I've had to do a video, guys.
I've got some stuff that's reduced out the front today to get going, some big stuff.
Now, what we're finding, and this isn't new, okay, because I've been contemplating this since about last year.
If you ask the haters, they'll find the videos for you and get them up.
We're thinking of trialing one of our shops, not open 10 till 4 every day.
I pass 10 till 4 every day.
I mean, if I'm in, then sometimes I'm open till 8, 10 o'clock at night.
Do you know that?
We've seen some other people, what they do is have slots, and you have to book slots online to come in.
And you have to pay to book the slots to come in.
And that covers the running costs.
I'm not going to name anybody because, you know, I'm not slating anybody for doing this, but there is somebody who does clothes.
Okay, and we've seen this person do clothes, and we're friendly with this person.
Primarily clothes they do, and shoes, and bags.
And they do events, and they go into their shop.
Some days you can just walk in there if they're there doing work, and in other days you can't.
It's an event.
So you go in, and you have to book to go in.
So they know how many people are coming in on that day.
So they know that they've got, say, 15 to 25 people coming in that day.
And they've paid the non-refundable deposit of £3 to come into the shops.
And then they pay like a further £5, or I think it's gone up to £8.
Now I don't know for an event that goes on in the shops.
Now I'm not sure how to roll that out, because obviously we've got everything in the shops, and everything is different prices, you know.
If it was just all clothes, or all shoes, I could say £3 to come in, and then it's £10 to fill a bag.
This is the size of the bag.
And the other person's bags are really small.
Like our bags are like, carry a bag, or that size, you know.
So we do a lot more.
It's just things that are ticking over in my head about how we can expand.
Because obviously, like, I'm taking up all day now, sat in this shop here.
And I'll be honest with you, I'm very, very fussy with volunteers anyway.
Like, you know, I won't just take anybody on to run the shops after what we've gone through, right?
So I'd rather do it myself.
I like this shop.
And I like Pontygole Shop.
They're my favourites.
Dan's in a shop all day today.
Now, Dan is busy, so he needs to be there anyway.
Because he's shifting some stuff from where the leaks are.
We need to make that area accessible for builders to get in and do the work.
So we're doing that.
So Dan would be in anyway today, so he might as well as open up and take sales.
Do you know what I mean?
You know, he's got stuff out the front and he's taking sales.
And he's got people that's bought stuff online and they've come in and various other things, you know.
So, but what we're thinking is maybe book online on a slot to come in.
And then we can say, well, we're here from 10 till 3 today.
Because our time is best used elsewhere now, other than in the shops.
Because we are needing now to apply for grants and things like that.
I mean, look how many thousands of pounds we've got come in this week.
It's slow and it's starting to trickle in.
And I've got to check on a few things.
Because sometimes you can only use a grant for certain things.
If they say you can only use a grant to buy apples, you can't go out and buy peas.
Right, it's got to be done.
So I've got to double check that.
So, but like, we've made nearly, well, probably about 5,000.
And I've still got others to come in because I've heard nothing about this shop yet.
And nothing about the other side of P2 or whatever.
P2, P1, I don't know which one is for.
Because they're both separate shops, you see.
And it might be that they say, well, we're only going to do one.
And that's fine, isn't it?
You know, something is better than nothing, isn't it, guys?
And it's brilliant that we're getting it.
But our time is best used chasing up the grants.
Because we've brought in 5,000 pounds this week by doing that.
Now, I haven't got 5,000 pounds in my hand.
It's got to be used for whatever, right?
And once I clarify what the whatever is, then I can spend that money as needed.
For example, the period products, I think it was like 500 pounds per shop, wasn't it?
I don't know.
I'm going to have a look on the haters page so I've got it up there.
Get them to do the research, guys, isn't it?
Why are we doing the hard work?
So that was like a 500 pound grant to help people.
But it had to be spent on period products.
I could pick the period products.
I didn't get all the period products I wanted.
But I could pick them, couldn't I?
But that's still good.
So, I don't know.
I don't know what to do, to be honest.
I could do with another shop and start again.
You know, get a shop, a big shop, start again.
Just put all textiles in there and say, it's three pound entry.
You need to book on such and such a day.
Because again, other days are busier than certain days now.
Whereas we were quite busy before and people were bringing in donations day in, day out.
But what we find now is people message us and say, am I OK to bring this in?
And we're like, yeah, but what we could do is like say, can you bring it all in on Saturday when we've got an event on and we're open?
I don't know.
What do you think, guys?
It seems to work for other people.
You have to go online and you have to book a slot.
And it's three pound a slot and then that's non-returnable.
Unless we have to cancel for whatever reason and we'd return it.
And then it's like you go in and it's five pound fill a tiny bag.
Or, you know, it could be ten pound fill one of our bags.
I think we are still too cheap.
I think we're one of the cheapest out there with all our discounts and offers and freebies and all the rest of it.
There are people whining about our prices, but they tend to be resellers and other charities.
And they're all on the haters page.
So let me know what you think, guys.
