Cherry Frequency....my experience.
So those of you who know me, you know I had some stuff at a retail store in Fiesta Mall called Cherry Frequency. When I went to the store in November to talk about the contract the owner was so very nice, and loved all my things, ranting about how they would definitely sell, especially once she put them on the internet. The contract called for $100 to rent the space and the the commission was pretty low, 18% (Fetish Falls is 30%). I had sold some lolita things to make the money to pay for the whole contract (3 months worth) so I wouldn't really be losing money out of my pocket. I figured that the cross traffic from the mall would be worth it and I wanted some real lolita things to be available to people here in the valley. Anyway, the first thing that ticked me off was their website. I was lead to believe that they had an online shop, where people could purchase my things. When she said "put them on the internet" she actually meant to take bad pictures of them and just post them on their website as "new items." There was no way to buy them or even directions on how to call them and purchase it, or if that was possible. That was my first big gripe. My first month I made about $50, so I lost money technically. I went in December 15th to pay my contract, give them more items and also pick up my check. The owner was really bad at giving me feedback to help improve my sales, she just always said that everything of mine was great...which made me mad because I really wanted to know how to make more money.
The next month I went in to pay my contract only to find out that the store had been sold, and the only notice I got was in a stupid letter in my check envelope saying something about a sickness in the family and how they were signing a contract to do a reality show about the store and they had to choose between the show and the store so they sold the store- this really sounded weird to me and made very little sense. She also sold the store 3 days after she talked to me, and never said a word, even though she must have known. BAD BUSINESS.
I am going in tomorrow to pick up all my stuff and its a good thing because I got this email today....
Dear Artists and Designers of Cherry Frequency,
We sincerely regret to inform you that the store will be closing due to inconsistencies in our original contracts with the previous owners. I would strongly encourage you to come in on or before Wed. February 17th to retrieve your inventory and balance of payment from January sales. The doors will be locked on the 18th. Please reply to this message with any questions along with MAILING ADDRESS to which you can receive your balance of pay.
Again, we are very sorry for this inconvenience.
They are giving ALL the artists only 2 or 3 days to get all their stuff, nice. Real business friendly and with no signature even. What about the reality show!! Huh, big fat liars. I have never had such a bad experience in my life with people who were nice, but knew nothing about business. I feel betrayed by them, like once things got hard, instead of taking responsibility for their mistakes, they just sold the business and ignored everyone.
I am going to open my Etsy store within the next week though, and you can commission things from me and also buy things out right. I think Etsy will be able to get to everyone who is interested while still giving the option for pick up for the locals. I guess this was a real learning experience for me, but I don't feel good about it at all.