Not a Pink Saturday

Or Thoughts on My Shop 

 

There's no way around it.

My shop is GIRLY!

Half the walls are painted pale pink.  I carry pretty china, white linens, vintage women's clothing, shoes & bags, sewing collectibles, hatboxes, glitter in cut crystal salt shakers . . . you know, the things we all love!  I put white embroidered doilies under everything.

And while I am not the most sensitive person on the planet, I have been getting a bit bothered by the male customer's response.

A man came in Saturday and his first words were, "Oops!"

And then he turned around and walked out.


Comments like, "Nothing here for us guys," are much too common.  I have been feeling very defensive.

So yesterday afternoon I decided to see if I could make one area a little less off-putting to the men who wander in.

 

  I was having a tough time making the displays look good.  I wasn't sure what would work.  And let's be honest, the things I picked didn't look good to me.  There were no doilies on the shelves, no millinery flowers, no floral tea cups.

 

I called my friend Amy, the one who spent this summer helping me in the shop.  Her thought was, well I can't print her thought, but it ends with ". . . if they can't take a joke."  Which made me laugh.  She also reminded me that it's my taste which the shop reflects and I didn't need to change that!

I guess all I needed was someone to remind me to lighten up.

After that, it was fun to find things less frilly.

 

 Above this sign & planter I left Wendy Addison's Tinsel Trading glitter swallows hanging on the shutter.

So now when one comes into the shop, this is the cabinet they see.

It's not tools or fishing lures, but it's not pink or too floral either.

Of course when you walk to the back of the shop, this shelf is loaded up with pretty wedding goodies.

And while I've sold a number of things from this photo, these are still some of my favorite things!