to being open 5 or 6 days a week. We will have to shuffle the retail store hours with the New Year but logistically I’m too brain fried to think that far in advance. On a side note, eBay rescinded their ban on watermarks. We need to give this some thought but this will likely allow us keep our eBay Store open. We haven’t found the time (there’s that word again, time!) to migrate the Website Store to Shopify but that is a move we will be definitely making, it’s just a matter of WHEN. Originally, early 2018 was the planned migration time for the website but when eBay changed the watermark ban, the website migration became less urgent.

I did not have time to post any videos to YouTube last week and my posts to Instagram have been on a sharp decline. It feels like I’m never able to finish a blog post. Checking in on Facebook seems to be my most frequent online activity. So where have I been? Simple, the store ate me! I’m not kidding when I say I’m chained to the store. It feels like I live there!

I haven’t been able to keep up with the Breyer News. Tonight, I noticed that Breyer is offering a ‘free’ Mystery Model Gift to Collector’s Club members with a $125 purchase. I happily took the bait on the freebie model last year which was a Glossy Cosette or a Glossy Julian and Sophia.

Breyer Glossy Cosette

The 2015 Collector’s Club Appreciation offer was a chance at receiving a glossy #1730 AQHA Anniversary Horse in glossy chestnut or a glossy grulla.

Glossy Grulla 1730 AQHA Anniversary Edition

I definitely preferred how a glossy model was guaranteed in 2016 versus just a chance of one in 2015. Breyer states that the 2017 Collector’s Club Mystery Model has a value of $74.99. Breyer’s email says that the offer is limited to the first 500 orders and will be one of the following:

Glossy Hickory Hills Wallstreet (matte version pictured)

Glossy BHR Bryant’s Jake (matte version pictured)

Glossy Bandera (matte version pictured)

Glossy Liberty (I don’t have a picture of this one, sorry!)

It’s worth  noting that both Bandera, Hickory Hills Wallstreet and BHR Bryant’s Jake will be discontinued in 2018.  Liberty is already discontinued. I think glossing models is a great way for Breyer to clear out the warehouse but I’m too worn out to feel very excited about this offer. Perhaps I will feel differently after a good night’s sleep. Speaking of sleep, that has also gone missing. Can anyone help me find it?!