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    THE ANTIQUES SOS
    e-JOURNAL

February 2000 Vol 1 Issue #12

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This publication is intended to provide you, the owner or
manager of an antique mall, craft mall or design center
with timely, usable information. We sincerely hope that it
serves this purpose well. Please let us know what articles or
columns would be of interest to you. We welcome qualified
subscribers and will be pleased to provide The Antiques SOS
(tm) e-Journal to them at no charge. Because the cost of
printing and mailing a publication are so great, regular delivery
of the Antiques SOS(tm) e-Journal will be by email only.
Please share this copy with a friend. Both they and we willl
thank you for your consideration.

(C) Software Gallery, LLC    February 29, 2000

David P. Cunningham, Editor
email: editor@antiques-sos.com
http://www.antiques-sos.com
subscribe by sending an email to:
subscribe_ASOS@antiques-sos.com

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We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. If you
received this publication in error or wish to receive no further
issues, email remove_ASOS@antiques-sos.com. You will be
promptly removed from the list. NOTE: Our subscriber list is
strictly private and is not made available to others for any reason.

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IN THIS ISSUE.....

1. Building a Web Presence Part 2 of 4
2. Marketing Tip -- Why A Web Site Isn't the Only Answer
3. Sales Tip -- The Web Store Front
4. Mall Operations Tip -- Mall Cost Control Part 2 of 2
5. Dave's Soapbox --
6. Internet Neighborhood
7. Nerd's Corner -- Image Editing Software
8. A Little Light on Windows --

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TOPIC OF THE MONTH

Building a Web Presence - Part 2 of 4

Knowledge of the Web

How well do you understand, I mean really understand, the
internet ? Do you know the driving forces behind the internet and
how to use them to your advantage ? Really understanding the
internet and what makes it work, especially from a functional
rather than a technical standpoint helps you to structure your
business to use the internet.

Some of the things which make a significant difference in web
functionality and web site usability are listed as follows:
• A practical and highly usable navigation system which allows
visitors to move easily around the web site in both a linear and
nonlinear fashion to find the information they are seeking
• Valuable information, tools and resources which are of interest
and easily available to a visitor. This is what makes a first time
visitor return over and over again
• Fresh content and regular updates which are clearly indicated
and easily available
• The ability to provide for meaningful feedback from and
interactivity with your visitors
• Provide full contact information so your visitors know who they
are dealing with and how to contact you. Provide a telephone
number, fax number, email address, and a postal address
• Always remember why you are creating a web site, especially
from your visitor's perspective, and continuously evaluate your
efforts in this light.
• Visitors will not wait. They want the information they are seeking
now, not later. Later frequently doesn't come because your
impatient visitors will leave if they have to wait for your site to download
• Use fast loading reasonably mature technology and always
consider how your visitors will react to it. If the download is slow,
if graphics are jarring or irritating or if it's clear that your web site
designer was taken with his gee whiz skill, you will lose your
visitors before your message sinks in.
• Most of your potential visitors don't have the cutting edge
technology many web designers find so exciting. We all have
found web sites like these where the designer has played with
every flashy trick in the latest magazines, creating extraordinarily
distraction and annoyance for your hard won visitors. Guess
what they say ? Who needs this ? Guess what they do ? They
leave. Guess where that leaves you ? Holding an empty bag.
• Visitors really don't care a great deal about you and what you are
trying to accomplish. It's an unfortunate but very fundamental
truth that you really need to accept and factor into your thinking.
What they really want to know is how you can help them and
what information you have to offer. Make sure that your web
site's focus is upon your visitors and their needs
• Your web site must be visually "friendly", it must convey the
information and look and feel you want it to without being busy
or distracting
• Remember that although some visitors to your web site will have
lightening fast connections to the internet, own fast computers,
21" monitors and all the bells and whistles associated with them,
most will not.
• Never forget that the web is interactive, instantaneous and
interlinked. Therein lies its power and its promise.

Part 3 continues in the next issue

by
David P. Cunningham, P.E.

Copyright Notice: Copyright 2000 David P. Cunningham, P.E.
This article is available upon request by from our web site
http://www.antiques-sos.com by downloading a copy. Or,
we'll email a copy to you upon request.

