"May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands." -Psalm 90:17
I find that this is an appropriate verse to memorize for the second half of April, since we opened the doors of our new store yesterday. Throughout this entire process we have been praying for the Lord to direct us and bless our efforts to remain in His will.
When my husband first came to me with the idea of moving and starting up our own store, I had mixed feelings. I had questions like "Is this the right thing for our family in the long run?" and "Is this the right timing for us?" We discussed these questions and many more as we started to form a plan together. It seemed like with every new question that would arise, there would be an answer affirming to us that we were headed in the right direction.
Proverbs 16:9 says "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps." I am so thankful that as we were planning, the Lord was preparing the path before us. As it turns out, our first day was better than we could have ever imagined. The favor of the Lord was with us indeed!
May He also establish the work of your hands today and always,
~Melissa
Showing posts with label Dollar Plus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dollar Plus. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Spring Break - Adventures in our Store
Well, it's Saturday, and that means that this family's Spring Break is soon to come to an end. It's been all kinds of fun. We started off the week with a trip to Walla Walla to see the store and help however we could. We spent a few hours stocking up the stationary/coloring book isle. Then my DH gave the kids three full bins of various items that needed putting away. It was like a treasure hunt! After all their hard work, they were rewarded with picking out a couple of items each to take home. RL loved helping so much that she spent the entire next day at the store with her dad stocking shelves and whatever other misc. assignments he could find for her to do. Here are a few photos of our "work in progress".
I really like the staff. They all seem pleasant and hard working. The applications are still coming in, even though the hiring is done. While we were in the store, several people stopped in (despite the "Closed" sign on the door) to ask if we were open yet. One local who is opening her own shop down the street stopped in and bought quite a haul from our overstock section to help set up her office.
I'm pretty excited for us to open. I can't believe it's happening this week! We're scheduled to open our doors for business on Thursday, April 14th.
The rest of our vacation has been pretty low key in comparison to our trip. The first night we were back there was a hail/snow storm. Welcome back to Spring weather in Spokane! We did have a super nice day yesterday though, which was perfect for some outdoor fun.
Monday it's back to school and our normal routine. Before you know it, the end of school will come and then it's moving time! (A day that will sneak up on me, I'm sure!)
Have a great day all!
~Melissa
Friday, March 25, 2011
Company Girl Coffee - Store Update
"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God." Jim Elliot
This is a favorite quote of my friend Melodi. It's very appropriate in this season of my life, as I am going through transition. It is sometimes hard to be all here when our new life is being built in another town. It is strange to think that in less than a few months this home, and this city will be our past. Still, for now, I need to be ALL HERE. So that is what I intend to do until God closes this chapter of our lives.
With that being said, here is a little "sneak peak" at what God is writing into the pages of the next chapter of our lives.
We named the store "Dollar Plus." There will be an entire section of the store off to the side that will sell larger items at a discounted price. Think overstock. Throughout the rest of the store items will be sold for $1.00, $1.25, or $1.50. It's our own unique design. There is a lot of buzz and excitement going on around town about it. Our sign is up and under it is a sign that says "Coming Soon."
My husband attended a conference in Las Vegas at the beginning of this month that was so big it had to be held in two separate locations. He walked for miles and miles as he searched for the right vendors to fill our store with the perfect product. I hear that my Father in Law was quite impressed at his ability to barter down a price tag!
After four days of doing that, he came home to us for a spell and put my daughter to work reading numbers to him so he could enter them into the computer. In preparation to make a toy order, he handed all the kids catalogs and highlighters and told them to mark toys that they would like to see in the store. They really loved that!
Before very long, it was time for him to head to Walla Walla again, to work on the building and begin interviews to hire a staff. Floors were shined up and fresh paint applied. The next step was to install the point of sale desk. I can tell you from experience that the hand-crafted, U-shaped station is very heavy! They got it in place though, with cash registers and computers ready to be networked.
He ended up hiring a small crew with plenty of experience, two of which worked for the former Dollar Store in town. Once the shelves arrived, he and the crew proceeded to complete the task of setting up, cleaning up, and arranging the shelves for the next few days. This proved to be more difficult than first imagined, so he hired two extras in town to get it done more quickly.
