Here in the shop we have been working hard to mix up our inventory, add more Vintage / Industrial to our Western / Rustic style.  We have also been working hard to make sure that the folks who wonder through the shop have LOTS of ideas on how to use the items we have for sale.  

While we love our little town of Weston MO more than any place on earth, sometimes we have a hard time selling Rustic / Western / Vintage /Industrial so we have to give hints & IDEAS any time we can.

Our solution is to make IDEA Boards & post them all over the store.  Kind of like our own little version of Pinterest.  It has added a lot of interest & comments in the shop, and it has been a lot of fun for us to get more ideas on how to use what when & where…  thought I’d share with all of you other SHOP GIRLS looking for fresh ideas for your own little stores, pop ups, booths & markets.

Carry on with yer bad selves.. buy, sell & enjoy every moment!! xoxofancy

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Technorati Tags: antique store, gift store ideas, merchandising ideas, merchant, retail store owner

Cactus Creek moved into our current location ~ 400 Main Street, Weston MO ~ in October of 2009.  The building was originally built in 1910 by the Doppler Family and has always been referred to as the ‘Doppler Building’.  Since then it has been everything from a shoe store ~ to a Western Auto ~ to a hardware store ~ to a barber shop/bar {barber shop in front, bar in the back}.  We have done some work to research the history of the building and it’s foot print on Main St., so I was so excited today when the local museum brought us a copy of this photo.

We believe that the foot print of our building, which is located at the intersection of Main & Market Streets, was the sight of the first “store” ever built in Weston MO.  Our little town is celebrating it’s 175th anniversary this year so that was likely in the 1850’s or so, that’s my guess anyway.  The photo above is of that original store which was called Cody Hemphouse.  Weston was a tobacco & hemp town that survived by supplying goods to people heading west on the Missouri River. 

The most significant thing to me about the Cody Hemphouse was that it was built by Buffalo Bill Cody’s uncle.  We have read that Buffalo Bill use to spend summers with his uncle and work in his store.  THAT means that Buffalo Bill Cody might have actually been a store clerk on our little corner way back when… how cool is that??

The Cody Hemphouse eventually burnt down and that is when the Dopplers built our building.  They operated a mercantile on the main level and lived in the apartment on the second level.  More about that later….

BIG thanks to the Weston Historical Museum for the photo and for all of the research they are doing to find out more about the stores on Main Street in Weston MO!!   I’ll post more pics & info as we get it… i love this stuff. xofancy

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400 Main Street HERE

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Technorati Tags: buffalo bill cody, Cody Hemphouse, historic weston, Main Street Weston, weston mo

At the Cactus Creek Shop we are very lucky to have big windows right on Main St.  We always try to do a unique & different window display but in 2012 I want to push us a little bit further to create better and better window displays.  I started this one on New Years Day and for the first time made a Pinterest Board to inspire me.  I’ve posted all of the inspirational pics below… we took a smidgen from each of the photos and created our own look.  More pics of the windows {and other pics of store} are HERE.

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Technorati Tags: merchandising windows, retail window display, store window displays, window display, winter window display

I have been hearing about this book, Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk, for a while and FINALLY checked it from the library. I read the entire thing in less than 24 hours + felt ridiculously amped up about Cactus Creek and 2012 and LIVING WITH PASSION.  Buy this book… no matter where you are in life, your career, or knowing what YOUR passion is. Buy it & read it & get ready for a fresh start in the New Year!!!!!! 

The final paragraph in the book sums it all up: “…true success – financial, personal, and professional – lies above all in loving your family, working hard, and living your passion.  In telling your story.  In authenticity, hustle and patience.  In caring fiercly about the big and the small stuff.  In valuing legacy over currency.”

p.s. If you order it quickly {I’m planning to get several for stocking stuffers}, then you can still get it in time for Christmas!!!  Hope you’re having a great Monday morning… xo fancy

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Technorati Tags: books we love, business book, crush it, passion books, shop girls

This week we re-did the Cactus Creek STORE ~ took the whole thing apart, moved it all around, and put it all back together.  We try to do this at least four times a year… I’d like to do it six {or even eight} times a year but it’s a BIG task & takes several 12-hour days of hard labor, not to mention the absolute disaster that we make in the store in the process.

