The Boys
Welcome to "The Boys" podcast, where business partners Jeremy, Stuart, and Dwayne come together after two decades of collaboration to share their expertise and passion for all things decor, home design, business, and floral design. Join this dynamic trio as they delve into the world of aesthetics, offering valuable insights, practical tips to elevate your living spaces, and a few laughs along the way.
But it's not just about design; it's about spreading joy and making the process enjoyable for everyone. The podcast is infused with the camaraderie and humor that comes from years of friendship and collaboration. Expect lively discussions, entertaining anecdotes, and a genuine passion for creating spaces that bring happiness and comfort.
The Boys
S2:E1 2025 Market and More
Welcome to Season 2! We start off the new season by discussing what we found and discovered during Market in Atlanta for Christmas, Fall, and More!
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You, can you hear me very well?
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:I can hear you fine. Dwayne sounds like he's in a bowl.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Don't.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:your microwave up. Well, your microwave. Your microphone.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Well, season two, and we still don't know how to work this Can you believe it's the second season
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:what?
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:of our podcast? We're finally,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Woo!
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Oh, I thought you meant the United States. God.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:the podcast, no, I'm just, I'm so excited that we're starting it again today because I've had so many people reach out and be like, when are you doing this again? Are you doing this again? And much to Dwayne's disbelief and frustration, I'll say yes.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:No, it's the live sale I get two shits about. This I'm okay with because I don't have to do anything.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:You just get to talk and that's what you're good at. That's what you're good at. Well, so today we're going to talk about market. Um, we just, well, I'll say we just, but we didn't, we, we got back from market where we bought Christmas and fall and some everyday. And so I know people want to hear about that. but also today I want us to bring to the table two things, one thing that we're excited for and one thing they were over and we can do that later.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Oh,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Okay.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:So we'll do that at the end. But, we went to Atlanta in January to buy four, fall, Christmas, and then some every day. And I'm interested to hear what you all think about how that went and how the market was.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:I think it went well. Yeah. Well,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:a smooth market, I think. Unlike some past years. Um,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:because you were medicated and you weren't all slim to every five minutes I was buying something. You are!
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:improved you. I think that's what I heard somebody say. They're like, no, we're not new. We're still the same person. We're improved. I'm like, all
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:So, so my question is to her, are you medicated? Are you in love or you just don't care at this point? Or a little of all of it, like, uh, you know, I can't do anything. The hero, I can't do anything to those fools. I'll just give up at this point,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Just whatever.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:know, I do think that the the market. Was um, they went really smoothly. I do agree with that. I was really surprised with how busy it was because I felt like it was incredibly busy compared to, I mean, you all remember when we went in, was it 2010? It was, you know, it was when the housing crisis, you know, when that was exploding and we went and we were actually wondering if we were there at the right time because there was nobody there. We were walking down the, around the aisles and before that it was always hopping and there was always people there. Um, and then it's, I don't think it ever fully recovered from that, or at least it never felt the same after that it's always felt different, the, the, the people, the number of people that were there. And of course we know we lost a lot of, um, smaller mom and pop stops. when that happened. But like since then I feel like it had been building and then you had COVID and then that, you know, it's a whole other, a whole other thing. But I feel like it, there was a lot of people there in January in Atlanta.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:there and I think it's, you know, we also changed when we went, we always like, Oh, we have to go on Thursday and stay at the weekend, which was always a hot fucking mess. now, you know, we go on Monday technically before it opens, but it's open, you know, and we're, we're gone by Thursday or Friday. And then the influx of crazies are coming in for the weekend because, Some people only have one or two days that they can devote to it.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:fortunate we can devote four full days to actually doing it. So I think that kind of skews our perception a little bit of how many people are there, but
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Mm hmm.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:I thought it was busy even on a Monday and a
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:no, Monday was nuts. I couldn't believe obviously there were people there. Because we've been there. before on Mondays where we're the only person in the showroom.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:hmm. Yeah.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Well, and I asked a lot of our vendors, How did market go afterwards? And everybody was like, Oh, you know, Dallas was good. Dallas was good. Atlanta was nuts. So I don't know what it was about, if it was just the accessibility or what it was to Atlanta. But, um, it definitely was the bigger one. Um, Well, and I'll
