50 CENT SOCKS...

(50 CENT SOCKS)

Saturday was to have been the launching day of our new business. My partner, the "Lovely Jules" and I have been experimenting with developing an Internet business. With things the way they are, a new and different way of marketing is required to make a living by selling things, so we decided to find an item that was either clever or necessary and sell it the old way and in an addition, use the Internet to market the item. The trick was to find an item that is clever, that will create the "I need that" attitude for the buying audience. We started by travelling the malls and seeing what was being sold. That quickly left us wondering how these merchants were going to weather the economic storm, let alone have room for a new vendor. Then we checked out the fairs in town, but there really aren't enough of them to support a business. Then it was the swap meet mentality and that was this weekend's motivation. We started out bright and early about 10 AM fighting the elements of runny noses and headaches, as we both were suffering from colds. We arrived at 40th Street and Washington about 11:30 and paid our $2 entrance fee, but chose not to use valet parking. The fact that they had a valet parking sign, in and or itself was amusing. As we got nearer and closer to the entrance we saw amazing things.

The buying population of the Greyhound Park Swap Meet is 90% Hispanic. So the selling mentality has to cater to that buying arena. We saw stands that sold jeans that the mannequins had accented rear ends, to enhance the look of sexiness. They were selling CD's that were sung in Spanish and T-shirts that appealed to the ethnic groups and gangs. Another stand sold thousands of used (stolen) cell phones and TV remotes. Others had used tools, either pawned or stolen. I had been telling my partner of a guy that used to be in the car business that got into the sock business and made a living selling just socks at the swap meets and was interested in seeing a sock stand when low and behold, there it was. They had thousands of pairs of socks, packaged in 4 counts for $2. They said they were United States Brand and they were made in Pakistan, but they were an amazing $2. Me personally needing socks, I couldn't help myself and grabbed two bunches and handed the lady a 20 dollar bill. From her pocket she pulled out a stash of cash and made change. Laughing, my partner in crime looked over at me and said, you just bought 8 pairs of socks for $4. That's 50 cent socks! Bursting into uncontrollable laughter, she told me that she now knew my new rapper name! From this point on she's calling me "50 CENT SOCKS"!

Eventually that got tiresome and she shortened it to 5 CENT SOCKS, plus it rolls of the tongue better. We decided that selling an item at the swap meets was not the reason that we were put on Earth and that spending 24 hours a week with gang members might even prove bad for our health and trashed that idea. That leaves us unemployed and looking. The only convenience at my age is that I can hide behind the mask of "retired", but what's LJ going to do?