The global marketplace came to visit us last week.
We are having a fun summer in Freeport. The store is off the beaten path and uniquely stands alone in the sea of storefronts. Even with some visibility challenges, we enjoy steady visitors seeking their perfect bag.
Tuesday morning last week, I arrived early to the store to find a family sitting on the front porch. It was too early for people to be resting there, and I guessed they would ask for directions to the bathroom. In a thick French accent they asked when the store will open. Even with my high school level of French, I could tell that the response “…in an hour” wasn’t good news. So I unlocked the door and invited them in. They shopped for the perfect bag to take back to Montreal.
Later in the week, the owner of Nantucket Knots (who makes our monkey fist knot key chains) visited the store with a friend from Switzerland. The visitor immediately fell in love with our bags. She declared she had to have a bag for the beach and a different one for errands. 
The unofficial international week here in Freeport wasn’t just about visitors. A stark reminder of the global marketplace came in a reaction to a recent Facebook posting. We posted a picture of our Build Your Own Tote display with 14 images of custom bags designed by our customers. Apparently a FB friend enlarged the picture to better see the images, and when she did she recognized her husband’s buoy colors in the upper left corner! She promptly told her husband about seeing his buoy colors and discovered that she had foiled his plan to surprise her with a custom bag! (Sorry we spoiled the surprise Ben!)
The lesson is the marketplace is international and someone is always paying attention.