That's what we're thinking of doing, is maybe getting another venue on top of everything we've already got.
We're still looking for venues anyway.
There's a lovely shop over the other side of Caerphilly, which I've had my eye on, but the price is ridiculous.
Which would fit the textiles really well because it's big and spacious and we could put out rails and rails and rails.
And even like it's three pound to come in, but everything is a pound then, you know.
It doesn't have to be fill a bag for ten pound, do it?
You know, but it's just...
And what gets me down in this shop, in particular, is the clothes take over.
And they get on my nerves a bit, hanging up and over there.
And now Daniel has taken all the clothes off in Pontypool.
It looks a lot clearer because the clothes are not hanging everywhere.
And maybe it's because we hang the clothes up high and not keep them low.
Because other shops keep them lower, you know.
I don't know.
But my thinking, my rationale behind it is that it's more of a control time for us now that our time is best placed elsewhere.
And retail habits have changed.
People only come shopping now when they have money.
And they only really have money every two weeks because, you know, 50% to 75% of the population is on benefits.
You know, we're not making that up, that's the truth.
And they only get paid every fortnight and that's where they've only got money.
I notice a lot of these croissant markets are going to shut down.
To be honest, I think it's about time.
I mean, it's the same thing every week and you're just paying for a jumped up croissant with an Oreo stuck to the top of it, you know.
You know, I think it's about time.
I understand small businesses.
I'm a small business myself, you know.
I understand crafts, selling crafts, you know.
But like, people haven't got the money today, have they?
They haven't got the money to pay £10, £15 for a crafted lamp, you know.
And I mean, they're not £10 and £15, they're up £30.
So although I understand your time has gone into it and you've got something unique, people haven't got that type of money anyway, have they?
I think it's time a lot of these Saturday markets were shut down because I think it's damaging retail in general because I think they're not going into the shops because they go into these retail markets spending all their money on food.
And when we came here the one day, we had some Jamaican food, I think it was, and it was nice.
It wasn't brilliant.
It cost £16 for two of us.
That's a lot, £16.
And they added on clear pay because they asked Dan, did he want to pay by clear pay?
And we were like, Dan said, I'll give you the £16.
I got the £16 by you.
But it was a lot and it was a very, very small portion.
And for £60, for £8 each, you know, it should have been £5 to £6 each.
But there's, you know, I can't knock the business for doing it because they've got so many overheads and these croissant markets are charging so much for the stalls.
I can't, you know, and for their pitches, I can't knock them for their prices because, you know, when there was the burger van in, I really fancied one in Pontypool and they were like nearly £15 a burger and the lad said, oh yeah, it was a lovely burger because I seen him with it and it looked nice.
I can't justify paying £15 for a burger for myself, can I?
You know, I could make up a full, well, I could make up a spag bowl a lot cheaper than that and go home and have a spag bowl for two or three days, me and Dan for that.
I think I couldn't justify paying £15 for it.
If it had been a tenner, I might have paid it.
But I can't afford the £15, you know.
And, you know, they need people to do their wages, they need other people to do things.
I mean, we don't pay wages, we pay in stock, you know.
And any wages we're going to get, we're going to be looking for grants for anyway.
They may only give minimum wage as a grant, but we're going to make it up to £13 an hour.
So we'll pay the rest, you know, but that'll come out of our fundraising.
But you can see how quiet it is out there today for a Saturday.
Now, everybody might still be out doing their shopping, right?
Because it's Saturday morning, they've got to go to Asda's, they've got to go to Tesco's, they've got to do whatever they've got to do.
The weather is beautiful and people might be out on their bikes and going for walks.
And I don't blame them, you know, because how long do we have the weather for in this country?
But if we had a booking system now, we would know who's coming in.
Now, that's not for every shop.
Oh, I've got to plug you in, you're going.
I'm losing my battery.
Now, that's not for every shop, because some shops still work really well with just being open.
You know, Pontypool is one of them.
But I don't know.
I don't know.
Other places do it by having slots that you have to book.
And other charities that help people as well, like ones that give away toys or games or whatever, they have slots where you have to book in.
So they know exactly how many people are coming.
And I'm wondering whether we do that now.
Myself, because we could have been today, it's quiet and it might get busier later.
But I could have been out today at a croissant market, a craft fair, somewhere else, car boot, raising awareness about what we're doing as well, or talking to people, or I could have been in the house filling grant forms.
Couldn't I?
So, you know, or we could have been in the donation centre,
working stock, putting stuff online.
You know, everybody considers every penny they spend today, right?
So, you know, they're seeing stuff online.
We've put stuff online as well.
We're going to trial one of the honesty sheds with a cash box.
I'm not happy about it, but we've had a lot of recommendations on the pad to have it as cash.
So I'll trial it.
I'll trial it, see what happens.
It's only suggested donations in the honesty shed anyway.
So if somebody comes up and they got £3 and something's £4.50, I don't care if they just put the £3 in.
It's just another way of recycling and getting people to work from home and things like that and volunteer from home.
But let me know what you think, guys.