25th January 2011

Haven't been blogging for the past few weeks. Been busy running around both outlets serving customers in the shop and also work on the new arrivals and deliver them to the outlets for sale. Been so tired lately. Intially wasn't able to make it for any svc/cg. But managed to go for 1 svc & cg. One more weekend to go. Few more days to chiong for more sales before we close for CNY.

My feet's killing me after each day of work esp during the weekends. Super suan. For the past couple of weekends, we've been having 4 figure sales for both sat and sun in both outlets. Last sat was super tiring. I was working in Iluma alone as last min the PT who's supposed to come on that day cannot make it as she is not feeling well. The CNY weekend crowd is crazy. The crowd comes in non-stop. Like tsunami (LOL! the good kind). Didn't even had the time to go to the toilet/eat. Only had my dinner when I got home after 11pm (b4 that I ate at ard 10am). Mum came down to help me later that day. Weekday sales are not too bad either. By the looks of it, we WILL be able to BEAT Jan 2010's sales for both outlets.

With CNY only 8 days away, we're expecting more crowd to come in. Have found another full timer as our china staff has some problems with the extension of her work permit. There's a high possibility that her work permit won't get extended. However, she doesn't seem to like working with this new full timer and doesn't want to train him up. Keep telling us to get rid of him saying that he cannot make it. But all of us think that he has good work attitude, willing to learn and sales not bad. Think china staff feels threatened that her place in the company will soon be taken over by this new full timer. We can't wait after she returns back to China b4 training another full timer. So right now, I am personally training this new full timer. For the next few days will be having 2 people manning each outlet on weekdays and 3 people manning each outlet on weekends. Btw, have checked out the rental of a shop in the new Clementi Mall. Rental there is crazy la! It's abt the double the rental of our shop bugis or our shop in far east which are both in the city area. @_@

We'll be closing Far East outlet on 2nd to 5th Feb for CNY. As for Iluma, we'll be closing the outlet there 1 day earlier as I'll be away in M'sia with my parents and younger sis from the 1st. Spending 4 days there at my parents' hometown. Still remember that it was in M'sia during last yr's CNY that I signed up for SOT 2010. Abt 1 wk b4 the closing date. It's been 1 yr already! Time flies! I miss SOT 2010 T25. Didn't even make it for ANY of the team outings that were organised after SOT. :(

11th January 2011

Nothing much to blog except for work. Boring right? LOL! This is my 18th day working continuously since Christmas Day! 20 more days to go. Will be going to M'sia during the CNY period.

As I've got to be in the shop and can't work on the new arrivals, mum and our maid work on them from home. And after mum have delivered the new arrivals to the outlets, they will have to work on those slower moving stocks that are being pulled back home from the shops so as to make way for the new arrivals. Before the new arrvials can be delivered to the outlets I'll have to have all the new arrivals data keyed in and have it transferred into the POS systems in both outlets. Thank God for the invention of laptop and excel which I can use to key in all the new arrival data while working in the shop and save on my usb thumbdrive then I'll have them transfered into the POS system in both outlets. Mum doesn't know how to transfer the data so I have got to go down to both shops to do so. Accounts are piling up again and I don't have time to work on them as I have got to be in the shop. A lot to catching up to do after CNY.

Have met all sorts of customers esp during these past few days. Love serving those very "shuang kuai" customers and those who can chat with you about anything under the sun. But there are also those customers who will count EVERY single cent with you. Whatever they do and whoever they maybe we still have to serve them with a smile. That's the retail/service line. My FT and I met the most ULTIMATE customer on sunday. Dunno what other words I can describe that family. Can even ask me after they have paid for their items and become a member if the new arrivals will ever become $15 sales items and when. =_= We wanted to say "you wait long long" but of course we didn't. :p My reply to them was "it will only become sales items when we run out of sizes. Anyways our products only come in max 4-6 pcs per size per colour. Once any items are sold out we no longer bring them in". The look on their face when they heard that was super ultimate. LOL! By the way, what I told them is the truth NOT a lie. The main reason we bring limited stock in is to reduce the number of stocks getting stuck when more new arrivals come in. Aiming towards our targets for this month.

