Worldwide.
We are back from Atlanta Gift Market and suffice it to say, two out of the three of us enjoyed three busy days of shopping. My daughter and I had the best time, as always. We found so much new and cute stuff for PJP and we can’t even wait for it to start arriving. Jason, on the other hand, was there for about 12 minutes before asking if they had a floor of electronics he could go look at. Joking aside, he did learn a lot about how we buy for PJP and how vendors take orders and schedule it for arrival. But that said, I don’t think he will be in any hurry to book his ticket to market this summer. As a direct quote, he says it was “overwhelming”. He’s definitely not wrong in that assessment. Thankfully, Ellery and I can shop for eight hours a day without hesitation.
Here’s a few items of note:
I worked quite a bit this afternoon on a mock up of the Team PJP schedule for both the Nifong and West End stores for our opening week. And woof, you know what’s not easy? Making two schedules. We definitely don’t have enough people and I definitely don’t have the logical decision making for scheduling 20 people in two different locations.
A few weeks ago, the Associated Press interviewed me about the increased cost of goods in our small business. This morning we woke up to multiple Google alerts from newspapers and television news stations who reported my interview. I have no idea how my rant about the absurd cost of pecans in this market turns into a nationwide story.
Scratch that - worldwide, I guess. It was reported in the The Loop - “breaking news on the go from the Caribbean’s most-downloaded app”. Do they eat pie in Trinidad & Tobago? Either way, I would be happy to visit and give my opinion in person to any Caribbean country.
Woman’s Day magazine also asked us for some thoughts about making Cherry Pie at home. We were honored, especially because it can be found at every checkout stand in grocery stores across America. Our tips are on newsstands now.
I ruined four batches of Lemon pie today, and that almost never happens. And the fruit team struggled with Cherry pie. In common, those both have cornstarch. I actually wondered if someone filled the ingredient bin with flour instead of cornstarch, but that didn’t seem to be the case. And so now we are just perplexed about our wayward cornstarch issues. What could possibly go wrong with cornstarch at the cornstarch factory, but it’s odd. I’d be happy to share my theories with Trinidad & Tobago, if they are interested…
