When you are shopping in Midtown you can have only one response...Jazz hands!

So on our trip into the city we decided to wander around. Lisa had to visit her friends at Louie to let me know what handbag she wants if we get signed to the new show. It is always interesting as it is such a clean and well lit place. It must be frustrating for the clerks because so many people come in to look and so few people buy.

Then we went over to Tiffany's. The sales clerk was very nice and Lisa look at a couple of bracelets. There was a very nice one but I had to gulp when I saw how expensive it was. Not possible right now but know knows in the future. It was still fun for her to check them out and decide which one she likes. When my granddaughter comes in next month we will come back to check it out again.

Finally went to a joint where we could actually spend money. At least a little money. Lisa gets a lot of her make up and eye shadow stuff from Chanel. So she had a ball picking out some stuff from the make up counter. We can never get it from Macy's in Brooklyn because they are always out of it. So she got what she wanted in the right colors.

Lisa even insisted that I get some cologne. I mean it wasn't that bad but I am sure it would be shocking to some people. I remember when we had the show and they said they were going to buy makeup for Lisa. When I told them how much it was they said why can't we just get it from CVS? Right.

One thing about wearing a Hawaiian shirt is that they think you are a tourist. Which I don't care about at all. I know when I am getting ripped off and I know when I will not get a discount. So even though it was reasonable I still had to have my usual reaction when we go shopping in the city.

Hey I was busy shopping for Fabrics

So I am sorry that I haven't been posting as much as I used to but I have been mucho busy. As I had mentioned my employees have all quit or were fired so it is basically me and Lisa working every day. I have hired two part timers to fill in around the edges but we are doing the bulk of it.

When you run a store and a business like we do it is not just opening the door and letting the money roll in.
We manufacture all of our clothes so we have to buy the fabric and the trim and take it to the factory and pick up the finished pieces. I used to have this Jap twat that did this but her husband lost his job so she had to take a full time job to support her family. So I am doing her job as well as my own.

Today we spent all day in the garment center. We got fabric for our spring line and trim such as leather and zippers and all kinds of shit that goes into manufacturing. We went to about twenty places so we are really beat.

But I just did not want to miss another day posting.

Everybody hates Netflix (and the Gap)!

MSN has a post up about the retailers who give the worst customer satisfaction and Netflix leads the pack with the Gap right behind.

It is pretty funny that people who are getting movies and tv shows mailed to them are pissed off! I remember when there are like seven channels and the only movies you could watch were the Million Dollar Movie or Chiller Theatre. Now you can get every movie in the world for a couple of bucks. And people still complain.

I have been looking to MSN highlights for things to blog about because if I just write about stuff I am interested in we will be all about sports and Marilyn Munster and hot chicks from the sixties I used to wack off to. So I have to branch out a little.

I just think consumers should be a little more humble you know what I mean?

Active wear is here!

We just took in a new company which makes some great stylish plus sized active wear. My wife hates wearing my old stuff or generic Nike stuff that is really made for men. She loved this new company that makes these great work out clothes that you can still wear while running errands instead of sweats. She even wore them on the plane!

So if you are looking to get some great activewear you should give these guys a shot!

I am Spartacus!

So I was away at the Curve Lingerie show all day. It was brutal.

The wife decided she might want to take in a new bra and panty line to complement Prima Donna. So we saw this new Lingerie Line and the salesman was working really hard to get us to buy. He had his lingerie models put on about fifty different bra and panty sets to model for us. They had to walk in them and bend over in them and show them in every possible angle. And also a whole shitpot of fancy frilly lace bras. One set of fancy lingerie after another. All day long.

And the wife wanted me to pay attention to every one so I could express an informed opinion on them.

Now I know how Spartacus felt when he was a slave in the salt mines.

Let's go to the show!

I am sorry that the posting is lite but we have the shows this week. Moda, Curve, Coterie and the Accessories shows are all at the Javits center. We have been dealing with that as well as people who are coming to the store to sell us their lines. So we have been way busy.

But don't worry, while we are away......Inspector Lestrade is still on the case.

"Heres a nice stick to beat the lovely lady with"

So we spent three days at the gift show at the Javits Center and I was bored out of my mind. We were looking for little gifts and stuff to add to the store for the skinny girls to buy while their chubby friends are shopping.