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:well, and I will say
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:say
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:are, um, this isn't relating to Christmas at this moment, but, um, being on the backend office side of this, you know, usually when you say, oh, you know, ship it in March, ship it in February, damn company we ordered from for ship now stuff, it is here, it
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:shifted.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:That ain't no spacing it out. It's like, oh, we'll get it in April. Huh
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:No,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:So come and buy it
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Well, I think, you know, I think that had the, feeling at market when we were there in January, it was everybody was excited about possibilities, but then there was also this feeling of like, who the hell knows? And, you know, of course it all has to do about the tariffs. Um, but everyone's like, I don't, you know, we don't know what's going to happen. What's actually going to get applied, where, how it's going to affect. And there was kind of like a sense of an easiness, but like, you know, this is what we do and this is how we have to roll, um, and to figure it out. And I wonder if that's one of the reasons why people, you know, did get stuff out as quickly as they did shipping it, trying to get around, if they can invoice it and get Before the tariffs took place,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:right because it's sitting in their warehouse They're gonna collect the money now because if it comes in with the tariff, they don't know how to think I'll sell it.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:you know, so, you know, and I'm But yeah, so I mean it's and they are we've heard from every vendor how they're adjusting and doing it Also, I hate to tell you people but it's happening. Uh, one of the things that I was really surprised with when we went to market was, you know, Of course, I love Christmas. Um, you know, that's, it's fun to decorate for, but honestly, my favorite season to decorate is fall. I just think it's, I love the colors. I love the textures, love all that kind of stuff. Um, and I felt like there was a lot of new Christmas introductions, but there weren't a lot of fall. There was a lot of Halloween. A lot of people had a lot of Halloween, but I felt fall, even though there was beautiful fall and there was some new stuff that was there, it seems like it's, I don't want to say it's like getting forgotten, but because of the holiday of Halloween, I feel like it's getting overshadowed. Um, and a lot of people putting effort into that and not necessarily quote unquote fall.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Yeah, there definitely wasn't any standouts. Uh, it was all classic and there's nothing wrong with it, but like, you're always looking for new pumpkins and you're looking for new shapes and new colors. Um, it just wasn't there, right? The classics are there, but nothing that went, Oh, that's different or unexpected, or is really. Larger scale leaves, or I don't know what it's looking for. That's why you're looking right. That's why you're shopping is to be inspired. And I didn't walk away with what we didn't find fall. We did, but I didn't, like you say, we didn't walk away with, well, that was some fun new stuff that just didn't happen.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah, it really, it didn't matter which showroom we were in as we're like strolling through the mass hysteria of Christmas and then mentioning, okay, we need to look at fall. And then they would take us over to like one or two little sections. I'm like, okay, here you are. And I'm like, Oh, this is it.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:That's all you got. Okay.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Like it falls, falls Big for me. I mean, I, just, I love it and I know it's an important season for our store. Um,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Yeah. We
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I mean, We do a lot of fall Um, and
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Cause we do it. Well,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:well, maybe that's, the thing. Maybe we need to help other people do it well. I don't, I mean, it was, it was just surprising, I guess. And I feel like that, that's. been a continuing, uh, thing. And of course, you know, we don't do a ton of Halloween because Christmas has to start so early for us that it kind of, you know,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:And we don't worship the devil. No,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:on how
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:you may not, agree, but you may think that we did over here at this house.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:well, that's just pagan holiday. And I was like, well, you know what? Lighten up panty Annie. Okay. I'm not out there worshiping the devil and witch dancing. I'm just trying to give my little baby some chocolate candy. So I won't have to buy it. Right. That's all it's about.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:When we were young, we had a minister at my parents church, and mom had this great idea. We had a youth group that was growing, and they were trying to do something for, like, the kids, and it got to Halloween, and I'll never forget, we went to Walmart. Of course, back then that was the only place where you could shop to buy anything for us cause we didn't have anything in our town. Um, and she bought some, Halloween decorations cause she's going to have a Halloween party. Well, honey, some of the church shut that down. That's the devil's holiday. I was like, Lord have mercy. Like, I just want some chocolate. Give me a gummy worm,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:It's the same thing that, uh, My nail. Grown son who's the size of a, uh, what a big redwood right? Linebacker. Uh, he, he loved Halloween. We actually even did a, um, to give our, uh, old employer Corman's a shout out. They used to have a rental department and we had a lot of Halloween stuff and they let me borrow it. And we had a, uh, a Halloween party. We turned our garage into, um, uh, a Halloween themed party in April. Uh, and the kids come and it was, I still remember that. And this was like. 20
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:April?
