We’re all a little freaked out.  You don’t have to understand the economics of the meltdown to feel the pinch…whether it is food, housing or petrol, everybody seems to be hurting somewhere.

Here’s what we’re doing about it…

1. We’ve developed affordable gift items for this season, in anticipation of our retail customers needing to reign in spending…so we pushed prices as low as possible to have some gifts that will retail for as little as $10…and still have an eco-friendly message and impact.

2. We’re trying to focus on what we can impact instead of spinning on all the bad news confronting us all at every turn.  People with much more experience in this industry than us have said that for the past 40-50 years, that during lean times when people are not traveling, vacationing or going out, they still tend to spend money at home…spending time in the yard, socializing with family and friends and nesting.  We’re holding onto this notion, knowing that if we (and our retail customers) do what we do best, then we can be a part of propping up the American consumer with affordable, stylish earth-friendly products to beautify and nourish lives when we need it the most.

3. My business partner did some research on the Great Depression when he was in school and discovered that one of the few categories that continued to thrive even in the toughest economic times were FLOWERS.  People still needed beauty in their lives and they were willing to spend a little to bring in a little joy and light. (And research also shows that the presence and smell of flowers causes people to produce powerful, mood-elevating endorphins.

4.  We’re trying to know that if we keep following our mission that everything will be OK.  It might be a little tight for a while, but we can get through it. We’re doing good work for more than just money…and we believe that the universe will rise up to support us if we just continue to try to make the best decisions we can and to do the right thing for our customers, the consumers and the environment.

Sending you all good thoughts…knowing that you can also keep the faith.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 9:43 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.