Amanda hated that big departments store, the
one that had being opened just a few months ago by the highway. It was mainly
because every time she drove past it, it was packed with people and everyone
from every corner of town had at least been there looking around. Besides the
crow factor, she really disliked all those big brands that didn’t really
specialize in anything, instead selling every single thing under the sun. It
seemed greedy to her, from a business point of view.
Everyone else loved it, even her own family.
The day they had the idea to go to buy some of the Christmas supplies to
decorate the tree; she was adamant in buying them in the Christmas store she
had always gone to in the neighborhood. It was owned by a very nice woman who
brought all of the objects from her town, where many of her family members
helped in the process of making the ornaments. But now the number of people
going there was diminishing a lot due to the new big store opening so close by.
She decided to due that shopping herself in
the small store from the neighborhood and found everything she needed right
there. It was appalling it see that there was not one other person buying
anything in the store and it was the precise season to do it. The owner of the
store was so grateful, so gave Amanda one extra box of silver handmade balls
for the tree. She didn’t wanted to accept them but looking straight in the eye
of the woman, she decided it was best not to argue.
When she returned home, she discovered her
family was not there. Amanda was very angry because it was clear they had gone
against what she had said. Of course, she hadn’t forbidden them to go to the
big store but she was very disappointed that her own family was not supportive
of the people they had known their entire lives. When they arrived with bags
full of stuff, she ignored them and had an early night.
Her husband even attempted to have sex with
her but she refused, turning all the lights off and giving her back to him.
There was no way she was going to have sex with someone that didn’t respect her
convictions and everything she stood for. So she just closed her eyes and tried
very hard to go asleep fast. She took several hours to do so, whereas he fell
asleep in a second.
The following morning, she discovered the
fridge and the cupboard had been filled with products from that big store.
Every single thing from there was twice as big as a normal product: the cans of
beans left no room in their space, the soda had to be displaced next to the
fruit to fit into the fridge. And the ice cream occupied almost the whole
freezer compartment. To Amanda, it was obscene.
Every time in the following days and weeks
leading to Christmas, it was really hard to pass by the small store and seeing
how no one was entering. One day, she decided to do something about it. She
stopped by and looked for the owner. She spoke to her briefly about wanting to
help her make the store the preferred Christmas store once again. The old woman
was not convinced as she thought the big store was too attractive for people to
stop going there.
She confessed Amanda to have been there and
told her hat the boxes of decorated balls and other ornaments for trees had
many more product inside and the cost was ridiculously cheap. It was
practically impossible to sell something cheaper; it would be like giving it
away for free. She seemed very sad about her discovery; maybe even to the point
she wanted to cry. But Amanda told her they could make something about it.
The first step of her plan was doing what
Fanny, the owner of the small Christmas store, had done before her: Amanda had
to go to the big store and see for herself what it was that people bought there
and why they all went there instead of shopping for nicer things in the small
family store. It was difficult for her to confess that she had to go there and
that’s why she waited for everyone to be busy to do it. Her husband and kids
were in their final weeks of work and school, respectively, so it was perfect
timing.
The day she went to the big store, she was
able to find a parking space in no time, even with most of them being already
occupied. For a moment she felt please but then remembered what her mission was
there. Inside, she decided not to ask anyone where to go because she thought it
would look kind of strange if she ask for Christmas decorations and days later
the other store got new things.
So she wandered around, looking at the frozen
foods section, which consisted of five very long aisles, the pet area that was
like a small city and the automobile department, which had a very strong smell
of new car, an aroma she had always loved. It was something very difficult to
ignore but she was able to do it once she finally got to the Christmas
ornaments area, which was packed with people looking for stuff.
First,
she took pictures with her cellphone of what they had on display. Then, he paid
close attention to the items that people seemed to be buying more. She
pretended to be curious about some teddy bears to hang on the tree every time a
worker went by her. She knew they wouldn’t appreciate her corporate spying at
all. After an hour or so, she decided to go back home and analyze the
situation.
The very next day, she visited Fanny to have a
talk about the ideas she had for the store and its products. The first thing
was to give it a new look, inside and out. So she did a whole presentation,
kind of a proposal to Fanny, of what to do and how to it. Fanny was so moved by
the passion Amanda had put into it that she decided to go along and let her try
to make her store an important part of the Christmas tradition again.
Amanda’s family began to wonder where she went
every single morning and afternoon. Her and her car disappeared so often that
her children began to miss her mother’s presence, even if it was only to
complain about something or if they needed her to take them somewhere in the
car. Those duties were passed on to the father, which was definitely not very
pleased to be the new chauffeur of the house.
Back in the store, Amanda and Fanny had bought
supplies in order to start the remodeling. They weren’t going to do something
very deep because there was no time to hire professional to do any profound
work. Besides, Christmas was not very far away and they had to take advantage
of every single day they had. The idea was to have the store ready by December
the 1st, in order for Fanny to get at least three weeks of good
sales. Amanda felt they could do it easily.
The first thing was to ask Fanny’s family in
her hometown to change the design on the balls. They had to make new designs,
more modern but still hand made. They decided to go with new colors and themes
for each of the boxes. The idea was to make every single box of ornaments a
very unique one. Fanny’s family was very happy with the idea and they got to
work immediately.
The second part of the remodeling was
decoration. They spent a whole afternoon looking for the right paper with the
perfect colors to do the decorating inside and outside. They also bought a 3D
projector, which illuminated a wall in the outside and gave nice images of
Santa Claus and other Christmas characters. That was the most expensive thing
but she assured Fanny that it was going to be a great investment.
They worked together intensely for the
remainder of November and when December the 1st came, they held a
big inauguration party where they invited every single person in the
neighborhood. The new ornaments arrived just in time and they flew off the
shelves, having to order a second bigger batch the next day. The store was a
success and it was Amanda who had made it possible. She felt really proud of her
work. She had proven everyone, including herself, that she had a very good head
above her shoulders.