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:That's
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:that's when he's,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Yeah, yeah. But we had a Halloween party.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:forgot why they did it in April, but it is Ian's birthday. Oh,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:And, uh, but I remember I was sitting in a meeting. We're talking about, um, Um, it was gonna be homecoming. Homecoming. Anybody, everybody knows what homecoming is? Like a, like a
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:the church. or At the school?
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:At the church. Yeah, a church. A homecoming at a church. And one of the dates was gonna be fall right in the middle of when Halloween was. And all I said, I said, well, if you have homecoming during that week, Halloween's Uh, during that, and it may have an impact. Well, law have mercy. The man got in all of their, well, I know where I'll be during Halloween. If we have a homecoming, I'll be sitting right here in the pew, right? And I'm like, well, That's okay because your children are grown and you, you know, this is not anything important to you. And I said, okay, well, I know where I'll be. I'll be out trick or treating.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I wish you would've went dressed up. I wish you would've went to church. All dressed up,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:they ended up not doing it, but it was the idea of, you wonder why people, um, get fed up with the holier than thou's at the church. It's because of that attitude, right? It's like, we're all welcoming. We're all struggling. We're all sitting in the same pew and you ain't really, you actually, I'll judge you. You were actually worse than me when you got judgy of me. Bye.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Thank God the mic's attached. Tree would've thrown the mic down.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:So, you know, I, you know, and I probably think this is how, I don't know, I don't know how we get on this tangent, but here we go. I used to see churches do a lot of trunker treating, right? And I haven't seen, I, maybe they still do it, but I like, I live in Paris and I noticed that they didn't, you know, do it this year. At least I didn't notice they did. I don't know if people got up in the air and said, don't, don't do that. And did they do it?
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:still do. Yeah.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Okay. Well, I thought it was a, I think that was to me, um, Maybe it did start off as a pagan holiday celebrating the devil, but that's not how I use it and how I celebrate, right? That's just not it. And so, uh, you can, you can twist anything you want to be ugly and dark and evil, but you also can take anything and turn it into the celebration and joy field. And that's what Halloween is for. It was for us. It is for us. And it's like, I know for Jeremy, where you live out in that great little subdivision, that's how you connect with your neighbors and you meet little kids and you, you, instead of it being something ugly, it's a celebration of your community. And that's how it should be seen is as opposed to turning it dark, truthfully. Preach it, brother. Preach it. Okay
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:season two started with, him going off onto tangent.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:it is.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:a, with, I said we don't, we don't really buy Halloween. We don't sell, uh, we don't sell Halloween, but we sure do love it.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:talk about it all day
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:We could talk about
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:about it all row. Okay, so I think we did a little different approach when we bought Christmas this year in that, the themes and the collections that we did last Christmas were hugely successful, that we did very, very well with them. And, uh, I pitched the idea and I think we're all on the same page. I was like, well, if the wheel wasn't broken, why don't we just kind of repeat that in a way? And so a lot of the ribbons that we had. In 2024, you're going to see again in 2025, but. A whole lot more of it, a whole lot more depth of it. In other words, we sold out too quick on plaids or whatever's we had. And, um, instead of having more breadth, we got more depth to it. And I think that's one of the things that we honed in on. It's like, I remember we were in, uh, D. Stevens and we'll talk about that in a minute, but I was with Stuart and it was like, this is the idea I've got as opposed to buying, uh, uh, 24 rolls, let's buy 72 rolls or whatever it was. And you, you heard me and I explained to the reasoning and I said, I'd rather have six choices as opposed to 18 choices, those six choices. I know, I believe in, and we go deep and you heard me and I think that's how we twisted it. Is that kind of how you remember it?
