Saturday morning, roaring to go.
“Are you going to Riverfire tonight?”
A few surprised looks. Our customers weren’t really interested in the fireworks show. No concrete plans made, little events on.
Styling centered around key additions to the wardrobe.
Seasonal pants: a pair for Europe, another floral print, red’s the winner.
Added a Saskia dress to a young woman’s work wardrobe, because I wore it.

Listening in on connections: going a little bit deeper.
While you wrap it up, I ask your customer, “What do you do?”
“I work,” Bronwyn replies.
“At the university, I’m a professor.”

She opens her phone up; shows us pictures. Her on stage.
Her at Open Days.
She likes to wear bright colours, so she doesn’t get lost in a crowd.
Turns out our sales consultant attends the same university.
“Do you happen to have any media internships in your department?” I ask her.
“Amanda is looking for one”.
“There was an advertisement, I’m interviewing next week.”
An opportunity to get to know more.
“Do you have a card you could leave for us?”
Going deeper still. Connecting, networking. With purpose.

Hours later, an afternoon customer.
Beth is talking to her in the fits.
“Can we go shorter?” Alana asks.
Something about leg workouts, another pretty pink dress.
Later they’re wrapping up at the counter, I come over.
“Do you train?” I ask her. She definitely was fit.
“I do,” she tells us.
“I’m a fitness instructor, a life coach, blogger and now an international author’.
Incredible! Another connection, another reason you’ve chosen to love what you do.
She tells us her story, her upcoming book launch.
Two weeks’ time, she’ll wear the pink dress, sign copies of her pride and glory.
One step further, she invites us.
“Come to the launch!”
We all share details on social media. She tells us every woman has a story, that our voices have impact.
“Voices of Impact” — the name of the book. I felt that in-store today. Listening to be heard.

Not too many of our clientele were going out later. I spoke to one woman for a while, while she chose a few classic tops.
“My husband is grocery shopping,” she tells me.
“I hate grocery shopping.”
She confesses.
We joke about owning a restaurant and never having to cook again. We speak about this for a little longer.

Moments of quiet one in between the other.
Most mothers were elsewhere, shopping for Father’s Day.
Not too many in-store talking about what they were going to do that day.
A little bit of family time never goes astray.

---

Reflections