The Old Sun Shop

Fieldwork Week Five

 

              When I arrive to work today, I notice that the plaza seemed a bit empty. Not a lot seemed to be going on and I figured it would be a pretty slow day. It was noon and the weather was just wonderful. Blue sunny sky and about eighty degrees.  About ten minutes after I opened the shop a lady come in. She was about in her 40’s or 50’s. We talked about how nice the weather was and how weird it was that not many people were out. We both agreed that it was a possibility that many where out having lunch.

              Within the first two hours I noticed that only women where coming in the store. They would come alone, with a friend(s), mother, daughter, sister, or other family members. However, there was not a single man that came in with the exception of one. This man was about in his 60’s or 70’s and simply came in looking for his wife. Since it was just myself in the shop he quickly realized that his wife was not in here and left. Still I found this a bit odd. This could be the result of football season and how many men stay at home to watch the games. However, this did not seem true outside the store as I started to notice more people showing up at the plaza, and it was not just women.

              A band started playing outside and I noticed how the plaza began to fill up with more and more people. Unlike the fiesta that seemed to take away more people, this did the opposite. More people were walking around in large and small groups. The flow of people increased in the shop. Both men and women came in the store. Many were just lookers, and few where buyers. Besides the fact that many where just lookers it kept me pretty busy greeting, answering questions, and showing them products. Over all we had more buyers than usual and would say we had a very good sale day.

              Since I thought it would not be so busy I began to reorganize the jewelry in the shop. Boss has a theory that when we rearrange things or move things around, they end up selling. I decided to pay attention and see if this seems to be true. While I was rearranging two older women that were shopping around came back in the shop a second time that day. They started to notice things that they did not the first time and asked me if I had just gotten new items. I told them I was simply reorganizing. Although they did not buy anything I realized that not just them but others started to look at items that seemed to be over looked before.

              Throughout the day I noticed that different ladies where coming in with the same shirt. They were green and turquoise colored with something written in the front and a logo/picture on the back. A group of ladies came in wearing that same shirt and I wanted to ask them about the shirt. They were so caught up in conversation that I did not want to interrupt.

              Once again since we still had fresh flowers in the store I did not light our candle. People still kept commenting on how the store smelled good but I believe that was because of the flowers. Since I did not have a candle light not everybody took a look at the candles. Not a single candle sold today. I believe that having a candle light makes a difference on whether or not candles sell. Also a small majority of the people really looked at the pigs. We have sold a great majority so there not as easy to spot as they were before. I heard a few people talking about how cute the pigs were but not nearly as much as I have heard other days.

Next Day…

              I arrive at work today and it’s pretty busy. I realized today that Bosses theory might have some truth in it. Since I rearranged jewelry yesterday I noticed today that I was selling all kinds of jewelry. Most of it were items that were not moving for quite a long while now. It was very impressive. On top of that a metal flower art that we had in the store for almost a year stayed in the same place. About a week or two ago we moved the metal art and it sold today. Maybe when items stay in the same spot all the time they are over looked.