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Well, yeah, I mean Yes, we we got rid of the slow sellers and
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Mm hmm.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:the ones were like, oh shit It's november 1st. We're out. So I
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Mm-hmm
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:more styles to offer. Like we still have some of our regular staples, but then I think we found some really good fuller lush price point driven greeneries as
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Mm-hmm Mm-hmm
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:you know, that's a good point that you, you said actually the greenery part, uh, the greenery that you're alluding to, there were some really great prices this year on that. Don't you think that, I think there's some good deals on that.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah. what's funny is I have my little list here of like things that I tried to think ahead to write down anything I wanted to bring up and greenery was the top one. Um, just because I do think when we walked away from it, we were very excited. with a lot of the options that we had at the price points that were, uh, there. And it's, it, It is, um, it's so funny. you go to market, you go to these places where you know, like you should go, you've got your, classic companies you go to. get, classic things. And um, Sometimes it's, uh, it can be discouraging to feel like you have to go in like these other little, smaller little showrooms.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:go
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:like for
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Oh no, it's not.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:well, no, hold on. I'm just, here's one. Here's, here's what I'm trying to get to. Here's What? okay, here's the, here's the better way to say it. When You go to market, you've got companies that you know, you're going to go to and you know that you're going to drop some money at, right? And so you can go into those companies, drop the money, get really good items, get a great price points. And then, uh, You go through all of those and then what happens is, is then you end up going into these other showrooms where you walk in and you have to go through the whole thing and you might spend a thousand dollars and it's It's mentally, I think, exhausting, um, because it feels like you've put in a lot of effort and that there wasn't a big payoff. But, the reason why I'm bringing this up is because, you know, remember we stopped by and saw our friend Candy. And, um, that paid off in an amazing way of finding some, uh, incredible values, incredible deals, and some good stuff that I'm really excited about to get that for the, uh, for holidays because it's, you know, and she's so sweet. She's so kind. Um, and we just hadn't stopped at a showroom in a long time because there's really only one thing that we bought from her. And so we just order it and not stop in the showroom. And this time we actually just stopped by and we went, Oh, that's it.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:One of the snarky things that came out many years ago from Stuart was, yeah, You know, you can find a used piece of chewing gum in any showroom.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:That's the
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:And I was like, well, I was like, I like some used gum, so I'm going to start digging. So, um, I will say I've gotten older and now this schlepping around the showrooms. I don't know if I want to find the used gum or not at this point, but it has, it is important and what you just said, like that little find the used piece of gum with candy. Who is the most lovely person in the world. But she's, she's our supplier with our, um, our baskets that we make. We're the, our willow baskets that we sell, our door baskets. Thank you. They're exclusive to house, literally. She makes those for us.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I do want to go back and put a pin in the, uh, Dwayne finding the, the chewing gum. What people don't understand about going to market is that it is, um, 11 and a half million, at least at the last count I saw, square feet of just stuff on every square corner, every square inch, on every wall. Above your head down at your feet. I mean, it's just constantly everywhere. And so you kind of have to be like, I don't know, like a robot or like a machine, like the Terminator. I'm not really sure to like zero in and find the, um, the things that are like really great price points. I mean, you just have, and so you have to look through thousands of tags a minute, or it really feels, that's what it feels like. I don't know. I always kind of like that.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:you have to, every item you have to calculate.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Mm hmm.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:okay, it costs this much, this much freight. This is what we're going to get it in. Can we sell it for that? Okay, sure we can. Let's get it. How many are we going to get? 24 or 700
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:And it's exhausted.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:single
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:It's, it is, that's, that's the hardest thing about Mark is going in and trying to like, to delve through the stuff, but Dwayne has the uncanny, uncanny ability, or he used to, I mean, I still think he could do it, to walk in, to walk in, and, Like I, we went, we stopped at a floral vendor that we, I talked about possibly starting to carry because they carry some really incredibly realistic stamps, but the price point's really high. Um, and I knew we would get some kind of discount. So we're trying to figure it out. And so walk in, he picks up the first ornament. And it would have been like, I don't know, five bucks in our store, which would have been great, you know, and so he was like, Oh, this is great. Okay. Let's keep looking. And he keeps looking. And then everything else in the, in the entire showroom was way too high. He found the first thing the first time it never fails. So we