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MARKETING TIP
(A brief tip for marketing your mall)

Why a Web Site Isn't the Only Answer

Successful marketing rarely relies upon just one advertising
medium to get a businesses' message across to its potential
customers. Antique and Craft Malls are no exception.

Traditionally, most antique and craft malls advertise in related
print media publications and use "take one" brochures placed at
tourist information areas. Some use billboards where they are
available and economically attractive. Although the internet has
increased in importance, it significantly trails the use of print
media and brochures in importance.

Why ? First, the internet isn't as mature a media as weekly or
monthly print publications. Second, print publications have a
subscriber base who receive the publication week after week or
month after month. They do not have to search elsewhere for
the information; it is organized and presented in a logical, usable
way. Third, print publications allow all of the mall ads to be
grouped or presented so they are easily found. Fourth, to this
point in time, antique malls haven't exhibited all that much skill in
how they approach their advertising. That is, most do not take
advantage of the true power of the internet, print media or any
other means of getting their message out to their potential customers.

At least for the near future we suggest that you maintain a well
developed balance between the advertising media available to
you. Print media is consistent and can be effective, although
geographically limited and expensive. Brochures are very
powerful and effective, have good longevity and are relatively
inexpensive when compared to their effectiveness. The downside
to brochures is that their geographical distribution is relatively
limited. Billboards tend to be expensive except when they are
rented on an interruptible, space available basis. They are,
however, very effective at attracting traffic from major highways.

You need a really good list, an attractive offer and a reason for
people to return. Targeted direct mail, especially to your house
mailing list, can be extraordinarily effective in promoting special
events, sales, seminars, or other traffic builders. If your business
model is designed to take advantage of increased traffic, direct
mail can really pay off for your mall.

Newsletters, either included in your targeted direct mail or as
"take ones" at your mall, can also be great traffic builders and
offer you a way of getting more complete information delivered to
your potential customers. Again, when employed in combination
with an appropriate business model, newsletters can add
significantly to your bottom line.

Under certain circumstances, as determined by local conditions,
special events and your business setup, both radio and TV
(including cable) can bring significant additional qualified traffic
to your mall. And, both radio and TV can be quite attractive from
an economic standpoint. Obviously, we aren't talking about
Super Bowl ads (although it's something to shoot for) but rather
radio or off hours local TV or cable ads.

Be clever in your approach. Think outside the box and figure out
win-win deals with other businesses or attractions. Even with a
limited budget you can win … and win big.

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SALES TIP
(A brief tip on selling more to customers --local
and remote and increasing revenue)

The Web Site Store Front

Have you considered establishing a web site store front to
compliment your bricks and mortar operation ? If you haven't,
perhaps you should.

A "bricks and mortar" antique or craft mall has significant
advantages, if they are properly exploited. And, like it or not, an
internet store has some advantages of its own. And, some of the
disadvantages associated with internet store fronts can be
substantially overcome.

One major advantage enjoyed by an internet store front is the
virtually instantaneous world wide exposure of the merchandise
you place on it. With excellent photographs, anyone looking for
the merchandise you are offering can very quickly tell whether
they have an interest in it. They can then contact you by email
or telephone to establish their level of interest and perhaps
purchase the object.

What we're talking about here is supplementing the sales at your
antique mall, not supplanting it. All antique malls have lost at
least some dealers to the lure of the internet. Many of those
dealers (literally your customers) have discovered that tending
their internet store fronts and auctions is work -- lots of work.
Frequently it doesn't leave a lot of time for doing what dealers
really like to do -- buy, kabitz and socialize. So they are
interested in having the work done for them.

The internet store business is changing and becoming much
more sophisticated -- and easier to use. Two notable examples
of this are TIAS.com (http://www.tias.com) and Collector on Line
(http://www.collectoronline.com). With the positive changes they
are implementing, it is becoming vastly easier to add an internet
capability to your bricks and mortar antique mall.

The net result is that you can serve your dealers better, reattract
those dealers who went solo online, create more traffic for your
bricks and mortar mall, find new high quality customers and
increase your revenue. Our next issue will include a follow on
discussion about internet auctions.

