The Whys of March

GIVING TREE JEWELRY - A SMALL BUSINESS ASKS A BIG QUESTION
but first, a poem...

The Whys Of March
Where oh where have our customers gone?
Could it be, we’ve done something wrong?
I have a confession,
I think it’s the recession…

But what do we do if it’s “us”?
So here’s where you mention
Without worry or tension
Just what it is we can change.
We already Tweet, Digg, Kaboodle
Blog, YouTube, and Yelp!
But apparently,
We still need your help…
Are we simply not doing enough?
Is the issue with our customer service,
Or simply we don’t have the right stuff?
Tell us- we promise we are ready,
And can turn off our ‘hearts‘ and be heady
Whatever it takes, we will do
Giving Tree matters so much to us
And
we hope...
To you too!!!

THANK YOU!


A Letter from Judith and Rachel:

Welcome to the “Whys Of March”- When we admit to you that it has been a VERY hard year, and we ask you, our dear customers, what it is we can do better, to be your first designer jewelry and gift giving option. We have never done this before, but we have to do something, because we just don’t get it. And we want to. When we look back at the things we have done, in the past two years, we have to say, our resolve and dedication to this business, is staggering, even to us.
We were one of the first businesses of our kind to really embrace Facebook. We ran 5 Facebook-built contests and gave away over 10k in jewelry. We created a ‘custom quote‘ contest and designed jewelry around our customers contributions. We set up a fund for Haitian Earthquake relief and raised over 3k. We are now setting up a fund for the efforts in Japan.
We started ‘Giving Tree Giving Back‘ and made significant contributions to half a dozen charities that are near and dear to our customers. We hosted a team on Stand Up To Cancer. We have blogged, consistently, for over 2 years. We have our own YouTube channel, and we did an ‘artist of the week‘ special with lots of different videos. We Tweet, daily. We gave away a gift certificate every week for over a year as part of our ‘Win on Wednesday‘ campaign. We ran our second annual ‘12 Days of Joy‘ promotion and gave away a piece of designer jewelry every day, for 12 days, in December.
We dedicated Thursdays to just being grateful.
Personally, we sold both our cars and refinanced our home to keep the business going another year, but after realizing the business alone couldn’t possibly support both mother and daughter, we made the very hard decision to have Rachel leave the company to try to find work in the big city.
We are in a tight spot. And we are asking for help. Not orders, necessarily, although those always help, but any insight you might have for us.
Is our site too confusing?
Are there much better deals elsewhere?
Do you prefer to shop directly from the artist?
Does our selection let you down?
This is your chance to tell us. We are listening. And we appreciate you.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for being a part of this journey with us. It may not always be smooth, but we are hoping it continues.
With So Much Love,
Judith, Rachel, Laura and Courtney



Anyone who completes our survey before April 1st is entered to win a Sterling Fearlessness Slate Necklace from Me&Ro - An awesome piece of jewelry and our number one best seller.

Click here to answer our survey and be entered into win a Me&Ro Fearlessness Slate.

THANK YOU!

Feeling Like A True New Yorker - One Sample Sale At A Time

RACHEL IN THE CITY - COLUMN ONE


Sometimes, it really is the little things that make us feel like we are on our way or, in my case, that we have arrived.

The place I am trying to “arrive” is New York City. Although I moved to the city seven months ago, I still usually feel like I am an outsider, overwhelmed and fumbling through my days-just me and 8 million of my closest friends. I usually feel that I have the wrong address, took the wrong train line, was overcharged, left out, or just not at all “in the know” that this city demands that you are, all the time.

So it feels like a big victory to me this morning when, on my day off and having a relaxed read of the new “New York Magazine” my eyes land on the section of sample sales for the week. The one I zoom in on is the Barneys Warehouse sale. Up To 80% off! Too bad I missed it, I think, until a quick calculation on my finger tips corrects me. It’s today! In an hour! I can make it!

Here is where I admit I have never been to a sample sale. And also that I basically loathe shopping. I love the results of shopping, something new and fabulous that in a silly but important way can make me feel new and fabulous-it’s just that I can usually think of about a hundred things I would rather do with my limited free time than shopping in a big department store with floors and floors of ‘stuff’.

I get to the address of the sale with ten minutes to spare. I am a little surprised that I am the only one outside. Five minutes later, a woman in a security guard uniform steps out and I think she is going to open the doors and let me in, but instead, she looks at me in a bemused but not unkind way and says “honey, I think you are wanting to go around to the back, where the entrance is.”

“Oh!” and..moments later, OH! Where the usual Barneys Warehouse entrance on 18^th street where I just was had resembled a ghost town (cue the tumbleweed) the temporary entrance on 17^th street was… wow. A sea of women, AND men, in fact I was shocked to see an almost equal mix- was swishing and lurching for the doors. When they opened three minutes later, this ocean of human beings was met, immediately, by another. Before we were allowed into the store, at least 100 security guards spilled out.

They lined the street, the entrance, the stairwell, and every five feet along the strange, makeshift ‘tunnel’ that had been set up in the basement of what was usually a very well behaved department store. The first huge room was devoted to men's suits. The next five were for the women. I was, instantly, and irrevocably- overwhelmed.

Still totally new to this sort of frenzied shopping, it takes me a little while to realize how the game is played. At one point, I leave a sweater on top of a rack while I try on a shirt, about a foot away. One pull of fabric over my eyes, and the next moment I see the sweater is GONE! I think I catch a sleeve of it dangling from another woman's very large pile of clothes, as she races to the check out. Speaking of the check out, it takes me twenty minutes and three security guards to find my way there myself.

What did I end up buying? A light brown wool hat, the kind that my grandmother could make in a day with just love and four dollars of yarn, but for some reason, Barneys saw fit to have it originally priced at $150.00 (75% off at sale) and one army green colored shirt for $29, originally $149.00. Not that I didn’t want a LOT of other things, but I am not yet in the place in my life where a blazer that was once $2,180 marked down to $890 feels like a fabulous, ‘not to be missed’ deal. I can, and did, miss that.

That’s not the point. The point is, I went to my first big city, big deal, sample sale. I was at the right place, at the right time. I was officially ‘in the know’ and I knew it.

It may be a very small and silly victory over this city that challenges me to be more confident, independent and downright brave than I have ever been, but it feels like a victory none the less.

I can’t wait to see (and share) what the next week brings. And now that I have a new fancy hat, I am feeling even more ready for it.


RACHEL IN THE CITY is a bi-monthly column written by Rachel for the Girls of Giving Tree blog. She will share stories (horror and otherwise) of her new life in NYC- the worlds most fashionable, inspiring, and overwhelming place. Stay tuned.