This time we handed out an additional 150 key chains and my sales were that of a Saturday in December not June!

TDM: Puzzleman has a newsletter titled, “The Cosmic Connection” can you tell us a little bit about this?

CP: After seeing what a huge hit Puzzleman was after his first visit, I wanted to keep the interest in him going. I decided that I wanted to reach children, but what I needed was something fun, cost effective and educational. I realized we have newspapers for adults, but nothing here for children. A newsletter could be fun, educational and informative. So Puzzleman created “The Cosmic Connection”. It’s filled with activities and information for children. The first issue contained a story about why he is here, an article about our 1st Birthday party, and what will become regular features:

Solar Word Scramble: A word Search

It’s In The Stars: Where kids can email questions to Puzzleman and look for a response in this section.

Your Town: This section Puzzleman visits area business to learn about them. In his first issue he visited the grocery store to find out what the popular earth foods are.

Oops! A Mistake: Find the 3 misspelled words somewhere in the newsletter. The first 3 kids who brought them into The Gingerbread House won a prize.

Starting June 1, we handed out 350 of The Cosmic Connection in a few days. This is a free newsletter. To make them look interesting they were printed on bright red paper, rolled up and tied with ribbon.

TDM: What’s next for Puzzleman?

CP: Well, the interest in him continues to be very strong. Dr. Boredom will arrive in person in the next month or two. Children and adults have given me a lot of feedback about what they would like to see Puzzleman do. There is discussion of 8” Puzzleman figures and Halloween costumes. On 6/15, he served lemonade at the Wolcott Historical Society function. He has been asked to appear at other area fund raising events in the months ahead.

TDM: Do you do any other marketing to promote your business? Advertising, print television, Internet?

CP: Keeping your business out in front is vital. I run an ad in our weekly paper every 4-6 weeks (more often around holidays). I have a mailing list with over 300 people, all of who signed up for my mailings. I send out postcards whenever we are having a special event or sale. The response is generally good. My brother and sister own the grocery store so I have an avenue to distribute flyers or other information. That was where “The Cosmic Connection” was distributed. We set them out and people picked them up. I have a brochure that is distributed through area bed & breakfasts and stores and the local movie theater. In exchange, I put their business info in my store for people to pick up if they want. Wolcott NY is located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario so I make sure to put ads in the tourism brochures. I am also listed on the Wayne County NY tourism website and the I Love New York website. I utilize free website listings as much as possible. All newspapers have an events section, listing what things are going on - I always make sure any event like Puzzleman or playdates are sent to them to be listed. When asked for a donation for a charity, I try to give an item that I sell, rather than just money. This generates interest in my products and more often than not, I have customers come in to purchase the item I donated because they saw it.

I have addressed the Wolcott Lioness Club and Wolcott Rotary; both allowed me the chance to promote my business.

But the BEST advertising my store has are my customers who refer friends or family here.

TDM: If you could remove one headache from your job, what would it be?

CP: Well, I really do enjoy everything I am doing. But if I there were one thing it probably would be not being able to carry all the products I would like to. I’m limited in sales space, so I have to choose.

TDM: Do you have a tip that you would to pass along to your fellow retailers?

CP: Have a strong support network in place. Before I opened I worked with SCORE (Service Core Of Retired Executives) for almost a year. My counselor Don O’Brien has been such an asset. This is a free service that any business can take advantage of. They are very knowledgeable and willing to help you succeed.

Love what you do - I really enjoy my job and love coming to work.

Don’t be afraid to “Think Out-Of-The-Box” - trust your own judgment and be creative.

(That’s how Puzzleman came to be).

Other promotions that we have done:

November 2001: Every store has Santa, we had Mrs. Claus. She accepted letters to take back to Santa. We set up a child size mailbox in the store where letters could be dropped off for Santa. Each child received a letter back from Santa - all letters were actually postmarked from the North Pole (NY)

We started a gift registry for children called “Mrs. Claus’s clipboard”. We had 61 children participate.

December 2001: We participated in “Toys for Kids” sponsored by our local Fire Department to provide toys to needy kids.

February 2002: We did a craft event called “Hearts, Hugs & Kisses” - children got to write a message on a specially designed heart shaped soap. They made a card to accompany their special gift.

March 2002: A craft event called “Let It Snow, Let It Snow” - children got to decorate their very own snowman (paper mache).

March 2002: We held an Easter coloring contest. We handed out the pictures and asked kids to “help Thumper rabbit color his eggs”. We had two winners, and each received a gift certificate.

Thank you very much Cypriana and Puzzleman!

STORE NAME & ADDRESS:

The Gingerbread House
P.O. Box 112
12060 East Main St.
Wolcott, NY 14590

Phone/Fax: 315-594-9596
Website: www.gingerbreadhouse.bigstep.com
Email: customerservice@gingerbreadhouse.bigstep.com
Puzzleman’s Email: puzzleman@zlink.net