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:how pretty it is if you can't afford it, right? We've always said that.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah. Well, and then that, that brings up. For me, ribbon, because you already, you know, you already talked about, um, like when we went to, to Donna's and we're going through, we got a lot of, we have a lot of our classic, beautiful ribbons, but we also got a lot of additional, like, um, the company mall, if you will, uh, ribbons to go with it, to make incredible bows. and so I'm really excited about all of those. Things like little details with bejeweled and whatever but that was one of the things where it doesn't seem like it matters How much some of this ribbon cost people allegedly are gonna buy it. I don't know who's paying 200 a bolt of ribbon I don't know I don't know who's doing it, but somebody is cuz it's out there everywhere.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:in that's, you know, some of it, a few bolts can reach 80 or 90. I'm like, Oh, Lord.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Oh lord, right
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:And that one person buys them all because they're very specific to their interior. But it's like, I can't imagine selling 200 bolts at an 80 retail. You know, I mean,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:No,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:this horrible. I mean, I'm glad we sold the six.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:18 and 24 and,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:and lower
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:I think
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Yeah, yeah,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:495 and less is our average for
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:and there's some
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:consider designer ribbon.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah, I just you know, but it's a lot a lot of it was out there a lot of pretty stuff a lot of bejeweled
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:yeah.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:My Liberace died and went to heaven in a in a ribbon factory. I'm telling you
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:and you kept picking it up this year and Stuart kept putting it back,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:well Yeah,
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:it's Jeremy kind of beating up on Stuart, but this year it was Stuart and me looking at each other going, what is he doing? Is he like, has he found his like super glittery inner gay this year? I mean, I don't know what he was doing.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:no, okay so last year we had
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:him no
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:him say, um,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Look, I'm gonna get my sparkle one way or another. No, you know, the thing was we had some, um, Accent ribbons, like the thinner, like inch and a half inch ribbons that we had Early in the season last year, they had a little bit of sparkle. Um, they had a beautiful little detail to them that you could put in the center of a bow and it would change the entire bow, uh, just by adding that on there and all of that sold immediately. And so I thought, well, those are a great way to change up the classics, right? To add that in, to make, give it a whole different look, to add a little bit of sparkle. Um, And so that was really what I, I zoned in on because I always felt like, all right, we got, we got the basics. We got the, the, the stuff, the classics to, to make what we need to do, but how do we make it different? And just by having those little pieces to mix in, for me, gives it night and day. So that's why I kept going back to it. And Lord, I hope we got some of it because I sure have told people about it. I think so, I remember it being cut, so. Um, but yeah, there's a lot. Uh, who
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:know if it's coming or not, but um,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:knows? But yeah. I
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:I, then I go like six months later, it's like, where's that ribbon? And Stuart's like, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm like, I know he kills stuff off. I, he, I know he kills stuff off I've ordered, but I can't remember it. And I go, oh, okay, well, nevermind. Or he, or I think he lies to me, people.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:I don't
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Let me, let me, let me, no, no, no, no, no. Let me tell you what I think. Now I can't, I'm not going to call Stuart a liar. But I'm like, you know, I, I, I ordered certain such picture frames and I, I really love those and he'll, Oh, you know, those came in and every one of them were damaged and I sent them back. I'm like, or, you know, I wanted that art and I love it. Oh, you know, they discontinued that collection. And I'm like, well, how convenient is that?
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Now, 80 percent of the time that's true.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Oh, God. I just keep saying, well, I guess he's keeping us from going broke. I don't know what he's doing, but okay.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:You're welcome.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:the hell were they thinking? Um, and I'm sure like it had, like, you know, we went and they had, um, uh, well, okay. So we have to preface this with where we're at. It's a much more traditional kind of undertone to it. Right. Right. So, Really crazy colors aren't going to be found here early on, right? Like they may be adapted later, right? Once it kind of becomes kind of just people just being used to see it But I don't remember there being anything crazy That we saw aside from a bunch of coastal which I understand because there's a lot of people live in coastal There's a lot of coastal Christmas. I remember but there was a lot of color
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Well, that's what stands out in my head. It was just a lot of color. Um, no, there wasn't any, you know, like in the past we'd go and there's. Like gnomes on everything. Every showroom has stupid gnomes and every showroom has mushrooms and every showroom has whatever. And you're like, I don't want that crap. Right. I didn't see that kind of as a real consistent this year. It was pretty classic. And which is, I think maybe that's one of the reasons it was smooth for us is because that's what we do. We don't do real funky and the companies that put it out there did some really beautiful classic stuff this
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:hmm. Yeah, I mean we've went before and they have like hot pink and purple and just like the two of those together Or just all amethyst and I'm like, I get it. It's beautiful. I can't sell this.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:I don't, I don't think,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:We did see a lot of, um, Oh, what's that animal? A bison?
