Well, it looks like Touch Of Youth may be selling at a physical place at a Carboot sale near you...well, only if you live near me. How is that for false advertising? An intersting turn too-my online business expanding into the realms of physicalities, although I always said I would love to have a physical shop as well. No, really. I do not believe that physical shops HAVE to die out. We have a choice here. Online competition is tough but coincidentally, some of the things that some of us do naturally, give us an edge. I was talking to a friendly and helpful representative from a newish company yesterday, but generally I find customer service lacking when it comes to some online businesses and others that have an online presence. With a physical shop I can-hug my customers, propose to them, make wild l- er. What was my point? Oh, yeah. I like touch. Sight too. Although I have always found handshakes to be a little strange, I am even warming to them. So I really did enjoy talking to customers online and experimenting with how to please them online, I would enjoy talking to a person in front of me, helping them find a product, discussing whether they even want to shop here or not...I feel sad not having that. Yes, customers can get lost navigating online stores and may contact you about queries rather than simply buying or not buying, but I like physical aspects. I want the human element retained. I want to see a smile, watch a child pick up one of my products and say- "Mummy, can I buy this please?" I would even love to hear a Dad-"No son, this shop is too expensive." Oh, I would have a great moment. My mind would excel to maximum speed weighing up what to do-Intervene and I risk accidentally intruding one's original intentions, yet debates are great and I could have fun gently showing them other products and having no sadness instilled within me should they choose to leave still. I do not have that. Sure, no products are stolen from my shops but fraudsters exist online as well. I would confidently say that online fraud has risen dramatically in the last 5-10 years, mainly because there seems to be little being done about it. So I do cherish this moment to host a Carboot sale with my family. Not only do you get to sit under the elusive sun when you have arrived on a sunny day but you get to see the constant buzz of randomners bustling in front of your stall, leaving, frowning, vowing to never look at your stall again and after having walked 3 paces, run back as though each step that they had taken in the previous direction was like a step closer to an oxygen free zone, and so finally, they proceed to buy everything on your stall, and all the other random example. Oh, the bartering and the negotiating. The selling and the buying. It is almost like a non digital digitalisation. Yup. That did make sense. In my language. Sadly, only I understand my language so your confusion is understood. What I mean is that we have digital media, computer software/programs and other such devices, gadgets and innovations, that often replicate, acknowledge, and/or reference, even if in an alternate manner, pre-digital things. Why, we can zoom cars without even going outside nowadays, we can even have an intimate relationship (Apparently) with a digital character, although they are yet to replace real girlfriends (Although I am told Sony are working on this as fast as they can) and one could argue that they are not cars but pixels and that a car will forever be exclusively something physical-but that is up to you (Of note-I mentioned dating in video games, this does not neccessarily mean the feelings are emanating from the person playing, despite the actions and thoughts of their digital counterpart. Also, what of online dating, befriending and so on? We would not call letters fake yet some people feel communicating online, regardless of sender and receiver and their intentions, is not real. The answer with pre-established friends is easy-You know them, you know what they are saying generally, you believe them. I do not believe it impossible to make new friends online, however, it is of note that letters, digital communications of any kind, and certain other forms of communications, do represent, at least some of the time, a "Fragment" of that individual, rather than their entirety. More on that later, perhaps.). So the idea of a market or Carboot sale is rather like your online shop. Think about it-All of these people, even if they are physically stationary, are zooming around looking for something to buy or to find somewhere to buy what they already desire. This is much like a digital version of the Carboot sale, however, as my first business was selling online rather than selling inside of a physical building or outdoor arena, I naturally saw the comparison in reverse. These people who will hopefully be browsing through our stalls are physical symbolism for what happened to me everyday. Literally. As I did not receive a sale everyday the comparison stands rather firm. Some people may walk past your stall. Much like some may avoid your websites without even reading the header, if we want to tie the comparisons to a rock of specification. I will enjoy it immensely, I am certain of that. In the words of Jean-Luc-Picard! Make it so. -The Carboot sale will be in or around Romford (London, I mean Essex...I mean, oh not this debate again) and I will have a sign with some of my Twitter usernames and business details publicly displayed. It may be at the one called "Rollerball." See you there!