You see the skinny friends have no patience and always gold plated bitchs so I have to distract them. "Look over here skinny bitch...shiny...shiny...look." So we have tons of accessories and we brought in some candles and picture frames and other junk that they should like. But there was this one company that had more substantial stuff and we got these cool glass lanterns that you could put a candle in and have in your house or yard. As I was standing there I saw it lying over on a shelf. Right there....it was Bat Masterson's cane!

You see the wife and I have been having an argument lately because I wanted to use a cane when I traveled the railroad to Long Island. I don't really absolutely need it but I would welcome the support when walking up the many flights of stairs it takes at Flatbush Avenue and when I am exhausted at night. You see my fuckin leg really hurts sometimes and until I can get the operation I need to rest it as much as possible. But the wife says I am not an old man and I don't need a cane.

But there on the shelf was the perfect compromise. A walking stick just like the one Bat Masterson had in his TV show. I made her watch a bunch of episodes when Gene Barry died recently so she was familiar with it. But she still said no way Jose. The dude at the booth couldn't believe it. "You are going to let your wife tell you what to do?" I said "Pal, you obviously ain't married." "No" the guy said "I am gay." "Well I can't wait till you guys can get married so you will all shut the fuck up already." So we passed on it that day.

But the next day the little woman relented."You can have your walking stick if you want too" she said. "But I hope you don't want a top hat too!" I said "Of course I do. I am going to get a top hat and a monocle and go around like Mr. Peanut. Waddaya think I am gonna do. Jeeez, I am gonna be Bat Masterson for crying out loud!"

She told her mom that it was my midlife crises. Hey look, a walking stick is a lot cheaper than a motorcyle or a sports car.

Now I can strut around like Bat. Cool.

Come out and shop you fraidy cats!

Well it is the last Saturday before Christmas and it is kind of slow. We had a great week but it looks like everyone is scared because of the threat of snow. I am sitting here watching people push shopping carts full of ice melt salt and new snow shovels. I mean com'on people. This is New York not Wisconsin or Minnesota. Suck it up and go shopping for crying out loud!

Hey the holiday dresses are here!

Our new holiday velvet dress is in! In grey, eggplant (purple) and basic black it is a great holiday dress. With an imported Italian detachable broach, this dress looks great. The sleeves in particular hit in just the right place. Perfect for greeting the family for the holidays or for that business Christmas party.

Hey everybody would like a couple of belts first thing in the morning!

We also put up our new belts online. Made exclusively for Lee Lee's Valise, these 100% leather belts are made extra long for our customers and are a perfect accent piece to any outfit.

Made of several different exotic leathers. I am working on some endangered species as well just for a little extra spice.

Hey for your Saturday Morning Shopping Pleasure

Hey guys we just took in a new brand of sexy thong lingerie called "Dirty Girls." Their "Thrilling Thong" is very comparable to Hanky Panky and available at a very good price. Perfect for spicing up that quiet Saturday Night or for something to wear on your head while you are so lonely surfing the internet.

Plus I love the pictures.

Just sayn'

Hey we are also in style in InStyle

To continue on our roll we were chosen as one of the "Best of the Web" for November's InStyle magizine. And we have a 10% discount if you use the code in ordering on-line. For those of you who are afraid of ordering on-line and just want to dip your toe in.

I had hopes that Dust Bunny Queen would order online someday until I found out she was a nudist. Oh well you can't win them all!

I don't understand mall culture

So over the past couple of days we have been scouting locations. First we went to check out the store of one of the big names in plus in Florida. She was the person everyone quoted as being the be all and end all of plus. Her store is in a small strip mall with a few other high end joints. They were closed for the holiday but from what I could see from outside I was not impressed. What really freaked me out was the hours. They open at 11am and close at 5pm. We are open until 9pm at night. This freaks me out man. What kind of foot traffic can they have. Plus they are all closed on Sunday.

Then we went to the mall. It was pretty crowded and had a lot of foot traffic at least. They had Saks and Neimans and Bendels and Nordstrams and lots of high end shops. That is why the other high end shop is in the small shopping center across the way.

Now I know enough to know what I don't know. Mall culture is a mystery to me. I mean I have seen it in movies and stuff but I am too old to have experienced it for myself. I never hung around the food court at the mall so I don't understand the culture. And it is a culture. Just like Hottentot's and Eskimos.