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Oh the Highland Cows
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:The Highland cows.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah, I don't I don't know
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:go to Bucky's and get it. We will not have it here. And That is fine.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I mean, I think they're adorable. I think they're really cute. I don't get it. And specifically what Stuart's talking about is like, you know, it's the big cows that have like the big furry fringe and the big horns and they're, you know, they're, they're really cute, but you know, when it comes to mind, you think you see, like, you've seen like probably at Bucky's, um, like pictures, like artwork, well, we saw figures. wrapped in C7s. We saw, uh, water globes. We, I mean everything, they were everywhere and I don't get it. That, that was, uh, I don't.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:well the, the, the funny thing I walk away with, and this sounds like a dig and it's really not, is, um, Jeremy won't remember this, but Stuart will because he's of age. Uh, it felt like 1983 a little bit. That there was a lot of mauvey colors and a lot of kind of wedge witty kind of colonial blues. And guess what? We, we did some of that and I, I don't, I don't not apologize for that.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:sell it where we are, you know, it'll fit in percent of the homes and Chevy Chase that haven't been remodeled yet
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:It, but it felt updated. Like the tones or it was, it was, it was, it was there, but it felt updated and current. And I kept looking at what we're buying. I was like, Lord have mercy. I'm, I'm going back 40 years in the, in the hole. But it's like, I'm getting it. Let's get it. Let's get it. But there really were some pretty, in particular blue ornaments, lots of pretty blue stuff this year. Pretty, pretty blue rib. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if you're a blue person, you, you're got it, got it made this year, at least with us.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Okay, I did confirm that I do have some of the Highland Cow figures, uh, in my photo roll from What the Hell at Market. So I will, um, link those down in the show notes below so people can see what I'm talking about. Like, I don't understand. Uh
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:buy one. We are not getting
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Ur, No, it's too late. You can't order them now. ha ha ha ha. Yeah, I know, and they were everywhere. And I didn't notice it at first, and Stuart, you pointed that out, and I'm like God, they're everywhere. I'm like, Oh, you're right. They were everywhere we went. I don't know.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Oh, well. Okay.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Okay. Were there any, home decor trends now? I'm trying to think, uh, if there was anything like new or earth shattering that we saw and I don't remember.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:that was, that was the hard part. I thought Christmas is easy, trying to find home decor and artwork and stuff like that. It was like, yikes. I thought that was the
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah. Artwork artwork is always hard, but I will say home decor. It's, it's, um, the, the thing about. Home decor it feels like and I'm thinking about a showroom that we went in that we hadn't been in a while And at the front of it, it was very Modern organic, uh, tan, black white cream. Okay. And then you walked around and then you walked into the back and then it was ceramic balloon animals and, uh, tea courses and
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:acrylic candlesticks. And my point is it went from, they had everything.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:it
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:seemed like, um. And I understand that companies want to have, uh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, because they want to try to appeal to, they want to have something for everybody. But I do feel that when it came to home accessories, people didn't have a clue, and so they were just throwing everything. That's what it felt like. It felt like they were just throwing spaghetti at the wall.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:that when it came to home accessories, people didn't have a clue until they were just told they were, they don't like it,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Yeah.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:want to get involved. Offering to figure out what would fit
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:That was a kind way to say it. Junks. What are you saying? So again, that's where, that's where you found the, uh, used pieces of gum,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:there were a lot of used pieces again.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:of gum in there
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Yeah. Yeah, there was. There was.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:was
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I think that they, um, and like a lot of them, they do cater to a lot of different stores, a lot of different, uh, customers, a lot of different needs. Right. And so like a lot of stuff that they had there wouldn't have pertained to our customer in our store, but I guess they would have pertained to somebody. I don't, I don't know what that store would have been. It would have been a, I can't even say younger audience because the younger audience couldn't afford it. Is that one of those closeout places?
