Sunday, March 28, 2010

Taking it on the road...ATL

Last weekend, my Roving Ambassador (mom) and I took a trip down to Atlanta to meet with the Daniel*Richards showroom at the America's Mart to discuss representing the alexandra ferguson brand. In just a couple of days, there will be 7 reps covering the following cities (and their surrounding areas), pounding the pavement with the sales tools we have been preparing -

*Atlanta
*Chicago
*Dallas
*DC/Maryland
*Miami
*Central Florida
*Minneapolis

If you are a retailer in one of these areas and are interested in setting up an appointment to see the line, email me at af@alexandraferguson.com and I will send you their contact information.

As usual, I don't do anything by halves, and our sales packets took full advantage of my presentation obsessions. Along with a couple of actual samples, reps are getting a beautiful fabric-covered binder with line sheet, color card etc, and a water bottle sample showing the different stages of becoming felt. Thursday night, we realized that the caveat we were missing was a logo-branded tote bag to carry all these things in. In a rush of mad creative fury, we made 8 (ahem first proto sample somehow found its way to my coat closet at home).


I have a feeling you will be seeing sassy canvas totes on the etsy shop very. very. soon. I promise to announce it here when they go live.

Besides a successful and exciting meeting with Daniel and Richard, the sleeper super surprise highlight of our Atlanta getaway? The food!! Here was our gastronomic itinerary:

Fri a.m.: breakfast at Star Provisions
This is such a gorgeous gift boutique in the West Midtown area with delicious goodies to eat. We shared an asparagus quiche, and mom had local all-natural Greek yogurt. If you are in Atlanta, you must must must go here.

Roving Ambassador at Star Provisions - we shopped for 2 hours. Kid in a candy store. No joke.

Fri afternoon: beer and nachos on the rooftop at Tin Lizzy's
The weather was 75 and full sun, and cocktails seemed in order. This hotspot in the Grant Park area was exactly what the doctor ordered. Waitress was concerned I might be sunburning, and that seemed like an awful nice problem to have in March.

Fri dinner: delicious seafood at super trendy Two Urban Licks
Atlanta mega hotspot, black walls with deep red accents, hundreds of flickering candles and garage doors that opened up onto a deck area. Favorite part? These oversized (like 3ft) paper flowers. I tried to find out where to buy one, but it turned out the owner's wife handmade them all just for the restaurant. Took a picture, but the mood lighting made it a moot point.

Saturday dinner: down and dirty Southern BBQ at Fat Matt's Rib Shack!
Total cost of our meal was $25 - Glass of beer, 1/2 chicken, 1/2 rack of ribs, mac and cheese, cole slaw, and collard greens...Soo messy....Soo delicious. The line out the door moves quickly, and gave us a minute to make some friends.

Now that's what I call a business trip!