I am very very lucky to have my Mother-in-Law Connie who helps me with this daunting task… she and I have worked Cactus Creek together for almost 11 years and we can get the entire store done {virtually without talking} in a very quick manner.  She likes things crooked.  I usually like things straight.  It makes it look like WE did it… One time I hired someone help us.  She did a fantastic job, but it didn’t feel like our store anymore… a testament to the importance of the owner having their hand in the merchandising.

I snapped a few pictures before we left tonight… it feels so good to cross this project off the list for the summer!!

BIG thanks to Connie… I couldn’t do this without you. Thank you, love you,t

MORE after the break >>>>>>>>>

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I have tried the online store thing before ~ about eight years ago when it was still pretty archaic.  I found it tedious to keep the site up to date, posting, shipping, blah blah blah.  BUT I’m a die hard merchant & always looking for a new way to get out there to new customers and new readers for CCD.com.   Soooo… here we go again into the world of ETSY {I tried it last year but lacked the motivation and man power to keep it going}.  This time I am determined to show off some of the killer vintage inventory we have here in the store and I think folks would love to see {and hopefully buy}.  

 The other big reason I’ve dragged tail getting into online commerce is that I don’t want to take away from anything the CCD sponsors are doing.  The original intent of CCD.com is to showcase the people, businesses, places & things that we love about the Rustic * Western * Vintage Marketplace.  In order to keep the website running I have a list of sponsors who we do our best to promote, and they support us in turn.  I want to do everything I can to make sure they are successful so PLEASE check out the Merchandise LINKS & STORES We Love and shop with the awesome businesses that are listed in the different merchandise sections ~ this is a great way to find the best stores in the country that feature Rustic * Western * Vintage style.

That said, I’m going to take another dive into ETSY and the world of online shopping.  The Cactus Creek STORE primarily carries vintage items and that is what I intend to sell online.  I hope that you’ll enjoy getting a peek into this store I love so much.  Cactus Creek is my joy ~ the store, the website, the people, businesses, the journey & the things we find along the way.  thanks for checking it out… and holler if you need anything!!

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When we first moved to Weston MO almost nine years ago I moved the Cactus Creek Store out of the barn where it had all started, and into a different kind of barn here in our little town.  I was young, newly married, still green at running a business, and WILDLY enthusiastic about getting involved with local business owners, and the chamber.  I had that ‘take me, use me, I’m the one you’ve been waiting for to make it all better’ attitude that is so endearing in the eyes of new-comers.  I worked and toiled for two years to do my part, in the meantime I had our first son who probably attended more Chamber meetings than people who have lived here their entire lives!!  Looking back I learned a lot during that time and while it had frustrating moments, it was not at all in vain.

The best part of those years was the relationships I forged {they mean all the more when you’re a newbie and desperate for someone to call on}.  Often the people you meet in chamber organizations share many of your same interests ~ retail, marketing, shopping & being entirely too opinionated.  During that time I met most of the friends in Weston MO that I consider my besties ~ they get me, what I love, and after nine years they have seen my enthusiasm fluctuate and finally settle at 400 Main St.  One of these wonderful friends is a lady named Marilyn.

Marilyn is my undeclared mentor ~ she has been in retail in one way or another for 30 something years {most of those in Weston} ~ she has grown children, and now grandchildren who are the same ages as my boys.  Marilyn never stops, and unquestionably goes above & beyond for our little town.  In the last couple of years Marilyn’s work has been primarily on the two Antique Shows that Weston MO hosts every year.  I have eased myself onto the committees for these two antique shows over the last year, thinking that maybe {someday} I would want to get involved again with the business of chambers, committees, and town ’stuff’.

