Her mom looked up from dusting a rack of Halloween ornaments, priced to clear. “Why nothing, dear. It’s just a slow day.” She turned away, but not before Hailey saw the blush on her cheeks. Another lie. This had to end. First the evasion over her fight with her husband. Now this. The question was, how to ferret out the truth. First thing about helping a business was finding out what they did. Her degree in business, focused on marketing, was going to be a huge asset in evaluating the store.
“What are you running for ads this year?” Her mother ignored her. This was not good. They always had ads running or special events to draw in a crowd. When had things gotten so far out of hand?
“Mom!”
“What?” She kept her back to Hailey who repeated her question.
“Nothing, dear. The newspaper shut down. There’s no place to put them.”
“What about digital ads? Billboards, Flyers?” Digital might be new, but they’d run all the others before.
“Not this year.”
The sadness in her mother’s voice cut deep. This might be really bad. End of business bad. Hailey strolled around the spacious store, picking up things here and there, rearranging them and tidying up shelves. The entire space felt different. She paced from front to back and retraced her steps. It hit her like a sledgehammer to the solar plexus. Several racks were missing, leaving the already spacious store feeling half empty.
“Where are the racks?” she asked, careful to sound casual.
“Oh. That. I thought I’d thin out a bit. Open things up. I put them in the basement at home. We’re in a minimalist age. Plus, hardly anyone buys greeting cards now. It’s not environmentally friendly.”
Partially true, but the remaining shelves were carefully arranged to seem full, but could easily hold double or triple the stock. Tension coiled in Hailey’s spine, like an over-wound clock. Her mom moved slowly. At a glance, she seemed cautious, careful of the fragile stock. Up closer, her mother looked fragile, like she’d shatter into pieces if you touched her. She had the slow, methodically careful amble of a depressed person, forcing themselves to move ahead, step by step, mistakenly believing if they just pushed forward, things would get better.
Hailey wrapped her arms around herself. This wasn’t going to be an easy subject to broach, but she didn’t have a choice. She just had to determine the best way to attack it. Half an hour later, she had a plan. Of sorts.
“Mom, these angels are lovely. We could make them a focal point of our Christmas display. Are there more coming in? Ten wouldn’t be enough.”
Her mother whirled on her. “No. There are no more coming in. Not one single item. Zero. Zip. Nada. We’ll get through the season with what we have. Okay?”
Hailey recoiled from her mother’s wrath. “I’m sorry, Mom. I just wanted to stay busy.”
“Forget it.” Her mom burst into tears and fled into the office, slamming the door behind her. Thank heaven there weren’t any customers in the store.
That plan had blown up in her face. She had no choice now, except to forge ahead and press for answers and she knew she wouldn’t like what she was about to learn. She had a business degree; if Two Angels Gifts could be saved, she’d find a way. She didn’t bother flipping the sign to closed. Nobody was coming in and if they did, the bell would let her know.
“Mom?” She knocked and let herself into the office. “We have to talk.”
“Do we have to?” She sounded like a petulant preteen, but she gave Hailey a watery smile.
“We do.” Hailey leaned against the doorjamb to steady herself for the blows to come. She could think of a thousand places she’d rather be than here. “How bad is it? Honestly this time,” she added softly.
“We can get by for six months on our personal savings. If I don’t pay myself.”
Hailey gasped. This was worse than she imagined. The store always had its own nest egg. Sadness rolled through her. There had to be a way to fix this, to save her mother’s dream. “What happened?”
“Big box department stores. Mega drug stores. They have all the things we do, but they are cheaper. Why come here when you can do all your shopping at once and save money at the same time?”
“They don’t have the quality. We just have to find a way to draw customers in. So much of this is handcrafted or specialty items you can’t get at a big box.”
“And it all costs extra too,” her mother said defeatedly.
“There has to be a way out of this slump. We’ll find the marketing angle and do an ad push. We’ll turn this around.” She put every ounce of her hope into her voice, making it sound like conviction. She had no idea how to do this, but she’d find a way. She hadn’t spent four years at university for nothing and her experience at her last job would guide her.
“I need to see sales figures for the last five years. I need to know what sold and when. I’ll find trends to build on or we’ll create a new trend.”
Her mom stood and waved at the computer. “Have at it. You know the system. You set it up.”
Hailey hugged her mom. Optimism was creeping in, replacing the dread churning in her stomach, smothering her since her parents’ first argument.
“We’ve got this one. Two Angels Gifts is going to boom again, just like the old days.” She squeezed her again. “I’m going to need coffee.”
