I guess me and my daughter in law must have talked about starting a business together for about a decade before her cousin came down with breast cancer, and had to sell her bridal boutique in a popular mall in the next town over from us. So in the end we were kind of thrown into it together.

Fortunately the shop did have a steady clientele that was directed in by various wedding planners, local pastors, florists, and various other business people in the area that had a hand in weddings that took place around town. Also it is the only shop of its type within 30 miles, and that definitely helps a lot.

Even so, just like so many other businesses in the country, when the most recent recession set in, things began to slump. At first it was a gradual decline but then it picked up to the point where our total business was down a full 50%, but our rent in the mall sure didn't drop. It stayed the same.

Well it was a sad day when we had to let our only two employees go, and it was sad for two reasons. The first one is of course Bridget and Dianne had both become to be considered friends over the course of the two years they had been working in the store. Then the other bummer was that now me, and Denise had to run the shop full time with no days off.

So there we were together day in and day out, puttering around the store rearranging, decorating and brainstorming together on ways that we could drum up new business to get the cash register ringing better, but nothing was working. That was nothing until one afternoon as we were getting ready to close up for the night, and a sales lady walked in with a complete new line of products.

What she had was an extensive line of wedding accessories for hair, and they were incredibly fetching. So many styles that I never even knew existed, including absolutely real looking faux flowers in a host of designs, and even mod new charm clips that she insisted were the latest up and coming trend.

Well after she explained that we didn't have to pay so much as one penny because she would advance us the complete setup on consignment and that also included the racks and display case, how could we say no. We simply had nothing to lose and as I noted, they really looked fantastic.

So to make a long story short she was back bright and early the very next morning, with everything we needed to expand into a far more extensive line of this new product line. Now of course we did carry some already but it all was a limited selection, and it certainly didn't come close to what Patsy had to offer us.

Now if you are want me to tell you that our new extensive line of wedding accessories for hair has been an “explosive” success I won't because it hasn't. They have been steady sellers though, so they're by no means a flop. People like them and they are buying them which is nice. They have also worked to served us notice that if we keep our ears perked for similar new product ideas; we are going to make it.