Atlanta Saddlery

Stubben “Samples”

rpttrsn — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:54:41 +0000

We’re pleased to announce the opening of a new category on our online saddle shop, shop.atlantasaddlery.com. It’s called Stubben “Samples”, and that’s pretty much what it is. Stubben, over the years, has amassed a considerable number of “sample” saddles, and we’ve made a deal with Stubben North America to help sell them to you. This category will be amended and refreshed with new items as soon as they are processed by Stubben, but we’re told that there are hundreds of saddles, so check in often.

…us, you and them

rpttrsn — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:41:14 +0000

It’s probably a good idea for a general introductory post to exist so that you might have an idea of what to expect from this “journal” section. The prevailing wisdom is that a “blog” section is a good thing, in that the posts are reasonably informal, can be updated as needed, and are of a more temporal nature than most static pages on a website. That’s probably true.

It doesn’t make generating content any easier. For those of you who spend a fair amount of time looking at “blogs” or” journals”, the content requirements traditionally are more lax than statement pages, but just barely. As a content provider, any pressure to be constantly profound is lessened. Conversely, I, for one, would be happy to be profound. Ever.

So, we’ll use this “journal” as an updating mechanism. It won’t be a reformatting of our facebook page, which does the work of short notice presentation. For more elaborate announcements, news, etc. we’ll use this journal.

I hope I’ve been open-ended enough so that almost any entry that crosses our path will be fair game. So, here we go.

…by virtue of its nature.

rpttrsn — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:01:56 +0000

“Pardon me for not having the pleasure of knowing your mindset before making you this offer and it is utterly confidential and genuine by virtue of its nature.”

The above was included in an email we received some months/years ago, and we added it to our collection of “bad results of translation software”. It has a very soothing flow in its obscurity. It approaches making a point, but then deftly sidesteps a culmination by morphing into a celebration of its own being.

ahhh…..if only.

Q & A #37

rpttrsn — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:27:59 +0000

Q. Do you think most of your customers understand the way retail works?
A. No.
Q. Do you think that equestrian tack shops are good examples of normal retail?
A. No.
Q. Why is that? Is it because your vendors are, more often than not, relatively small in size? Is is that even the largest suppliers in the english equestrian market are very small as compared to similar counterparts in other industries? Is it because supplier’s inventory is never “unlimited”, putting them at odds with the prevailing quick turnover of other industries/disciplines? Is it because the equestrian “niche” has become saturated with choices, but is not supported by limitless inventory from distributors, and has a customer base that doesn’t realize the ways in which the equestrian market is not like larger markets?
A. Yes.
Q. Are you ever tempted to talk to your customers about the inherent complexities of equestrian retail and service?
A. Yes.
Q. Have you ever tried that?
A. Yes.
Q. How did that go? Do you think that a better understanding was reached about the complex nature of even the smallest equestrian business?
A. Yes.
Q. So, what did you discuss? Did you talk about the great divide between the physical object and the fragile delivery structure that ultimately delivers it? Did you talk about the tenuous nature of a market that still hinges its identity on the notion of riding horses? Did you discuss the extremely small scale of the equestrian market, and how the misplaced clawing for price points has destroyed what you might call the “middle tier” product?
A. Yes.
Q. Anything else you’d like to add?
A. No.

Q. Heard any good jokes lately?
A. Yes. “Marcel Proust walks into a bar….