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MALL OPERATIONS TIP
(A brief tip about improving antique
mall operations)

Antique Mall Cost Control - Part 2 of 2

Heating Costs

There are numerous low cost things that you can do to reduce
your heating costs and yet maintain a comfortable sales
environment.

• Follow the operating instructions and guidelines provided by the
installer and manufacturer.
• Have the heating unit professionally maintained according
to the manufacturer's instructions. It will pay big dividends
in operating costs and reliability.
• Check all filters regularly and replace them according to
schedule. Filters are cheap when compared to the expense
incurred when they are dirty.
• Make sure that the areas around the return air vents or radiators
are kept clear so there's no interference with heating air flows.
• Buy a really good (talk to your heating contractor)
programmable controller(s) for your system and learn to use it
effectively including night time setbacks and early morning
startup.
• Set the controller(s) for maximum efficiency and put a lockable
cover on it to keep prying fingers away.
• Keep all heat sources away from the controller so it senses
true room air temperature and not an artificial load brought
about by a nearby electric light bulb.
• If possible, provide for humidification of the air within the
heated space. Its beneficial to people and helps prevent the
shrinkage of wood and other materials.
• Use weather stripping and caulking to reduce the infiltration
of cold air into the heated space.
• Install insulation to minimize heat transfer from inside to outside.
• Observe where sunlight enters the heated space through windows
during the heating season. The amount of heat added by solar
gain is considerable and it is free.
• Consider modernizing, upgrading or replacing your heating
facility with high efficiency equipment. In colder climates the
payback can be remarkably fast. Carefully consider your fuel of
choice.
• Do not leave a direct path from the heated space to the outside.
Air locks, indirect entryways and indirect access to loading docks
will help prevent the loss of heated air to the outside.
• If you heat with oil or propane consider converting to natural gas.
The cost savings can be significant

Telephone Expense

Telephone long distance charges can be a major source of
expense. So tight control of access to long distance enabled
telephones and strict accountability for a long distance calls pays
big dividends. Carefully review all long distance bills to verify the
validity of the billing and establish whether the calls have been
made for legitimate business reasons. If long distance calls aren't
made they don't contribute to expenses. Consider blocking all
900 number calls from your business. Carefully evaluate
alternative long distance services. Periodically check the
opportunity for reducing the per minute charges offered by
competing major carriers in your area. It is amazing how
competitive carriers can be when they are pitted against one
another. Conversely, if they think that they can take advantage
of those not paying attention, they will. Consider less expensive
alternatives to the use of long distance telephone services. Email
is extremely cheap and very effective. A postcard will do for many
notification requirements and is very inexpensive.

Postage Costs

Postage and shipping can add up to substantial amounts of money.
Where possible, always charge the customer for shipping, packing
and insurance. After all, why should you absorb the cost ? Unless
a shipment is really urgent avoid any of the next day air services --
they are very expensive and are very frequently overused. For
packages up to 10 lbs. US Priority Mail is very difficult to beat cost
wise because it is reasonably inexpensive, does in fact receive
priority handling and the Postal Service provides the boxes and
labels required. Weigh everything you mail, except those things
which you know are under an ounce, so that you don't waste
postage. Postage scales are available and cheap at Sam's Club
and it really isn't your civic duty to use more postage than necessary.

Utility Costs

Some thing as prosaic as the water you use in your antique mall
can add to your expenses. Those of you who purchase water
from a water company or authority know that water isn't cheap.
And, with the availability of good quality water becoming more of
an issue all the time you don't want to waste it anyhow. An
important side issue is that sewer charges are frequently
determined on the basis of the water you use. They are far from
inexpensive too and will continue to increase.

Allowing hoses to run without a shutoff nozzle, over watering
plantings and allowing people to wash vehicles is just plain
wasteful -- and expensive too. Automatic lavatory faucet shutoffs,
flow restrictors and other water saving devices make sense and
save money too. Fix all leaks immediately.

All of these areas are well worth examining and correcting if found
deficient because they can lead to significant cost savings. These
are cost savings which go directly to your bottom line.

