It might be a problem
There’s plenty of stuff to worry about right now, like the Canadian economy, and the madman in the White House. But last year I found myself at Chapter’s Indigo after a long day in the field, staring at a garden magazine rack. It was the closest rack to the carpet so I dropped to my knees to check out the beautiful UK garden magazines.
When dropping to my tired knees took a bit longer, I wondered why the garden magazines were next to the carpet. Are gardeners really that young?
I did a quick AI-assisted search (note that this blog is 100% AI-free!) and the average age seems to be in the early 50s, although younger people are getting into gardening, which is great.
Triggered at the till
When I paid for my purchases at the till, the cashier asked me if I found everything OK and that set me off. I’m normally very quiet and shy but in this moment I turned into a “Karen” bookstore activist. Then the manager came out and we had a little meeting.
She told me that garden magazines didn’t sell well so they were down low practically touching the carpet. I replied that asking gardeners to drop to their knees probably didn’t help sales. And the lady was ready with a reply: she offered to send over an assistant who would help me drop to my knees! What? She was risking a beating because I wasn’t that old; I was just tired after nine hours of labour in the field.
When Chapter’s Indigo e-mailed me later for a review of my recent visit, I let them have it. And then I continued bending over for many more months. Until……
Change!
After taking a two-week vacation I stopped by my Chapter’s Indigo store recently to see what was new and there it was, a compromise! I was standing in front of a brand new garden magazine section and I didn’t have to bend over or drop to my knees. I think this was my very first activist win. Now watch garden magazine sales skyrocket.
