Second Hand Plans

 

 I know that I disappeared from thr internet for eight months or so. This was., because I was attempting to open a thriftstore. It all started with a 70+ page business plan that I wrote in an attempt to realistically find out if  they are as fun to run as they are to shop,

 

 

They are!

And it is a wonderful thing that I have accumulated nearly 500 glass vases, 257 blenders, countless coffee cups, random things like a giraffe costume and wheel from a circus unicycle.

The business plan called for two people for operations, In January, Nicole had said she was coming to co-own and operate "Play It Again Jo's"...with her managing the retail operation- which a full time job, I would have been managing inventory acquisition, sorting, restoration, and delivery to the retail operation I remember havinh a conversation with Nicole where she stated, Wow! We're business owners!" As with anything else to do with us, her enthusiasm quickly faded, and before long she had stopped askinh questions or offering suggestions. When I pointed that out and asked if she was still coming, she would say, "Yes Jo, I've just started a new job, I'm getting oriented and I've been exhausted," So, I told her I was overwhelmed, and we needed to get her here asap,,,there were crucial things with the store set up that she needed to be part of. Meanwhile as the weeks crept by, she would call less frequently, yawn during the calls,. and give one word responses to questions about her day, ask me nothing about the store itself....and become defensive if I expressed concern. Finally, we set a target opening date of May 5th...and I was to go get her immediately after. By this time the store was seriously compromised by having only a single operator handling remodeling (the building had been a welding shop before I came).acquiring inventory, sorting cleaning,/repairing donations that kept being dropped off in the driveway, handling liability insurance quotes, setting metchandise displays and pricing after painting and nailing up shelves.I literally worked 16 hour days for weeks on end, hearing less from Nicole by the day.

Finally there was a breaking point, and we had the argument where she stated she "was done"-a thing both of us has said no less than 4 billion times each in the course of the relationship. I immediately started spreading the word that I needed a business partner. I was exhausted. I tried four different people out with varying degrees of disaster. Supposed friends had also taken to stopping by under the guise of "helping"..which actually turned out to be more "helping themselves..." Over the course of the next few months, literally thousands of dollars worth of clothing, jewelry, collectibles, supplies, tools and knik knacks disappeared. One of the potential co-owners even went so far as to attempt taking out a capital loan in the business name, She also wrote a check on a closed account for our storage (which I had unknowingly reimbursed her cash for) and sorting unit-which left me abruptly dealing with a m manager's lock keeping us from most of our inventory. I ended up recovering it and having aa near warehouse sized unit's worth of things dumped onto the driveway-where much of it stayed. My truck clutch went out and I was unable to transport anything.

So....I think that the universe may have been telling me that it wasnt the time or the place to do this. Yet. I closed the store, and I can't even describe how awesome it feels to be able to go out again without feeling pressure from a "to-do" list as long as my arm. Without storage I ended up losing about half the inventory when shaqdy people stepped up with offers to either consign items or to temporarily keep them. Still, I learned a lot this time around. I also learned that when someone can devote their full attention to the retail side, the thriftstore was a money maker. Just by word of mouth when opened for sales andwe would average about $500.00 per day. There was just no way to maintain it with one, My landlords were sick of the mess I could never address (and I really tried-to the point of compromising my own health)...

At the end I'm lucky I didn't die under an avalanche

To discover what I now know to be true about my supposed spouse and partner has devastated me again. For the last time, however. I am setting things more equal so that I may move on without rage at her deception, numbness, absolutely selfish ways having been totally profitable for her. That is a thing that has kept me up at night. She flippantly played with my store...my only source of income and survival...taking for granted the fact-even though I told her repeatedly-that by holding co-ownership for her, I was sinking farther and farther behind.

She finally made it down early September...not to see me, but to check on her storage unit. She came drunk. We argued. She pointed the finger at my weight loss and absolutely insisted it was due to drug use. That's the one thing it's actually not related to. but she wouldn't hear me.She came to walk through the store. The same that I had just spent all night trying frantically to make as ordered as I could before she saw it. I kNOW HER. I was exhausted, defeated, unexpectedly facing the love of my life with so much riding on her willingness to see beyond the problems I was buried under. Halfway through touring it, she stopped and said, "you call this a store?" I walked out. I asked her to leave. The love of my life has turned out to be nothing but a parasitic blight on my existence, And hers

The next week the rent was stolen with the entire bank bag....along with another laptop. The one that had the business plan on it. I managed to raise the rent again, but it also disappeared-with the woman who had been purporting to be very interested in being involved in the business, She was involvedm alright, I raised the rent a third time It came two days too late.

I never officially opened the doors. I could never get ahead of the curve with only myself to carry the load. I realized  recently that I did not have a day off from February 14th, until the end of September whenI finally surrendered to the inevitable.

I am not done though. "Try It Again Jo's" will emerge soon, with a different name, look, and approach to the second hand biz, It has me excited again. The proposed location is even better, and I have people involved now who are actually giving of themselves and their time without the intention of ripping off the store-but of being involved in something they see as potentially great..