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Gordman's. I don't, I don't even know if they're still open anymore.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I think that's the place I got really excited because I love socks. Um, and I don't like old socks, and although all I have right now are old, all old socks. And there was a point where, um, my then boyfriend Jeremy, um, Says you've got to do something about these socks. There are so many different kinds, you know, we're gonna do something and I was like, all right, fine So we'll just get rid of them. So we donated all of my old socks And we went to Gordman's where I could get some cheap and I bought like 48 pair or something You know washed them once and they disintegrated Okay, won't do that again. All right, you know whatever Okay, so yeah home accessories. That was I do feel it was a little bit all over the place Or they went really super modern. Um, I'm thinking of, um,
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:companies we didn't even buy from because they went Completely modern. Um,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:love to have those elements mixed into it, but
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:we can't go, you know, spend thousands of dollars on modern because we just won't
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:yeah. Yeah. So that was the one thing with home accessories. I thought that it just felt like it was really, everybody was all over the place, not a hundred percent committal. Um, and then when they did, it went really, Well, and I'm going to say it this, uh, and I don't mean it in a hateful way. Um, cause God knows they sell it, but it went really home goods. There were, you'd walk in and you'd see a lot of things that you'd look, they had the look like, okay, I'm gonna say this is a home goods. This is going to be at home goods. And I know that sounds great, but we, you do have to think that when you go buy things, uh, if you, especially if you have a store. I don't want anything looks like I could end up there. So, all right, well, let's start wrapping up this week and let's share something that we're excited about and something that we're over. Who would like to go first?
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:I don't have anything yet, so I
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Okay.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:this for about two seconds.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Well then I'll go. Cause I thought I'll try to give You a little bit of heads up. I know it wasn't much. Um, I am. Okay. So of course, you know, I can never limit myself. Um, and so I'm over two things. I'm over the snow. Okay. Because we just keep getting it in the cold weather and I have a fence that needs to get repaired and it can get repaired until it's warm enough to get fixed. Um, and then the other thing is that I'm over is that I now have vertigo. I don't even think I've told you all about this yet. Uh, And it only happens when I'm laying horizontally in the bed. Um, when I wake up in the
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:it do, like you're kind of just spinning?
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Uh, kind of, yeah. It's like I'm watching a half second loop of the room. And I found out when I went to the doctor yesterday. And, you know, they were like, Oh, yeah, this is far to go. And my mother had some issues. And my grandfather
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:why you weren't sleeping? Is because of that?
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Mm mm. No. No. No, no. I just
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:when you wake up,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Just when I wake up and I roll over and then like if I open my eyes, it's like a like a half a second It's like I'm looking watching, a loop a half second loop and it just keeps going back and going back But what I found out was it's because your eyes are literally going back and forth
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Oh.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:well,
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:what? I'm learning is that the body is a weird and mysterious thing, right? We all know that And how it works is just fascinating and it has to do with your ears and crystals in your ears and all that I guess and so yeah, so now I have vertigo at age 44 So Merry Christmas. But the thing I'm excited about is that we're starting this again. And our live sales are starting again. I feel like we're getting back in. I've just, I know what people are gonna be really thrilled and really happy. And I'm, I'm excited to be able to start doing these again and connecting with people. Cause I know that it did connect with others. So that makes me very happy.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:There you go. What you got first, Mr. Hurt?
