Holiday Stress....

Crazy week in the life of an online retailer!

When I used to have our "brick and mortar" store, the planning for holiday merchandise and our store layout started clear back in May.  I used to think that our online business was not quite as time sensitive.  Last year, I was proved wrong, and was not ready for anything!

It was a great holiday season, but boy were we behind schedule the whole season.  This year, I am determined not to be in the same position as last year.

 It can't EVER be as bad as wrapping gifts for customers until we finally shut the doors on Christmas Eve (one year I ended up in the emergency room - it wasn't pretty...), but we will definitely have our act together better this year.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVED our customers, but I somehow always forgot about enjoying the holiday season for me.

We have been attending trade shows,(walking miles - I had the blisters to prove it!)  pouring through trade magazines, looking at tons of independent artists to feature, ripping out pages in catalogs, and generally spending hours, upon hours of research so that we can make a Coastal Christmas really happen this year!   (These stocking were a HIT last year!)

I know that our online customers are going to love the new holiday products that we will be adding over the next month, as well as all of the new beach house decor and gift items we've already added.  Here's a sneak peak of a few of them....

Beach House Holiday Stuff!

Coastal Home Decor and Gifts...

We are very excited about a holiday campaign that we will be running with Emily Henderson, from HGTV's  Secrets of a Stylist fame.  I do like her HGTV show, she seems like a real sort of person.  And I am super excited about exposing our growing little business to a wider audience.  Check out her blog, which is more like a magazine - Style by Emily Henderson.  What do you think?

After spending this week in front of the computer - I am ready for a break!  Tomorrow we head home to the Pacific Northwest. Can't wait to see our families, especially my kids, spend some time roasting smore's  and chasing crabs on beach.