Far's London - Latin & Ballroom Dance Wear

The day out at the Nottingham competition was indeed a lot of fun. At times it got so busy and the fitting of shoes so tricky that the three of us kept switching attention from one customer to another in an attempt to help each other. Or rather mostly Fiona helping Katie and me…

At one point Fiona sent me to the front of the stand to look for a specificly sized pair of on-sale shoes. It did not take long before another customer asked me a question and I started serving her while forgetting about Fiona’s request. And she never told me off for it either, which probably means she forgot it herself.

Loads of students got called back to dance another round in the middle of trying on shoes, so we had to keep track of all those reserved shoes.

We showed quite a few students that they needed a different shoe size than they were used to. The nominal shoe size is only a rough guide. What sizes mean varies between brands and styles.

All in all it became pretty crazy at the stand, and that made the whole day enjoyable.

Hope we will be exhibiting at Manchester Winter Competition on the 10th Dec where we can show you our new products. We will also be selling International shoes.

I am in the middle of negotiating with Steve, who is organising the event, about sponsoring. If you have any ideas for what finalist couples could win as prizes, please make suggestion!

We spent a day at Nottingham on Saturday at the comp to help out at International Dance Shoe’s stand and learn about how to sell their products. After all, we want to be able to that on our own in the future!

Travel was a little delayed with the usual British transport! The train we intended to get was cancelled which was good in many ways as Sam and I got out of the flat a little late as we were searching for his Oyster card. As for Katie, her train up to London was delayed. All in all we were at the train station for the first train to Nottingham in good time.

The day was not as cold as anticipated, as the night before was FREEZING but the day was less so. It was pleasant when we arrived at the Nottingham train station. Sam had the direction of how to walk there. But he soon forgot and had a different street name in his head. After some 20 mins of walking we bumped into a driving instructor who pulled out his map and Sam soon recognised where we were supposed to go.
After further 7 or so min so walking we saw the International Van which we were glad to be ensure that we have go to the correct place. But the fire exit was closed. Then we tried to walk around the building, which means going around a street or two. Eventually we got to the front door and entered and found International’s stand.

Julia and Angela were there and they were glad to see us. Business had been slow for them, as most of you peeps bought your shoes at Warwick Varsity last week. After some discussion about Angela’s back problem we decided that we would take over for a while and her and Julia would go out for a little walk hoping to help her back problem. After them giving us a few instructions they were off.

It was quiet at first, so I decided to try some shoes on to teach Katie and Sam a little about how to fit shoes. And as I were about to finish talking about Ballroom shoes all of a sudden we got busy. A fairly constant flow of 2 or 3 people at a time came and tried shoes on and bought some. Katie and Sam got to try out their new learnt knowledge. It was not long before it was 6p.m when we packed up and loaded the van. We hitched a lift to the train station with and began our journey home.

Unfortunately for Sam he dropped his phone as he was getting out of the van. Some very kind person managed to pick it up and waited for someone to call. By Tuesday hopefully it will be on its way back!

In conclusion, even though we didn’t exhibit as ourselves it had still had been a very productive day.

The queen bed has been moved to the lounge, awaiting sale. We went to Ikea yesterday to buy furniture for the old bedroom/new office. A carpet cleaner from HSS was organised this morning, and after lunch we indulged in IKEA assembly.

The first part of our credit card processing equipment has arrived today, too. The electronic machine is yet to be delivered.

Unfortunately, we missed the BT man yesterday, otherwise we would have a landline by now, too. Everything is coming together! Who says work is boring?

It had been fun and exciting. Congrats to Adele and everyone else at Warwick Uni involved in making the comp a great day.

Also, hip hip hurray to Nick and Vicky from Warwick Uni, our sponsor couple, on winning intermediate latin!

The run up to the comp was exhausting though. Trying to get everything ready… invoice booklets, advertising materials and all. It all happened. We might not have looked as glamorous as we had hoped to be but still got a good positive feedback. A big thank you to Nick and Vicky, for modelling for us, and Harry for taking the photos.

I was told that I was being negative when I told the rest of the team (naming Katie and Sam) how many transactions I thought we would get on our first comp! But it my estimates turned out to be spot on.

We even had one university come to us wanting more info as their club is interested in getting some practise skirts and maybe more from us!

Very excited… First exhibition at Warwick Varsity after some negotiation with the host and the sole sponsoring company International Dance Shoes. We will be working very closely with them to give the best deals for our fellow students.

We hope that through our products you will be even more proud of your dancing and find it even more enjoyable to continue.