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Things that I'm over I shouldn't put on a public podcast.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Clear.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:we'll just let that set. Right there.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I hear that.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Um, things, I guess something that I'm excited for? Um, work related. I think our, um, store, amazing. I think our
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Yes.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:year, even for spring, usually spring is one of my like, you know, whatever. I think it's really good. And then looking ahead at what we have coming, I'm like, Hmm, okay. Cause it's going to be, it's our store, but it's different. So
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:I
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I'm glad you know
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:I was walking around. I, I was walking around the other day. It's funny you said that. It felt curated and collected and different price points and different textures. And no, I, I, I'm right there with you. That I'm not, it's not a plug. It's just the truth. It's like, oh, I think we got, we got some good stuff right now. We, we got it right for, uh, for this, this season. Yeah.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:So, yeah.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Um, the thing that gives me joy This is always people oriented for me, that I've been working on some projects and I've been lucky to be surrounded by some really great trim carpenters and good people, and anybody that is a contractor or works with, has ever hired a contractor or hired, anybody in the trades. It can be a difficult path because many are not particularly reliable and like the painter will look at you and they'll just not show up the next day even though they are coming or the plumber will blow you off or whatever it is, right? You know, all three of us have to corral people to get them there to your house. And that's, that's our job and you're looking at us. And so you hope people won't lie to you, but they kind of do. And I've been lucky to find some really great people. And the one that stands out is a young gentleman who's a trim carpenter. And he did some stuff at my house. And before I ever use anybody, I'm always going to be the Guinea pig. And he would say, I'm going to be at your house. Uh, and this is when I'm coming. He would text me, 30 minutes, I've just got in the car, I'll be there in 30 minutes. And I was like, this doesn't happen. And so, The other thing is, he would be coming, this is his side gig, and he'd be coming to my house after work. And I remember, um, used to do houses for Christmas all the time. And I may have come to your house directly after work and not have dinner, right? And, you know, nobody would think about it, you know. You would assume somebody's eating before they come in, but I just didn't have time. So, I've always done this, like, if anybody's coming, I know they're coming, I make sure we have, And so I said to the, the, the, the gentleman, he's under 30 years old. So he's not older, much older than one of my kids. And I made sure he was fed right. And because he was so kind and so conscious and did everything he said, but also wanted to feed him and take care of him. Well, I then had a conversation with him and I said, because I know his dream is to go own his own construction company and he's learning to speak Spanish, right? If you look at him, he's just a bubba, but he's learning to speak Spanish and that impressed me so much. And the long story is, though, his sweet wife sent us a peanut butter pie with a little note on it. Because I had had a conversation two days before that and I said, When you have enough money, when you're comfortable, you're one of those people that can go out on your own and you can control your own destiny. You will be better working for yourself because you, you got it. You can figure this out. And he was grateful for me saying that. So, The pie was delivered from the gentleman who was going to work in our house that night. And he said, my wife told me I couldn't read the card until you had to read it first. And so I opened it up and read it and it said, um, I won't say, I'm going to call him George. Thank you for always feeding my George and making him feel comfortable at your dinner table. How sweet was that? But also, but also thank you, uh, for saying what you said and encourage him to go do it, do it on his own. I've been saying it for three years. Maybe he'll listen to you now. Thanks. Tammy, right? Right. And I hope, you know, a lot of times you shouldn't assert yourself in people's lives because you never know the damage you can do, but I hope this one's not damaged. I hope this is good that he hears me and he hears his wife, brother, you can go do that. And so that's a positivity, right? So let's now turn it to the negative. If you, the opposite, if you have, um, a contractor you're working with and something doesn't go correctly, you, you don't blame your. Employees, you don't blame the person that hired you, a. k. a. threw me under the bus, to my client. And, right, and then you also don't, uh, throw the other employee under the bus. And so I got, you know, this text with every excuse in the world of why this happened. And, I never responded other than I said, I hear you. I need you to be here and I need you to be here in an hour because it's supposed to be in there anyway. And we did. And I said, look, you threw everybody under the bus, including me, which was really a bad mistake. I said, I'm sorry. You own the company, and everything that went wrong has related to you. Why don't you just look at me and own it, and let's just move on. I said, until you do, this is not going to go well for you. So the negative is, if you get it wrong, and somebody's saying to you, I got it wrong, own it, right? And a lot of people don't have that power. You just need to say, I got it wrong, let me fix it. And that's my beef with people. Own it, brother. Just own it.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:Well, Lord. I didn't know
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:Mm.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:were going.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:I was along for the ride, I don't know if you could see my eyebrows just get going higher and higher.
stuart-guest966_1_02-20-2025_093631:fixed all my contractor issues. I just married my and he does what I want. Haha.
dwayne_1_02-20-2025_093630:good boy. He's a good, good boy.
jeremy-host249_1_02-20-2025_093631:Oh goodness. Well let's wrap this episode up, guys, thanks so much for listening, we'll come back. Every week with a new episode, uh, don't forget we have a hotline that you can call or text if you have an opinion of anything we said at 1 859 412 1572. You can leave a voicemail and uh, we won't play it on air, but we may read it for people because everybody likes to complain a little bit. Also, don't forget if you haven't downloaded our mobile shopping app, House Floral, Make sure you go and download that. The link is down in the show notes below. Our live sales are starting again on Wednesday evenings and we're so excited to show the new stuff. Um, and not, yeah, I think that's good to go. How's that sound? All right. We'll see you all next week. Thanks guys. Bye.