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DAVE'S SOAPBOX
by David P. Cunningham

OPEC and the Antiques Industry

With so many things available to comment upon, it was somewhat
difficult to choose this issue's Soapbox topic. However, OPEC
won out. Why ? Because the availability of reasonably priced
petroleum fuels is so important to the well being of American
business in general and the antiques industry in particular.

Simply put, if your customer's sources of income are threatened
by high fuel prices, if they cannot afford to travel or if their sense
of well being is affected, customers will not buy. The threat to
our collective businesses is very real, despite the rosey
reassurances offered by an administration well known for its
disaffection with the truth.

What is the issue ? Simply put, it is the age old issue of supply
and demand. The US economy is roaring along and asian
economies are rebounding vigorously. Coupled with that, OPEC,
in response to very low prices, in a series of well publicized
moves, reduced their output of crude oil over the last year.

Oil stocks are now quite low, as are stocks of refined products.
Rather than purchase very expensive new crude oil, many
refiners used their existing oil stockpiles. Reactivation of oil
production, transportation, refining and distribution can take a
significant amount of time so crude oil and refined product stocks
will not rebound quickly.

How long can we expect fuel prices to remain at or near historic
highs ? Given the nature of the production process, probably until
late summer. That obviously carries some risk to antique malls,
shows, flea markets and other activities which depend upon
transportation. What should you do ? Roll over and play dead ?

Of course not. Realize that those of us affected with the "antique
bug" will not cease all related activity. A great many, however,
will be much more selective about where they go and how often.
Therefore, you should do more adverising, not less, and do
everything possible to improve the desirability of your antique
mall as a destination. Dust off those exemplary business skills
and go to work !

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THE STUFF THAT PAYS THE RENT

Antiques SOS (tm), Antiques SOS Lite (tm) and Antiques SOS
Basic (tm) are Software Galley, LLC software products which
serve the Antique Mall trade. Our products are installed in 250
antique malls in 39 states and Canada. Antiques SOS (tm) was
first installed in 1987 and Antiques SOS Lite (tm) was introduced
in 1998 to satisfy a need for computer software for smaller malls.
Antiques SOS Basic (tm) was introduced in 1999 and has been
very well received. All products are fully Year 2000/Y2K
compliant. Please refer to complete information which has been
posted on our Antiques SOS (tm) web site
-- http://www.antiques-sos.com

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INTERNET NEIGHBORHOOD

Cool web sites

http://www.tias.com

TIAS is an internet portal through which you can post merchandise
to many online stores and to major auction site as well as TIAS'
own site. Easy to use site with excellent tools which require little
training or computer knowledge to use. Site contains a large
quanity of mechandise for sale.

http://www.collectoronline.com

Collector on Line is a web site which hosts individual dealer and
antique mall online stores. The site is organized as a mall with
"wings" and stores within the wings. Easy to navigate site which
contains a significant amount of merchandise for sale.

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NERD'S CORNER
(A light approach for non-techies
concerning need to know issues)

Image Editing Software

In the past several issues we've discussed digital cameras and
scanners. In each case we created and stored a digital image file
which electronically represents the object which was photographed
or scanned. With the digital file in hand, it is frequently necessary
to prepare and modify the image in some way to make it suitable
for its intended use. Lets face it, most of us are amateurs and
don't have the skills and training required to process and print
perfect images.

Things like redeye, back lighted backgrounds, extraneous content,
damaged masters and poor contrast interfere with our use of the
images. Some editorial software comes with digital cameras and
scanners but it usually isn't up to making the changes we need to
make. Fortunately, good, usable image editing software is readily
available and inexpensive.

Professional grade image editing software is readily available too.
It, however, is considerably more expensive and requires much
more training to use. Further, professional grade image editing
software is gross overkill for the sort of work that almost all of us
are called upon to do.

