Here are some non-Pyrex, non-church cookbook buys from the past weekend. New to our Toy Department are these charming (though not Consumer-Product-Safety-Commission approved) plastic rattles for Baby.
Also available in pink.
Also new to Toys, and also not approved by the CPSC, are a bunny rattle, a swan bath toy and some extremely dangerous teething keys.
Available in our Craft Department in a variety of colors is our line of paper parasols, some with patriotic ribbons.
Regrettably, our buyer was able to procure only one stars and stripes umbrella, shown here with a 1955 U.S. Geologic Survey map of the United States.
That map, along with a few others, will be available in our Back-to-School Department. Also featured in Back-to-School (a phrase that will not be uttered again until at least Labor Day): a vintage wire in-basket, and a painted milkglass apple for Teacher.
The Housewares Department is featuring a snap-front apron, a dress pot holder and a napkin holder. The apron, by the way, is perfect for lunch ladies. So maybe it should go in the Back-to-School Department. I don't know. Retailing can be very confusing. (Fortunately, I'm nowhere close to selling any of this stuff. This is a make-believe department store.)
We'll move to a department where I have a high level of comfort: Christmas! These ornaments came in the bottom of a bigger box, and while they're nothing all that special, the colors are pretty.
Here are three - or maybe two and a half - Christmas trees. Some of us are more excited than we ought to be at the prospect of decorating the plastic tree. The trees in the green planters mix the charm of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree with the appeal of the bottle-brush tree.
Just look at those lovely snow-frosted branches. One of the trees is missing its top limb, and the other is a little thin on its lower limbs, but a trip to our Repair Department will fix that.
This delightful cardboard sleigh came with a Santa, but it's missing its reindeer. No problem! Our Repair Department has some reindeer missing their sleigh!
Finally, some miscellaneous Christmas: a plastic Santa candy container, a wax Santa ornament and a Rudolph ornament. Our buyer nearly killed the wax Santa not once but twice, first by leaving him in a hot car, and then leaving him in the sun on the porch. By some miracle he survived, and our buyer promises to do better in the future.
I like your store.
I had one of those clear plastic trees - I used it at easter and put gum drops on the ends. It was cute that way until our babysitter ate all the gum drops off!
Posted by: Tina | July 12, 2010 at 06:09 PM
Once again, I'm loving all of the things "your buyer" has procured!
Posted by: HeidiAnn | July 12, 2010 at 07:06 PM
Your buyer is the smartest shopper ever! LOVE those plastic rattles! My kids had those...many years ago! What good memories! I need to find one for my dollies! CUTE! ♥
Posted by: Lavender Dreams | July 12, 2010 at 07:44 PM
Your buyer has a keen eye for what's in! But tell her that next time she cannot come back unless she has more than one of those stars and stripes umbrellies, so that your store can sell them to certain people who like things with stars and stripes. Thank you.
Posted by: Carol @ Old Glory Cottage | July 12, 2010 at 08:05 PM
Amazing shop. I bet some of these don't make the sales floor! I got one of those rattles in a box lot, once. It was faded, paint worn off and melted in one spot....SIGH.
Posted by: Shelley Germann | July 12, 2010 at 09:13 PM
You make me laugh..... *This is a make-believe department store.*
Posted by: Jenn | July 12, 2010 at 09:46 PM
Okay dear...first we have the destruction of 1960s centerpieces and decapitated angels on a past post. Now we have a wax santa left in the sun TWICE! I am beginning to wonder .....
what are you make believe department store hours and do you have any openings for employment...I think it sounds like a great place to work
Posted by: laurie magpie ethel | July 12, 2010 at 10:03 PM
I am hoping your buyer (or perhaps the store manager) decides to put that apron in the Etsy Shop vs. the Antique Mall -- I personally know someone who desperately needs a pretty snap-front apron.
Posted by: Martha | July 13, 2010 at 11:24 AM
I just read through a dozen or so posts as I have been away for a few weeks. I realized when I was through how animated I was while reading. Much like my youngest was at the aquaruim gift shop recently...bouncing up and down with excessive hand clapping. Chanting "I WANT DAT" like 400 times.
Your words and pictures are the best!
PS You are too hard on your buyer.
Posted by: Freckled Hen | July 13, 2010 at 11:46 AM
LOL I have one of those plastic trees! The clear plastic one, I think it's a 'snack tree' You can put olives, bits of cheese etc. on the branches. Weird right, I'm not kidding! I have a picture to prove it if you want to see. I have put wooden spools on mine in my craft room...
Posted by: Kim | July 13, 2010 at 01:52 PM
A snack tree - how cool is that? And I loved the story about the wax santa! Wonderful post and made me smile, still smiling!
Love,
Elise
Posted by: Elise | July 14, 2010 at 12:26 PM
The plastic tree is absolutely for gum drops. When I was a kid in the 50s we had one of them and we always stuck gum drops on the branches.
Posted by: Sue H. | July 14, 2010 at 03:02 PM
What great finds, those baubles look so pretty! Have a sweet day!
Posted by: Torie Jayne | July 15, 2010 at 03:22 AM