Watchful Eye

Well, we are back from our winter buying trip to Dallas Gift Mart. I had no idea what to expect regarding travel during a pandemic and here was the irony: our plane was packed full, but only one of the four Starbucks in Terminal B was open for business because of social distancing requirements. Sounds right.

And when it came to the shopping market, each attendee had their temperature checked each morning upon entry and most showrooms were available by appointment only (and obviously everyone was required to wear a mask). Market is always such a good experience because it forces me to be out of my routine and that sparks creativity a bit. And being able to take my daughter is the best - her insight and opinions are invaluable and she is fun to spend the day with. She puts a lot of thoughtful effort into the merchandise we sell and that adds to the PJP experience. Admittedly, we like to shop together for any and every single thing, so three full days of shopping for PJP wasn’t a hard ask. (Minus the blisters from the miles walked in our quest for the cute things.)

Today, it was back to routine. While my daughter delved into Civics via Zoom in my office (that’s a 2021 mood, for sure), I delved deep into working on new inventory and pricing techniques that I learned last week. Jeanne worked on supervising new employees and keeping a keen eye on each pie. Frankly, it was all too peaceful and easy comparative to just a mere four weeks ago. January slays me.

In order to keep ourselves sufficiently stressed out, we are loading up our calendar with events. Our January epic pie tasting has sold out, but National Pie Day is planned for January 23rd. We’ll plan to make 1,000 tarts and sell them for $3 each. And after making 12,000 tarts in December, heck…we may make 2,000 or more just out of routine. There’s no stopping us after the training we’ve had in the final months of 2020. Plus, we have Jeanne’s watchful eye….