Now when the girls went shopping at Nordstrams I decided to wander away for a while. I went to the bookstore and bought a book like I always do (it was the second in the series about Orc's which was pretty cool). And I stopped at the Food Court for a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich from Subway. Now I am not a real food snob. I like all kinds of stuff even though I know the Subway Philly Cheese steak is a pale imitation of the real thing I still enjoyed it. As I ate I watched the family groups and packs of tweens and teenagers interact in the food court area. I wondered if we put a store in the mall would it work? It seemed more of a social event than a real shopping event you know what I mean. But maybe these weren't the real dedicated shoppers. Would it be better to be away from all this activity or will it be made up by the greater foot traffic? These are all questions I have to ponder as we think about our next step.

Hey we are in Time Out New York this week.

We are in Time Out New York this week listed among the stores on Court St. They came in and took a bunch of pictures but only used two of them. One of Bras and the other of the shirt that will be on What Not to Wear at the end of August. I just wish everyone would pick something that I didn't run out of by the time the show airs.

I can only hope we can get some action out of it.

We found lots of great stuff.

Well it was an intense three days shopping at Moda, the Accessories show, Intermezzo and Circuit for the fall. We got in a whole bunch of great jewelry and hand bags. We also took in a bunch of great gloves and hats. Imagine that! Trying on hats and gloves in the heat of August and trying to think what people will want to buy in the freezing cold of the winter. It takes some time to wrap your head around that let me tell you.

Anyway these are some of the earnings we are taking in the next few weeks. We also took in a bunch of more complicated ones with various stones in them but the hoops sell so fast we can barely keep them in the store.

Let's all go to the mall.

This is a photo of a mall in Alabama in the early sixties. It has a weird boutiquey feel to it don't ya think.

We are hoping to open additional stores in other parts of the country if we can get an investor or two. The question is if you want to go into a mall or not. I don't think so because the mall culture will not be right for what we do. I think a stand alone store will be better.

We are going to Moda, Curve and the Accessories show next week to shop for "Transition" and "Fall" because the grind never stops. We will have the same old problem of not being able to get vendors to make stuff because they need a bigger "Cut" before they will even consider making a dress. If we had more stores we could generate a bigger cutting ticket and that would be great and make our life a lot easier. And it would mean our customers would be getting a lot more great clothes. But we will keep plugging away.

Hey it's the new Pink Marble!

Hey it's the new Pink Marble! This is the hottest dress this weekend from Olivia Harper made exclusively for Lee Lee's Valise. It is the LuLu Style and it is sleeveless so we tend to sell it with the Donna Ricco black cardigan that you see merchandised in this photo. Now the black cardigan is a big boon to selling dresses because it is so versatile. The number one thing that women say when they come into the shop is that they want to cover their arms. This snappy little cardigan lets them do that and can be worn with many different dresses so it is a very valuable addition to your closet. I can't keep them in the store.

Also you can see the Triangle bag made of butter soft deerskin which is our hottest bag this summer. It seems almost everybody wants a beautiful bag made out of Bambi's mother.

Problems of a shopkeeper!

Here is a dress we took in this spring. Now we were a little hesitant because we didn't know if it would work with the flowers so we only took in four units. We sold three of the four in a week. So that might have been a mistake. Or is it? Maybe if we took in more we would have them sitting around. You see this is a tough dress to sell. No sleeves so a lot of woman won't even look at it. The top requires a lot of boobage to fill it out. And there is a lot of detail at the bottom so you can't really hem it at all so that leaves out the petite girls. So you are limiting the pool of potential buyers. All in all selling three out of four right away is pretty cool. You can't get greedy. Or complacent. You just got to get the best clothes.

They just have to go, they don't have to match!

One of the toughest things I have to do in the store is to give advice to customers especially when I am alone on a Saturday morning. You see they try something on and turn to me and ask me if it matches. What the hell do I know? But I tell them the one simple rule that the wife taught me. It doesn't have to match, it just has to go. If it goes together with what you are wearing you are good. It doesn't have to match exactly.

Check out Queen Lathifa's shoes. Now that goes baby.

It's bathing suit time.

As I have mentioned before, on a Saturday morning I am in the front of the store posting on the wife's computer. So I have to use photo's that she has as I don't want to download shots of cheese steak sandwiches and Charo to clutter up her "My pictures."

But here is a cool shot of some of the bathing suits we have in the store. Never Say Diet asked the wife to write some posts on picking out a bathing suit and she is starting a series. So if you need help in picking out a new suit you should check it out.