ANNOUNCEMENT: Plan B ~ Storewide Inventory Liquidation SALE!

As you know, we recently retired and closed The Baby Store Plus.  Our plan was to sell the remaining inventory on ebay as time permits over the next several months, but just like all good (or not so good) plans, sometimes they don't work out the way we hope and we have to move on to Plan B.

It seems that ebay has made so many changes to their selling rules that it makes my head spin.  I began listing some items there and just got very frustrated with the way things are running now, not to mention that the fee's for sellers has increased so much that I can't keep the price of the items as low as I wanted to, and therefore I couldn't give our shoppers as good a deal (or steal) as I had hoped to.

SOOOOOO, here is Plan B:

~ Over the next couple of weeks I am going to add our remaining inventory back to The Baby Store Plus website at or below cost.  I am not going to go back to work like I did before, instead I am going to ship only one day each week.  I have chosen Wednesdays as the one day each week that I will process and ship orders.  I don't think waiting until a Wednesday to have your order shipped is too much to ask, especially since you will be getting the items at wholesale prices or below.

*Note about shipping days: In the event that we will be away on any particular Wednesday, I will ship all current orders prior to our departure, then I will post our anticipated return date on the website, just below our header image.  I will then ship all new orders when we return, and resume regular Wednesday shipping schedule again.

~ I am going to charge a flat-rate shipping fee of just $5.00 for ALL Orders, regardless of the total.  This will help to cover a small portion of the shipping fee's that we will incur to ship your order. I feel that this is reasonable and fair, especially if you purchase lots of items because you are still going to save way more than you would shopping anywhere else.

~ I will be doing an inventory count of each item as it is made available on the website...this means that if you see it listed on the website, you know for sure that it is available at the time of purchase, with the exception of if you and another shopper both buy the same item, at the exact same time...then only one of you will get that item, but I will notify you via email if this happens.

This is your chance to really save some hard earned money on your Christmas Shopping!

Please, Please, Please, share this with your friends, families, co-workers, followers, & fans.  We want to move the last of this inventory out as fast as we can and I could really use your help to do that.

To keep you updated of our newest available listings you can subscribe to our stores inventory feeds by Clicking HERE or on the feed link found on our website.

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© 2009-2011 The Baby Store Plus, All Rights Reserved

We have Officially Started the Countdown to Closing...

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It's official.  Today we began the countdown to our store closing.  September 30th at midnight will be the last possible moment that you can place an order.  Our webstore will turn off all listings on October 1, 2011 at 12:01am.  We will then process and ship our last orders on that day.

I feel mixed emotions, from excitement to fear, from anxiety to relief.  I am afraid that I wont know what to do with myself because I am so use to getting out of bed at sunrise and going straight to my computer to check and respond to emails, then showering, heading to the store and filling orders.  Most days I don't even think about lunch unless my husband insists that we take a break and eat.  This will be a huge adjustment for me, but a welcome one too.

My first activity is going to be to make a trip to see my father in California.  Yesterday he had a stroke and today we are only just beginning to see signs of stabilization.  I feel horrible being so far from him at this time.  If his condition gets any worse then I will close the shipping department down for a few days and fly out to be with him.  Today I told him that he needs to stop this being sick stuff :) at least until October 1st when my retirement begins so I can come and visit him without constraints on my time.  His 73rd Birthday is October 14th and I want us to spend that day together.  I have always been a 'Daddy's Girl' and it is killing me to not be with him now.  Thank goodness that my sister and brothers are all there in the same city with him.

So there at the top of the left column is the Official Countdown Ticker.  When the time runs out, I am heading to California to spend some quality, unhurried time with my dad. Get your bargains now, while they still exist...once that ticker runs out, our listings will all disappear forever.

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© 2009-2011 The Baby Store Plus, All Rights Reserved

We are GOING OUT OF BUSINESS to Retire!

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When we first opened this business, the hope was that we would get it to the point of being profitable, then turn it over to my daughter, then my husband and I would then retire.  Well, things didn't exactly turn out that way.  First, our small community could not support the business so we created the online store as supplement to the brick & mortar store, but quickly realized that they are basically two separate business and therefore required two owner/managers to oversee each of them.

Then, my daughters life took her in a different direction and I was left running two full-time PLUS businesses.  We then closed the brick & mortar store that was struggling so hard.  I did not have time to devote to it since I was running the online store.  Meanwhile my husband was still working towards our dream of retirement.  He had semi-retired, just taking on small jobs here and there to keep himself busy while he waited for me to finally retire too.  We had even bought a big 5th Wheel that we were going to take off in on for our Retirement Adventure...but here it sits in our yard...waiting for me as well.

So I had to make some tough choices.  As you get older, each day becomes more valuable because you begin to wonder just how many more days you have left.  I want to enjoy my remaining days to their fullest, and that means I had to choose between running a business that requires 10+ hours a day 6-7 days a week or start my retirement while I am still young and healthy enough to enjoy it.

Retirement Won.

So we have begun the process of shutting down our store. Our top priority right now is to eliminate our massive inventory...some of which is not even listed in our online store yet!  So to eliminate the inventory I have had to make some configuration changes on the website to get everything ready.  All current coupon codes have been deactivated and I created a Single Coupon Code that will be applied to Everything in the Store.  We want to encourage our shoppers to help us move the inventory so we are going to start with a Storewide 20% Off Coupon Code. We also have set up our shipping configurations so that every order will be charged a single rate of $6.95 no matter how much you purchase...this is to encourage you to buy as much as you like since you will not pay more than $6.95!


Well, that's all I can think of to tell you right now.  I appreciate your understanding of our decision and hope you will take advantage of this unique opportunity to help us get going on our Retirement Adventure, while getting some really great bargains for yourself in the process!  We will continue to provide you the personal customer service that you have come to expect.  And I will do my best to get your orders shipped the same day as we have in the past, however with sales potentially getting really busy, it may take me a little longer to process orders, but 1 business day or less is still my goal :-)

Thank you for being such a great part of our business over the last (nearly) 4 years.  I have made some wonderful friends through this store and I hope to start meeting some of you in person when we get on the Road to Retirement in 2012!!!  

Use Coupon Code: "Retire2012"

for 20% Off of Your ENTIRE PURCHASE!

Gift Card Holders: If you currently hold a Gift Card...Use It!  Once we close the store for good any outstanding gift cards & eGift Card Codes will be invalid.  To use your Gift Card just enter the code on the back of the card as a Coupon Code at checkout.  You will be able to enter the Code above and apply it, then enter your Gift Card code and apply it.  Note...if your gift card leaves you with a zero balance, our system does not know what to do.  It will still ask you to select a payment method and enter your credit card number.  To avoid that, simply select Paypal as your payment method, then when the new page opens at Paypal, simply close the page.  I will receive a notification of your incomplete payment order and see that you had a zero balance.  I will process your order as if you paid so don't worry.   You will receive an email with a human confirmation from me when I have received notice of your order so you know that everything is okay.

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© 2009-2011 The Baby Store Plus, All Rights Reserved