The Old Sun Shop

Fieldwork Week Ten

Today was a little bit chilly but over all a beautiful sunny day. It is not even Thanksgiving yet and already Boss has begun to decorate for Christmas. We have a beautiful Christmas tree out in the front where the pigs used to be. We also began to get our Christmas items in. Boss is a little worried because things are on back order and our best Christmas sales happen at the end of November. Despite the fact that people seem annoyed that Christmas decorations are beginning to be set up in all the stores, they are still trying to shop early that way they have no worries come December.

Since we had a lot of our Christmas stuff come in, I had to redecorate and rearrange a lot in the store. I had to move the pigs to a new location and everybody noticed them and commented on them. No one bought one but I had a few people tell me that they were going to come back during the week to buy a pig. I also had to rearrange the jewelry. We had new Native American pieces come in, and even though they are more expensive than our other jewelry it’s been moving. It could be because of its uniqueness and also because they are pieces not commonly seen. Our fashion jewelry however has not moved very much at all. The lowered prices are now half-off and yet people seem to like them but don’t buy them. I wonder if this certain kind of jewelry is no longer in style or maybe it’s simply not what people want or care to buy when they come here.

Up to this point I am still believing that the rearranging items and them selling still have some truth. I moved some of the candles around and quite a few of them sold. People complemented the smell and asked what it was and then bought a candle. The horse hair pottery and the black pottery seems to be becoming popular again since a few people bought some pieces as Christmas gifts. Angel bells however where not the hot item today which is strange. At least one sells every day. However other small items where really moving today. The Native American balms are selling like crazy now and auto coasters and Christmas gourds where the popular items today. Over all since mid- October sales have been doubling. Even if the flow of people is not busy, quite a lot of things sell.

There were a lot of older people in the store today. Almost all of them wanted to buy some kind of pottery. There was one couple that fell in love with a large pottery with bears on them. They were traveling around New Mexico collecting different pottery. They were so nice and we carried on a conversation for quite a while. They talked to me about places they have been to and places they recommended me to go. After that conversation I can’t wait to be able to start traveling.