"Collectibles" is Not a Dirty Word

You'll have to pardon my mustiness but I come from a collectible background. Several of my stores included what we called collectibles in their heyday. And before that, I carried antiques (a fancy name for old collectibles) in my Palm Springs store.

I advocate looking at collectibles in a different light in A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions (www.budurl.com/RetilersGuide) and did so when I was writing a column for Home Decor magazine. Imagine my delight when Nancy Gibbs of Time magazine fame wrote about the rush for election souveniers. Given a little time she may write about the rush for Olympics souvenirs.

When I talked about them I mentioned that we were originally gatherers--long before we were hunters. I even ventured that we are genetically coded for collecting. Then Gibbs mentioned that her kids are natural curators (a fancy word for collecting judiciously) including stuff from Happy Meals. And, lo! She remembered that Freud's theory "had to do with toilet training and the trauma of relinquishing a part of oneself."

So, now, are you retailers going to trust me to take a look at collectibles again? We want people to want more than one, right? Retailers of shoes have built-in collecitbles. We women gotta have our Keds, and boots, and house slippers and sandals.

So what fits with your product mix that is collectible? No you don't have to call them "collectible," but if you stock some, you're sure to turn a profit.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it: