It barely feels like we had summer and now the colder, darker days are upon us.

Nnot only this rotten H1N1 virus going around, but an assortment of other colds and nasty bugs as well.

My husband’s cousin visited from India and the poor guy sure wasn’t ready for the cold snap we had recently! For people who’ve never been subjected to a real Canadian winter, temperatures like ‘-30 with the windchill’ probably don’t even register. If you’ve never even seen snow it’s impossible to imagine cold so biting the inside of your nose stings.

I really hope this is a mild winter to make up for the miserable summer we endured but if it’s not, here are some of my favourite tips to stay warm:

• A long, thick  winter coat. Enough with literally freezing your ass off.  Keep it covered!
• A hat or a toque that stays on your head in any blizzard
• Wool sweaters. Even the thinnest ones will keep you toasty
• Mohair. A bit on the scratchy side but even the most loosely crocheted scarf will keep the heat inside.
• Winter boots with thick soles.  The more material between your feet and ice you are slipping on, the warmer your feet will be.

We sell everything you need to keep you warm this winter no matter how cold and miserable it gets!

We’ve experimented with our store’s hours for the two months we’ve been open. One challenge with any new business is trying to figure out when the largest number of people want to visit your store, so you don’t either miss a rush of potential customers, or sit there for hours on end with nobody even walking through the door.

We had been open only five days a week and had closed on Sundays the past month and a half.  Since the library, both nearby pharmacies, the Chinese restaurant and the neighbouring barber shop are all closed then, we figured there was a good reason for it.

Just in case people in Chippewa still did come out on Sunday afternoons we thought we’d give it a whirl and opened our doors for both days last weekend.

Lucky we did! One happy customer told me Sunday is her only day off in the week. A mother-daughter set told us that Sunday was their free time when dad watched the kids.

While we still are going to close at 4:30 (though last minute stragglers are always welcome!) we may experiment with evening hours in the future.

So for now, we are now open each and every Sunday, 1 to 4pm.

And the added Sunday bonus? Free parking!!!

We now have our very own Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=121111662730.

Our friends have kindly joined us already and now we invite you too!

I also signed up for a Twitter account:

downby_theriver .

I have to admit that Twitter is something I’m still trying to get my head around.

Yes, I know it’s all about itty bitty updates and following people and trying to get them to follow you. It”s a great tool for getting new updates out to your customers that are short and sweet and just what they want to know.

But those people who ‘follow’ hundreds of other tweeters… Do they really just sit there all day reading all those updates?

We’re a little late getting our store ready for Hallowe’en (it is now!) but I think that’s okay. I used to live down the street from Malabar Costumes in Toronto and even though it was open year round it seemed like the whole city waited until the last day or two to pick something out. There’d be a line up around the block for that last mad scramble to get something! Anything! in time for that club or party.

We’ve got a pretty cool witch costume with some sort of purplely-pink taffeta trim and a red and black ‘medieval’ style dress that’s hanging in the window. There’s also a couple of cute little ‘milkmaid’ type dresses, though one could probably double as Dorothy’s famous blue dress from the Wizard of Oz.

For guys we have a monk’s robe, some really funky hats, an imitation WWE wrestler’s belt or heck, you could always brave dressing as a girl

Even though we have a handful of ready-made costumes, I often like to put  something together myself.  One year I bought a cheap white shirt at, of course, a thrift store, and then bought a yard of the most old-fashioned looking lace I could find at a fabric store. I put two layers around the base of the sleeves (an inch apart), and the rest I sewed around the collar, letting some longer pieces drape down the chest. Instant pirate/gypsy shirt!

Or a person could go with a devil-ish sexy red costume of red jeans and a tight red blouse and accessorize with some of the fun horns and pitchforks they sell at the dollar store. Some friends of mine one year did a group costume – they went as victims of a car accident on their way back from their high school prom. They bought some inexpensive dresses and suits from a second hand store, then did some pretty gorey makeup and splattered fake blood all over themselves.

I’m also attempting to make a ‘sexy nurse’ costume and if it turns out I’ll put it out on the rack with the rest. There’s a perfect pair of white Steve Madden shoes to go with it, so long as the weather doesn’t get too cold!

I also put out an assortment of long black and red skirts, some good basic black capes and some oversized black trousers that can be worn to supplement any costume idea.

Just one last thing I have to get – some Hallowe’en candy – and I’ll be ready for whatever ghouls and goblins come my way.

If you work in a store and love clothes one of the hardest things to do is resist buying things for yourself.

In my late teens I worked at a store called Carley’s in Ottawa, similar to Winners.  This was back in the days of real outlet shopping when our store bought the ends of designer lines directly from wholesalers – there were no specially made ‘outlet’ lines then.

There was a lot of admittedly forgettable office wear but occasionally we’d get a fantastic line of some really top designer like Adrienne Vittadini or Armani. The fashion-obsessed manager, Andrew knew every single one and his excitement was contagious.

One time a beautiful set of black beaded jackets that came in. The normal retail price was $1500 a piece and we were going to be selling them for $300.

I was sooooo tempted to pick one up for myself. But at 19, with bills to pay and University to save for, there was no way I could justify buying a beaded jacket, no matter how gorgeous. I did cave once and bought an gorgeous silk top from Tahari that I still wear to this day.

It’s even worse when it’s your own store. It’s not so bad when it’s something that would never fit me, like this vintage polyester blue dress. I love paisley and this is my favourite shade of blue, but it’s not my size.

