It's not (just) business...it's personal.

Had I been born with fine bones and near a city that had a ballet troupe, I might have been a ballerina. However, that wasn't ever meant to be MY story.

Mine was a sometimes sad but nevertheless mostly happy childhood. I was creative from the start....my teachers knew that about me, at least. Oh, and my older sister...she could see that I had a natural talent to sew and create things with my hands. Thank God for her being in my life because who knows where I would be if she hadn't encouraged me to pursue my dreams.

I own a clothing boutique, yes. But it is not like any other clothing shop that I have ever seen and I say that as an objective observer, not as a bragging thing. Maybe if my store was more "normal" and not so "personal" I could sell it and do something else for a while that I love doing, like styling for magazines, photo shoots or other such things.

But it is too much a part of me to ever be sold to any one person who may or may not know how to take care of it that way I do. It is me. So, everything about Tattered Rose is personal and eclectic & different because that is what I am. Good or bad, it is the way things are.

So these Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas starting in October continual sale tactics do not sit well with me, personally. Why? It is too much. Too much selling. Too much pressure for people to buy now! It is impersonal and greed-oriented. I am a retailer, of course, so if I don't sell stuff, I don't stay in business and I really LOVE having my store and bringing in wonderful things for my customers to add to their wardrobes. But I do not wish to wave the message around annoyingly intruding on anyone's life that they must buy now, everything is on sale, buy buy buy! It seems wrong to me, somehow.

I never want my customers to feel uncomfortable but at the same time, I have things to sell. Still it is more than just about selling stuff. It really is personal for me. It is sharing a part of my self and my taste with my customers and letting them see the way they could dress and how they can incorporate this romantic clothing and jewellery into the lives they already have. 

Please don't ever think for one moment that I am apathetic about selling because there would be no point in me having a shop if I never wanted to sell anything that's in it. I simply don't want to do it by jumping on the guerrilla selling bandwagon...like the Black Fridays of the retail world. 

On that note....I personally invite you, customers of old and of recent times, to come in. Explore. Try on. Fall in love with something you know will make you feel wonderful every time you wear it. Then buy it because you are supporting a small local business and are part of the Tattered Rose world....and this is a way of taking a little piece of us home with you.

We're a little bit different and it IS personal for us.

With love & affection.

Carol
Tattered Rose 
♥