First post to this forum

[psikes]

Hello All, about a month ago I made my Hello post to Bird Forum and mentioned that my wife, Lydia, and I were opening a wild bird store here in Washinton State. Many folks asked for news as we progressed. I hope this is a good place to post this info so here goes. We open on Saturday the 1st of March and it has been a very exciting time for us. It is very much like Christmas every day with boxes of new feeders, houses and accessories arriving. Some of the feeders are real eye openers and quality seems excellent on almost all of them. We are doing no internet sales so this is not a plea for your business, I am just greatly excited about the new gear I am getting to play with every day. If there is any interest I will post some impressions of some of the feeders and things we have in the shop.

If any of you do manage to come to Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island, please stop by for a cup of coffee and a chat.

Good Birding - Phil

[alan_rymer]

Phil
Please keep us informed of your progress. Not long to go to the BIG day.
Good Luck!.

[Tammie]

Best of luck to you Phil! Sounds like my kind of shop.

[Marysan]

I wish you the greatest success and personal fulfillment in your new business venture.

[psikes]

Thanks for all the good wishes sent our way. Only 3 more days to get things ready and hectic would be a good pace to slow down to!! I am still building display stands, trying to bag up smaller weights of feed and cleaning windows. Lydia is busily programming the cash register with all of our codes and the customers are literally banging on the doors to get in. While not even open yet we have sold enough to place our first re-orders. The best part is that we can't get the silly grins from our faces, this is too much fun to be called work.

Two great feeders we have both been blown away by are Rubicon and Stonewood. Both are made from recycled plastic milk jugs and they seem to be nothing short of indestructible. Take a look at them if you get a chance.

More to come..

Phil

[robinm]

Phil: I have relatives in Seattle who I hope to visit soon. I shall put you on my itinerary when I come over.

Good luck with the shop.

Robin

[Paul 42]

Best of luck with your venture. Nice to hear someone who obviously enjoys their "work" so much!! Certainly beats the factory (I know what I'm talking about)!!!

[LuBird]

Good Luck Phil and Lydia!!!! Don't forget to share your Opening Day with us!!!! It sounds as though it will be a roaring success!!!!

It would be fun to hear what is the hottest selling item. For some reason, typing this,I am getting butterflies in my stomach over your opening day and I am sure you have your own:gh:

[BirdWatcher]

Good luck to you with your venture!

Looking forward to more reports from you and Lydia.

BirdWatcher

[Toucha kent]

Good Luck I wish you all great success now and in the future.

[psikes]

Hello again. Well, our first day has come and gone. We are both exhausted and exhilirated. It was nice to meet so many new friends today and have the opportunity to talk to them about our feeders, seed, houses and other goodies. We sold more feeders than I thought we would and lots of seed (I had to bag more nyjer in the early afternoon!). Many knowledgeable folks came in and shared their experience with us.

All in all, it was a great day! We did a little more business than I think we had expected. Our only advertising was a small press release in the local paper (a community of about 20,000). For as small a town as we live in we were very incouraged with todays turnout. Please forgive the spelling mistakes, I am about to fall asleep at the keyboard. If you are thinking about doing something similar, go for it..

Thanks for the continued good wishes..

Phil & Lydia

[robinm]

Glad you had a successful first day - long may it continue

Robin

[T0ny]

Thanks for letting us know how things are going - all the best for the future.

Tony

[LuBird]

It sounds as though you had a Wonderful and Successful first Day! Good luck for all your future days,rest when you can and don't forget to take your vitamins:gh:

[Beverlybaynes]

Congratulations on a great first day!!

It's really wonderful to read about people doing things they love in the working world.

For me, although I enjoy my job for the most part, work interferes with life!

[wandalf]

YOu must feel as if you are in heaven. What a lovely spot to live and then to open a nature store. That area is simply divine. I loved my visits to the area.
Good fortune with your new business.

[psikes]

Things continue to improve with each day. I can finally ring up a sale on the cash register that doesn't total up to the nations deficit!! I only wish we had done this earlier. I can feel my sanity returning a little more every day and life is good. Sales are picking up as word gets around about our new store and the people coming in are just the greatest. Little kids are a real blast, and it isn't just the kid stuff that they are interested in. They are truly interested in the bird items and accessories we have. I hope to see you all in the store some day!!

Phil & Lydia

[Tammie]

Congratulations, Phil and Lydia, sounds like your new shop is a huge success. All the best to you for it to continue.

[Toucha kent]

psikes
thanks for the update I hope you and your wife continue to do good with your buisness. best wishes and good luck

[Screech]

Good to hear your "Big Day" was a success!

Continued success Lydia and Phil! Keep those "silly grins" going.