Yesterday morning at breakfast Marilyn officially turned everything {both shows!!} over to me and another bestie here in Weston, Christy S.  WAIT, I’m not ready for this ~ I was thinking I could maybe take a leadership role in a few years ~ when all the boys were in school ~ after I had a moment to breath.  But it’s time for Marilyn to take a step back {health stuff, she’s gonna’ be fine, no worries}, so it’s now up to me and Christy S.  EGADS.

Sooo, ready or not here we go, ready to roll and promote the H-E-double-L out of the Weston MO Antique Shows.  The first show is the 29th Annual Lions Club Antique Show which will be Friday, April 22 & Saturday, April 23, 2011.  This has always been one of my favorite weekends to be in Weston… the first ray of spring sun always shines that weekend.  Everyone is excited to get out of their winter camp and officially begin their antique show/flea market/estate sale binge.  Last year we had over 70 vendors and this year we’re going to try for even more.  You coming or what??

The other Weston MO Antique Show is the 10 Mile Trail Antique, Art & Garden Show.  This year that one will be held on Friday, August 5 &  Saturday, August 6, 2011.  All of these images are from the 10 Mile Trail in 2010.  It’s an event that has a unique concept for Mid-West antique shows ~ it spans a 10 mile area in and around Weston MO, at four different locations that host a wide range of dealers.  Who knows??  Maybe we’ll even have five or six locations for 2011…

So Christy S. and I are ready to put our stamp on the Weston MO Antique Shows and I’m sure I’ll be bugging you to death trying to get you up here/over here/down here to be at them both… thanks in advance for your tolerance in my endearing enthusiasm.  To keep up with it all ~ and to see more pics ~ check out our FB page right HERE.  thanks bunches… xofancy

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 Cactus Creek has been in business for over 10 years now. We started the original store in the barn behind the home that Brent and I shared with his parents when we first got married. We had a great first couple of years in that barn in Kansas City ~ we were open on the weekends and did a few shows around town. Then we all picked up and moved to Weston MO, just north of Kansas City, and that’s when we opened the first store. The store got big fast and then I got pregnant. Then I got pregnant again and I just couldn’t figure out how to do it all so we closed that big store. Then I got pregnant again.

Last fall, nine years and three baby boys since it all began, I was starting to once again feel the itch to have a store. I had identified all of my fears and doubts, weighed the options, and realized that whether I liked it or not, I was a merchant at heart and I was going to have to figure out how to make it work. The tipping point was a conversation I had with a friend that made me realize that having a store, greeting strangers day in day out, visiting with them like they are old friends, and sometimes being the only smile, open ear, or shoulder to cry on, they’ll get all day, was a great opportunity to share my love and faith whenever I could.

Which leads me to the scarves. I hesitated to tell this story but decided that it might keep another store owner or shop keeper motivated to make it through, so here goes…

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Last week’s trip to the LAKE was the last hurrah before the boys started school last Wednesday.  1st Grade for the big boy, new preschools for the other boys.  I’m very ready, like every other Momma in the world, for a routine and some rules to live by for a while.  It was a great, though, having the 1st grader with me in the store every day this summer…

{Delivery basket designed for Shop Kid scooters for the purpose of delivering notes from one store owner to another.}

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The most amazing thing happened this weekend.  I left town without the lap top, turned off my cell phone, and took a BREAK.  You know what happened??  The store survived without me.  It was still there this morning looking just the way it had when I left.  AND I had sooo much fun with my boys.  We fished and swam and tubed {OMG, I’m in so much pain from tubing!!}, we ate and drank and LAUGHED. 

While we were away someone asked me if I worry about the store when I’m gone.  I told him “No, I quit that a long time ago ’cause I know that it doesn’t do any good.”  And I meant it… now I’m feeling refreshed and recharged and ready to face back to school and the frenzy of fall with the peace of knowing that if it gets to be too much I can always take a BREAK and back away for a few days and it’ll all still be there when I return.

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