What I did on Rosh Hashana

Our friend Alex is a wonderful sculptor. We were invited to the official opening of a ceramic installation he did for the municipality of Cambridge, about an hour and a half drive from Toronto. This is a detail from the piece, the entire thing takes up a wall of a building.
Alex is a typical artist who has no time for shopping, but he chose my shop to do his shopping for this occasion. His wife was very pleased.

Fall is here!

The chill is in the air and people feel it. I'm getting fall clothes in and out, it's making me very happy.

Happy New Year

Today the shop is closed. I'm sacrificing my usually best sales day of the week to feel in touch with my people, so to speak. But the week so far was very good for business so I'm not feeling too guilty about it.
Here is my man in brown, isn't he dashing?

Changes

I put up some new shelves in the shop for the fall selection.
The shop is getting to be quite crowded these days and I have to keep moving things around. It's a challenge, a bit like a puzzle. I don't mind.

The suit

A young man bought a suit, shirt and tie from me last week. He had to go to a wedding in the U.S. and kept coming back to check the suits, trying them on and asking me, quite anxiously: do I look like I have money, does it look good, can you tie the tie for me, can you give me a good price, etc. I obliged, of course.
When I opened on Tuesday he popped in just to say: "Thank you, it all worked out great".
I like it when people do that.

The Style Consultant

Told the man he's been buying clothes too large for years. That's why he brought his great expensive shirts to my shop. However, this man does not shop without his stylist's approval. That's another good thing for me (or not? we'll have to see). He saw shoes he liked in my store, and will bring his stylist to the shop before making the decision to buy. So I'll get another contact even if he won't approve of the shoes.

"What a great Idea"

She said, enthusiastically. "My husband always complains how come there are no shops like these for men".
" Well, you know where to send him now" I handed her my card and said.
" He's on his way here right now, and I'm getting him to buy this shirt". And he did come, and she did make him buy it. And they promised to be back.
This shirt came in today. Never worn. The guy admitted to be a shopaholic. His closet is too full with clothes with tags still on. Just the kind of person I rely on.

"My closet is bigger than this store"

The man came to check out the shop, a friend told him to look for "this lovely little boutique". He promised to bring some of his clothes to me. I'm waiting. He said he has a lot more clothes than I have in the shop, but he only wears his favorites. Goody for me!

A song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFz60EuEawg

My model

I got recently a lot of beautiful clothes that fit a very small man. Good thing is I have one at my disposal.

"We don't lie about fashion"

There were 3 guys in the shop today at the same time ( a rare occurrence). Two are regulars, they come and check what's new at least once a week, try on things and just have fun. The other one just discovered the shop and was on his cell phone telling someone about it. He is a self- conscious, incredibly beautiful man - dark skin, green eyes like pools of light. He tried on 2 green shirts. Had a hard time deciding which one to get, the one he liked had a green flower pattern. He asked the gay guys for advice, they said he should take the one with the green flowers because it goes with his eyes. He did. They said gay guys don't lie about fashion. I wanted to know what they do lie about, but they wouldn't tell me...

Tears

Sometimes there isn't enough traffic in the shop to keep me busy, so I read. It's great. Keeps my mind from thinking about finances. However, these days I'm reading an incredibly sad book: Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. It makes me cry. I'm sitting in my shop sobbing, pressing tissues to my nose and wiping my eyes hoping no one will walk in and see me like that.

Swindled

I let myself be swindled as an experiment. I knew that the man would not come back to pay for the pants he was wearing but I wanted to believe for a moment that he would. It's not a big loss money wise, but to think he stood in my shop for over an hour telling me his life's story, and all the time thinking how stupit I must be, that is a bit of a loss. Also, one of the first things he asked me was if I am Jewish, and I can't help thinking that he thought it was OK to steal from me because I am.
There is a lesson to be learnt every day.

Closets

"It's amazing what one can find looking through one's closet..."
Yah baby!

Allergic to new clothes

How old must they be for you to be able to wear them, I asked. He said Oh, I don't know, maybe 20 years. Or a certain brand, some brands I can wear sometimes. I'm dying for a white shirt I can wear.
He found one shirt and I truly hope he wears it.