Turning Corners & New Directions
Thoughts as Spring 2024 Arrives
I’m not going to say that the winter has flown by, but I have skimmed through it in a daze of busy-ness and extra paperwork [or data entry anyway] brought about by the necessity of switching POS system part way through last year, and maybe just plain winter blues, I don’t feel that I have accomplished a lot so far. If you read my New Year’s post [the first of 2024— Make Time]then you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say I haven’t. I haven’t made Time for much that I’ve wanted to, but I suppose I have done what I Needed to. And that’s something. I have long since realized that Needs far outweigh Wants, and that to run a business and also pursue a Life of Service requires discovering, and attending to, what is truly Needed.
I still very much Feel that Need for Change that I’ve been experiencing, and expressed, both in this business [Over the Rainbow TX] and my day to day life. I hope that as I get caught up with some of the necessary business obligations and the weather warms up, that I can begin to exercise and get outdoors more. I have been thinking a lot about gardening. I started seeds for my small backyard garden this past month, and have been doing some early chores in that area when I have the chance.
I have also wondered if anyone else in the area is very interested in permaculture gardening, or a regenerative lifestyle in general. I keep thinking that Fort Davis needs a Community Garden and a Farmer’s Market, and wondering how much interest in these directions there might be. If anyone reading this has thoughts I would love to hear them. Once I get my own thoughts and life more organized, I will most certainly raise the subject on local social media.
The View From My Front Window
I expect to begin doing some online selling through this website over the next few weeks. I will start out with a few basic offerings, like our In-House designed Stickers and Greeting Cards, along with a few of my high sell-thru items and some Vintage. Hopefully, if all goes well, I can expand it fairly quickly.
In the store itself, I find that while I have a number of base products that generally do well for me, I am still constantly re-imagining what I sell. I continue to endeavor to provide and market more eco-friendly and sustainable products, though I fall far short of my goals as of yet. In a small town gift shop that depends largely on tourist trade, it is very hard to maintain the standards I would like to see become the norm. Perhaps the online store will help in that area, but there are major drawbacks with that as well.
Besides being basically horrible from an ecological standpoint, this “shop online” economy that has evolved out of the technical advances of the last several decades and swept around the world has decentralized communities, and encouraged the proliferation of a tourist or visitor centered economy. Catering to non-locals in order to stay in business is, more often than not, in direct opposition to a strong, locally supported business framework. When your local consumer base can order almost anything you can provide from Amazon or some other behemoth enterprise, with many more choices, and cheaper, it becomes about other things than quality and friendly service [though those are also necessary].
That said, a small town is dependent on its businesses, to draw visitors, to support the tax base, and to make it a Town rather than a Dot on the map. I believe that after some of the upheavals and economic setbacks in Fort Davis [and many other places as well] this last several years, this should be becoming evident. We are a town deeply in need of a level of Community and economic interdependence that extends beyond just catering to Tourists, though it necessarily must do that also.
It’s always easier to See the problems than to solve them. Perhaps though, pointing them out may serve some purpose. I would like to see the business community, first and foremost, support and encourage one another’s endeavors. I and others provide small discounts to “locals”, and I would like to see more of that. If it were economically feasible, I would like to do much more.
Going Forward
Going forward, I expect this to be a year of changes, one way or another. I would like to find more ways to both serve my community, and to add to the sense of same. I am interested in promoting my neighboring businesses as well as my own. I plan to make this a regular part of my Social Media program, in addition to the Features I do on the Website when I have time. Anyone who wishes to be included can message me on Instagram or Facebook, and I will get a photo of the business if I don’t already have one. I enjoy sharing both the beauty of this area, and the variety of places there are to visit, dine at or shop.
I believe that we truly are Better Together. Instead of treating our businesses as a Competition, we need to pull together and encourage more Local Shoppers as well as Visitors to our area. We are lucky and blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places in the World. Let’s see if we can’t make it even more so.
The links below are to my Social Media. I would love hearing from you, on the Website, through Facebook and Instagram, or stop by the store for a chat.
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