A Store

I have many dreams in life. Someone who will love me. Maybe a marriage. Being financially okay. Stop collection calls. Being appreciated. Being picked first for an athletic event. Doing a job that I would enjoy. Being a famous songwriter. But, one thing that I have wanted for a lot of years is to have a store. I first thought of it around 15 years ago. My father wanted me to sell my huge collection of music and memorabilia. I did do a little mail order and record shows around the Carolinas. I did okay. The last show I did was an antique show in Greenwood. I did pretty well for that four-day show. I have a friend named Fred Arnold. He had stores in Charleston and Columbia. He did pretty well. I saw stores in Charlotte and Atlanta. They did very well. Every used record store I went in, I looked around and gathered info as to presentation. What were they doing to make a go of it? I am not going to say, because it would give away my secrets. But, I knew that with my 30 years of retail experience, I could succeed. After all, everytime I would do something it stores, I would succeed. I just seem to have a knack for knowing what people want and how to present it. I also have a knack of selling things to people that they didn't intend to buy. So, my dream is to open a store that sells music and memorabilia. Posters, autographs, videos, books, records, collectibles, memorabilia, and more. I want a place that I can call my own. I have planned how I would do it and know it would work. Unfortunately, thanks to my financial situation, banks won't loan me money to do this. I have tried to get alternative funding, but that hasn't worked either. A friend named Thom Stone used to have a mattress store in Orangeburg. He was gracious to allow me to put a few things in his store, but he had to close a few years ago. Now, another friend named Mary Jennings is opening a collectibles store in Simpsonville. She is allowing me to put my autograph collection in it, as well as a few other things. It is the closest thing to a store I have had so far. Who knows what will happen with it, but at least it is a start. Maybe I can do my thing at some point. As for my other dreams, maybe later.