Fort Wayne's Darlington Holiday Warehouse

Shopping for 2012!

Darlington — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:41:07 +0000

Hi! We thought it might be fun to keep you updated on what happens at Darlington when the store isn’t open.

We started buying product for the 2012 Winter Sale in January. So far this year we’ve been to various cities in the Midwest MANY times; the Carolinas’, a couple of times to New Jersey/New York, West Coast and a very successful stop for product in Las Vegas. Looking for product also means we spent a lot of time on the phone. The internet is helpful in finding sources ut we cannot buy any product without seeing it first, so the internet value is somewhat limited.

We place a code on every item we buy. That’s done because of the need to know how many towels, books, kitchen utensils, etc. that we bring in. Those items and codes are placed into an ever growing spreadsheet that tracks each item we buy. In our business, when we by it we have to bring it right in. So when the trucks arrive we’d better be ready because our warehouse staff sorts EACH ITEM received by those codes. A big job. We don’t have the final numbers yet but we should have about 900,000 pieces already ordered/delivered. A good start to the year.

We’re making some changes inside the store. We’ve widened a couple of the aisles that had the most congestion last year. We also are adding a bunch of new displays that should allow us to display more product at one time. More importantly, those displays should enhance you shopping experience by making the product easier to find and view.

We’re also looking at every option regarding our parking. Weekend parking is always tough. don’t have any firm answers on what we’re doing yet, but we think there are some good ideas that may work out. We’ll keep you posted!

Hey! We’re going to Vegas Baby!

Darlington — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:31:52 +0000

Oh, joy! A couple times a year we head to Las Vegas for some large gatherings of companies that have product for sale. Sometimes we find lots of stuff, sometimes not. This spring we found LOTS OF GOOD STUFF! Thank goodness. We found product in almost every category we were looking for. These gatherings are huge and cover 100′s of thousands of square feet. We spent 6 days working out way through the offerings and we think that you will be pleased with what was found.

Las vegas has to be one of the strangest places on the planet. It has way too much of everything jammed into a small patch of sand. We’re just a couple of boring Hoosiers who don’t drink and gamble (well, not too much and wander around with our jaws dropped saying, “did you see that?”. The saying about a deer being caught in headlights applies to us. Oh well…but the food is terrific!

It’s a Wrap!

Darlington — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:26:01 +0000

Darlington sells a bunch of gift wrap. It’s been difficult the last couple of years to find the quality, quantity and variety that we need – even as costs have skyrocketed. Some of our past suppliers had went out of business or just abandoned the gift wrap market entirely. So we were worried…

Hey! No Problem! After trips to the Carolinas’, Chicago and wayyy out west, we’ve been able to secure over 130,000 rolls of holiday gift wrap! What a relief! No only the quantity, but we have the quality and the variety of strong designs that you deserve. We’re also planning on upping the variety of ribbons, bows, tags and other cool stuff to make your packages look even better! We worked so hard to find Holiday wrap we forget to get any all occasion wrap. Hmmm…better get going on that one.