San Street finally appeared in CityNews. Check out "The little shop that could" in last weekend CityNews or visit citynews.sg. :) The article was supposed to appear in Nov. Was wondering where it disappeared to. LOL! Love the picture that the photographer took. Oh...I can make it for svc this sun. YEAH! Got my distant cousin to take care of iluma while I take 2 x 1/2 day breaks this weekend. Will be going down to far east this weekend to help out though.

OK. Nothing much to blog liao. Till next time.

6th January 2011

1st blog of the year. Been working in the shop 7 days a week since christmas day itself. 13 consecutive days! Tired but still going on strong. :) The joy of the Lord is my strength. Though it's only been 2 weeks, I miss going to church for svc. Feels sooooooo long. 1 day in the House of God is better than a thousand days elsewhere. Misses....

On the whole, I can say 2010 was a relatively good year though there were ups and downs. But what's life without ups and downs? Reminded of what Pst Shaun (Senior Pst of the church I attended in Brisbane Australia) said in one of his msgs when I was in Australia. Non-believers says that life as a christian is boring. However, that is furthest from the truth. The life of a christian life is like a white-knuckle roller coaster ride. Full of excitement and adventure with Him by our side through each ups and downs. What would I say is the peak of 2010? Well...1. The 6 months spent in SOT learning and knowing Him more through the Word of God. 2. The wedding of my elder sister and Niall.

About work/business. Dec 2010 sales for Far East did not reach our target of 17k+++ but we DID beat Dec 2009's sales. Though we did not reach our target, we also did not miss it by too much. Just short of the price of a tee. LOL! Good to set goals/targets and aim towards it. As for iluma, Dec 2010 sales did not beat that in Dec 2009. However, within the last 11 days of the month after the FT there left, the sales there INCREASED BY more than 5k. 5k+++ in 11 days as compared to 2k+++ in 20 days is a BIG difference. If others can do it, why can't she? Actually I reckon that she has the potential and can do sales but she can't be bothered to do so. Who's says clothings don't need to promote? Not meant to be in fashion line means not meant to be. She leaves the company also good for us. We can find even better staffs who are willing to put in the hard work and deserve the commission.

Currently, I'm taking care of iluma outlet while far east is being taken care by our china FT staff there. Like me, she'll be working 7 days a week until CNY unless she's got something to settle. She took off yesterday coz she wasn't feeling too well. Diarrhoea and vomitting. She'll also be taking off as her friend is flying back to China on that day for good. Her work permit will be expiring on 20th Feb 2011 and she intends to extend. Govt is able to her for another 6-9 months unless she renews her passport 1st which is expiring in Nov. We've also found another FT from m'sia. Can speak basic english, mandarin, malay, hokkien and cantonese. Been observing how she serves and her attitude at work. So far she's up to our expectation. :) After so long, I still feel that foreigners are more reliable for retail jobs than locals. No longer getting the 2 PT from LYL to work as they on/off cannot make it. We need those who can commit their time esp during this period. For now, we've our 2 FT (china and m'sian) + me + 1 PT (my distant cousin fr Ind0) on fri, sat and sun + another PT on weekends. My previous staff who's currently working in my dad's office will be coming down to help out on the weekends my cousin's not in SG. Sounds like San Street has gone international internally. Our FT and PT consist of a mixture of nationalities - Singaporean, Malaysian, Indonesian, China.

School term has begin and it has become quiet once again. All malls in fact. Too many malls in Singapore liao. From what we've observed for the past few days, both far east and iluma sales are currently on par. Anyways, our target for this month (Jan 2011) is to AT LEAST beat Jan 2010's sales (which is 16k+++ and 15k+++ for both outlets respectively). Jia you San Street babies!!!! (LOL! can't remember which staff gave themselves this name).