Retro blue paisley dress

There’s a red dress, however, that I’ve been sorely tempted to snag for my own wardrobe. Yes, it’s kind of frou frou but it would look great with some sheer black nylons and a pair of pointy patent leather heals and some big chunky black earrings and bracelets.

Then there’s a fabulous pair of black Capris that we just got in – they fit perfectly! I already have about three pairs of capris though. I know someone else will love them too.

The last tempation this week was this suit we got in. I wouldn’t say it’s normally my style but it’s absolutely adorable.

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but the suit is a dark grey corduroy and very comfy-looking.

For now I’ll hold off though and if somebody buys it soon that’ll be the best way to remove the temptation!

Directions are always a handy thing.  It’s one thing for locals to find our store. People who grew up here know exactly where I mean when I refer to the bridge that all the kids like to jump off of.  Just across the river from that all-Canadian staple – the Tim Horton’s.

But for out-of-town visitors, it might be a little more tricky. Even though the Down by the River Store is just a five minute drive from THE Niagara Falls it seems like it’s in another town altogether sometimes. The longest stretch is probably passing the famous amusement park Marineland.  There’s popular bike trails along the entire way too. I haven’t ridden my bike to the store yet since most of the time there’s been a bunch of stuff to cart along as well but once I do, I’ll be sure to post how long it takes.

The simplest way to get to us is to just follow the Niagara River Parkway south, past the Tim Horton’s, straight across the bridge, and it’s the store front painted bright blue, two doors down from the Royal Bank.

Here’s a closeup on Google Maps

There’s plenty of places to park – lots of meters on both sides of the street. On top of that, we’re just across from a great big park where there’s both more parking and a place to lock your bike if that’s your favoured mode of transport.

Both the #6 and the #15 buses pass by our store.

Hope to see you soon!

Today, Friday August 27th we opened – two weeks and four days after first signing our lease for 8182 Cummington Square, Chippawa (Niagara Falls). We’d been toying with the idea of opening yesterday but didn’t feel quite ready, plus I still have my day job to go to

We decided on doing a ‘quiet launch’ and then maybe a bigger official opening once we’re established in a bit of a routine.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t cooperative – cloudy, drizzly and cool – more November weather than August.  But as Scarlett said in Gone With the Wind: After all, tomorrow is another day.

A few visitors came right into the store – one kid who was about ten or eleven was the second to wander in.  He looked at a couple of the comic books and hockey cards we have and said it was a ‘cool store’.

Another group of boys around the same age came in later.  Hmm. Mental note to figure out some things that age group would like to buy.  I don’t have any nephews that age yet and my of my friends kids are still babies so it’s not an age group I’m all that clued into.  I remember in the 90s when some kids around that age were obsessed with everything Pokemon and I’m sure there’s something similar that’s just as huge for them.

We have a big print of the last photograph of James Dean ever taken. He’s at a gas station, just in front of his famous silver Porsche Spyder. I thought it was funny how one of the kids didn’t recognize James Dean, but he knew the exact make and model of another car in the photo – a black Chevy next to James Dean’s porsche.

We also have a print of Andy Warhol’s multi-coloured Marilyn Monroe which one of the kids thought was Madonna.  Madonna would likely be pleased with that mistake.

Hanging just inside one of the front windows is a gorgeous white dress – similar to the one worn by Marilyn Monroe in ‘Seven Year Itch’ in that famous scene where she’s standing over the street grating and the skirt is billowing up around her face.  One of the teenage girls who later came in recognized it immediately as a ‘Marilyn Monroe’ dress.

It’s nice to see people young enough to be my own kids recognizing cultural icons that were considered ‘Retro’ even when I was their age.

So now we’ve got our store opened, the hours posted. Maybe we should put some bright pink “Now Open” letters in the window?

For now, our hours and days are Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 6pm but we’ll see how it goes and change them if need be.The store that preceded us, Beyond Boardom, kept the same days.

Friday turned out  to be pretty quiet. It was likely the crappy weather. On the days when we were in the store setting up it had been a lot busier outside and there were a lot more people gawking in the windows and asking us when we were opening.

We may rethink and be open on Mondays as there are a lot of people who work in the service industry in Niagara – Mondays and Tuesdays might very well be their weekend!

For now, it’s forecast again to rain tomorrow but fingers crossed for what tomorrow will bring!

We’ve got our location. 8182 Cummington Square, Chippawa (just South of Niagara Falls), Ontario.

Just over the bridge from the Timmys, two doors down from the Royal Bank and across the street from a very popular swimming hole where kids spend lazy summer days diving off the bridge into the Welland River, known locally as Chippawa Creek. Down by the Niagara River.

We’ve got the place decorated to suit our eclectic tastes and hopefully you’ll appreciate them too. There’s some surf posters, some tropical paradise island posters that’ll have us thinking warm thoughts this winter. A five-foot high Elvis stands in the window to welcome customers. A print of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn winking above the cash and a tin print of a young Ricky Nelson with a guitar slung to one side, about to play Hello Mary Lou.

We’ve got fantastic stuff to sell. Women’s clothing and accessories in different sizes, a great assortment of books, retro men’s shirts and sweaters, collectibles and hockey cards.

Just have to give the place a quick vacuum, hang up all the clothes and we’ll be set to open by the end of this week!

Hope to see you there!

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