During this time the first shipment of product arrived so he put a couple of the girls to work setting up our first official display - jewelry. At week's end, he told everyone to come back on Tuesday (when more product was scheduled to arrive) and he came home to us.
The kids and I soak up every minute we get with him these days. It's hard on all of us to be away from him, even for short periods of time. He loves us so much and over the years I have appreciated his drive to work hard so that I can stay home with the kids. We are excited to go out over Spring Break and see the store coming to life.
This week the network guy came in and got the computers all talking to each other and my husband began the process of entering product into the computer, one item at a time. It took an entire day to scan in just kitchen items, but after a lot of hard work and some fiddling with the program, he succeeded! We can officially scan and sell any kitchen item in our store! :)
There is much more ahead of us. Some of it will be routine set-up, and then there will also be the unexpected bumps along the way. I'm sure glad my husband is a strategist. He is not the kind to give up in the face of adversity. I know that he will continue to press on until the doors are ready to open.
And what a grand opening it will be!
I'm looking forward to it. But until then, I am here. This is home sweet home, where I will continue to "live to the hilt," as Jim Elliot so wonderfully puts it. I'm holding back nothing, making the most of every day.
Have a great weekend all!
~Melissa
This is a favorite quote of my friend Melodi. It's very appropriate in this season of my life, as I am going through transition. It is sometimes hard to be all here when our new life is being built in another town. It is strange to think that in less than a few months this home, and this city will be our past. Still, for now, I need to be ALL HERE. So that is what I intend to do until God closes this chapter of our lives.
With that being said, here is a little "sneak peak" at what God is writing into the pages of the next chapter of our lives.
We named the store "Dollar Plus." There will be an entire section of the store off to the side that will sell larger items at a discounted price. Think overstock. Throughout the rest of the store items will be sold for $1.00, $1.25, or $1.50. It's our own unique design. There is a lot of buzz and excitement going on around town about it. Our sign is up and under it is a sign that says "Coming Soon."
My husband attended a conference in Las Vegas at the beginning of this month that was so big it had to be held in two separate locations. He walked for miles and miles as he searched for the right vendors to fill our store with the perfect product. I hear that my Father in Law was quite impressed at his ability to barter down a price tag!
After four days of doing that, he came home to us for a spell and put my daughter to work reading numbers to him so he could enter them into the computer. In preparation to make a toy order, he handed all the kids catalogs and highlighters and told them to mark toys that they would like to see in the store. They really loved that!
Before very long, it was time for him to head to Walla Walla again, to work on the building and begin interviews to hire a staff. Floors were shined up and fresh paint applied. The next step was to install the point of sale desk. I can tell you from experience that the hand-crafted, U-shaped station is very heavy! They got it in place though, with cash registers and computers ready to be networked.
He ended up hiring a small crew with plenty of experience, two of which worked for the former Dollar Store in town. Once the shelves arrived, he and the crew proceeded to complete the task of setting up, cleaning up, and arranging the shelves for the next few days. This proved to be more difficult than first imagined, so he hired two extras in town to get it done more quickly.
During this time the first shipment of product arrived so he put a couple of the girls to work setting up our first official display - jewelry. At week's end, he told everyone to come back on Tuesday (when more product was scheduled to arrive) and he came home to us.
The kids and I soak up every minute we get with him these days. It's hard on all of us to be away from him, even for short periods of time. He loves us so much and over the years I have appreciated his drive to work hard so that I can stay home with the kids. We are excited to go out over Spring Break and see the store coming to life.
This week the network guy came in and got the computers all talking to each other and my husband began the process of entering product into the computer, one item at a time. It took an entire day to scan in just kitchen items, but after a lot of hard work and some fiddling with the program, he succeeded! We can officially scan and sell any kitchen item in our store! :)
There is much more ahead of us. Some of it will be routine set-up, and then there will also be the unexpected bumps along the way. I'm sure glad my husband is a strategist. He is not the kind to give up in the face of adversity. I know that he will continue to press on until the doors are ready to open.
And what a grand opening it will be!
I'm looking forward to it. But until then, I am here. This is home sweet home, where I will continue to "live to the hilt," as Jim Elliot so wonderfully puts it. I'm holding back nothing, making the most of every day.
Have a great weekend all!
~Melissa
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)