Author: Christy

Originally published on January 20, 2010

Alright, technically I am a corporation. A Subchapter S-Corp which means various accounting and shareholder related things. What it doesn’t mean is that I have a big, fat corporate expense account. Or any sort of expense account. It also means I don’t have an IT department (unless you count my husband.)

So I am technically a corporation, but not in the “Corporate” sense of the word.

Case in point – my computer, pictured below.

A few important things to note:

1. It’s a Toshiba. Not a cute little Mac. This is because everything we have at home is PC-based. And my non-IT-Department husband threatened to bill me for any time spent dealing with Mac-PC compatibility issues. So I have decided that, yes, I am a PC person.
2. I’m missing four keys. (Can you spot them? The answer’s at the bottom of the page.) This is because during the last two and a half years, wine store dust and crumbs (because yes, I eat over my computer) have colonized under the keys. So I have become an expert at popping them off and cleaning out the gunk. However, I’m not such an expert at popping them back on. But never fear, they still work. A little squishy, but they work.
3. The left mouse button is more than a little worn. In shiny Mac land, this would be annoying. In grey-PC-missing-four-keys land, this is barely worth mentioning.
4. You can’t see it, but the power cord is plugged in. It’s always plugged in. Because without electricity, my computer has about two minutes of battery life. This means I always have to be within two feet of a live outlet or I can’t get any work done. You think it’s difficult to find free wi-fi? Just try to find free wi-fi and a live outlet. (I know where this magical combination exists, but I’m not telling.) 

So. Why don’t I just buy a new computer to replace this craptop? Simple. Because I would have to pay for it. Myself.

And like I said. I’m not a Corporation.

Answer: Missing keys are X, F7, up arrow, left arrow

Originally published on January 12, 2010.

Before the holiday craziness set in, I set down a list of “guys you need to know” in order to successful open and run a wine store. I’ve decided to make this a recurring feature for two reasons.

1. It may actually be useful to anyone considering this particular avenue of “living the dream.”
2. Recurring features make it easy for an over-extended blogger to come up with ideas for future posts. Can’t think of anything new and creative to write about? A quick scan of my recurring features and I can probably come up with some reasonably pithy fodder to add to the cannon.

So, on to the recurring feature….

You might consider a photographer a nice-to-have guy, but if you’re at all concerned about the look and feel of your communication pieces, a good photographer is a very important guy to know. And yes, I said “look and feel.” Remember, prior to living the dream, I spent 7 years at a luxury goods company so obsessing over looks and feels was a big part of the job.

So for the images I used in my holiday newsletter and the website, I called in my photographer – a colleague from my corporate days who. in addition to his official web-related duties, had been adopted by the wines team. His tiny wine blog chronicles his wine tasting adventures which usually involve a one month focus on a particular region or grape. This is a great way to learn about a wine and I highly recommend it because 1) it really is a great way to learn about wine and 2) I usually have something cool to sell that fits into whatever the immersion topic is – no matter how obscure.

Anyway, on to the pictures. I’ve seen so many web sites with not-so-attractive bottle shots. Given the space limitations, it’s difficult to get a picture that clearly shows the label. But given that the wine info is usually right next to picture, why bother? My philosophy is that it’s best to have something visually interesting that gives the general idea of the label. And that’s where Rich does really good work. His bottle shots are cool and clean and make me want to go out and drink more wine. Flick through his flickr pool, and tell me you didn’t think more than once about how to get inside those pictures.

And that’s what you want in your photographer – someone who’s images can insight the view to run off and join the circus….I mean the wine world.  Which is not a circus…unless you’re at a trade tasting. Then it’s a circus.

All photos in the post courtesy of Rich Buchanan.

Originally published on January 9, 2010.

I just realized my last post was the week after Thanksgiving. While that’s bad for the blog, it’s good for the store. My lack of blogging was due to a very busy holiday season. Sure, I had plans to post gift ideas every few days through Hanukah and up to Christmas. Then I would segue way into daily bubble suggestions prior to New Year’s Eve.

Obviously, it didn’t happen.

I barely even managed to get a Christmas newsletter out before Christmas. And the New Year’s Eve newsletter went out approximately sixteen hours before the ball drop. Since most people seem to be last minute shoppers, this could be considered a strategic plan…even though it actually was just plain old last minute planning.

So no holiday gift idea posts. No end of the year wrap up posts. No posts about “that customer” or wines you never knew you needed or my latest New York Times scoop (alright, I didn’t scoop the NYTimes in the last few weeks.)  No posts plugging my Sparkling Wine of the Month Club or listing my top 10, 25, or 100 wines of the year.  Not even a New Year’s resolutions post.

Nope. None of that. I was too busy selling wine!

Originally published on December 2, 2009.

Sometimes it’s the little things that make us happy. Like finally replacing the crumbly, dusty nubbins with a brand new box of long, clean, fresh chalk. This probably only applies to wine retailers with chalk boards, but for those in that category, you know what I’m talking about.

Bring on the holidays! I have new chalk!