The image editing software suitable for the applications we
normally encounter is usually priced at $50.00 and less. Even so,
there is an amazing range of things that you can do with this
software. You can:
• Remove and change backgrounds
• Combine images
• Remove redeye
• Repair scratches
• Create special effects
• Remove wrinkles
• Add clip art
• Add logos
• Highlight, brighten or enhance an image

Any of the good low cost image editors should allow you to prepare
images for use on the web, download them from a photoprocessor
site, or drag them off the web. We chose Microsoft ® Picture It 2000 ®
principally because of its really excellent web editing tools.
The software you choose should allow you to import and export
images in many different formats. Although there are a very large
number of image formats available, three of the most important
and familiar are TIFF, GIF and JPEG. TIFF is the acronym for
Tagged Image Format File; GIF is the acronym for Graphics
Interchange Format; and JPEG is the acronym for Joint
Photographics Expert Group.

TIFF image files are very large uncompressed files which contain
all of the information original to the image. They are of very high
quality and were originally designed to facilitate the transfer of
image files between different mainframe computer platforms

GIF image files are a compact format for image files. They were
developed by CompuServe to facilitate the transfer of cross
platform image files over telephone lines. These are compressed
files that contain all of the original information present in the
original image. They are limited, however, to 8 bit, 256 color
images.

JPEG image files are capable of expressing up to 16,000,000
colors and can, depending upon the compression, look almost as
good as a photograph. JPEG files can be compressed substantially
making them quicker to load. However, this is a lossy format which
means that some of the original image information is discarded in
the compression process. What is discarded is theoretically "extra"
data which is beyond the capacity of the human eye to detect.
However, if too much data is discarded because of excess
compression the resulting image can be of poor quality

Users typically review the digital images they have stored and
discard those which they do not intend to keep to minimize the
amount of digital storage space required. The images which are
to be kept are usually copied so that the original image can be
retained and any changes made only to the copy. The production
and archive images to be retained can be copied to a large format
ZIP disk and the computer hard drive space reclaimed for reuse.
A large collection of digital images will very quickly fill a hard drive
so it must be well managed.

The images you select can then be emailed, transmitted, placed
in documents or sent to online printing services. Now that you
have edited your images you are ready to prepare them for use.
The image editing software will let us do that -- with some training,
of course. That's what manuals are for. However, you have some
important thinking to do if you are going to publish your images to
the web. That's what we'll be talking about in our next issue.

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A LITTLE LIGHT ON WINDOWS
A Little Light on Windows 0200

Windows 2000 ®

It was along time coming and widely anticipated. It's a huge late
term baby ! Windows 2000 ®, previously know as
Windows NT 5.0:
• Contains somewhere around 35,000,000 lines of computer code
• Takes approximately one billion bytes of hard disk space to load
and operate properly
• Requires 128 Megabytes of RAM to function well and
• Is replete with approximately 65,000 known bugs of various
levels of severity

And, you are asking me if you should "upgrade" to
Windows 2000 ® to run your mall software and the other light
duty stuff you do ?

Commonly referred to as Windows NT ® on steroids,
Windows 2000 ® is an extraordinarily muscular operating system.
It is remarkably stable, quite secure and handles advanced
networks with aplomb. It clearly offers significant advantages to
certain classes of users -- after they scale a daunting learning
curve and most likely must buy expensive new hardware. The
training and maintenance requirements are extensive and most
existing software will not run on Windows 2000 ®. Plan on
replacing virtually all of your existing software and expect to
become very good friends with your service technicians at
$80-120 per hour (door to door of course).

WARNING:
Software Gallery has absolutely NO experience with
Windows 2000 ® and will not, for the foreseeable future, provide
any support for the Antiques SOS ™ family of products running
under Windows 2000 ®. We DO NOT advise "upgrading" to
Windows 2000 ® from either Windows 95 ® or Windows 98 ®
because the process has been reported to be devilishly difficult
and, once started, irreversible.

Simply put, Windows 2000 ®, once it gets to the third iteration or
so, will be a great product --- for those heavy hitters who need it.
But even then, it will likely be much too much operating system
for virtually all antique malls, with too much skill required to kee
it tuned and operating. It's really akin to using a 300 ton Euclid
mine truck to go grocery shopping.

For medium to large scale enterprises with dedicated computer
professionals, Windows 2000 ® will be great. Given the
computer skills and experience evidenced by most antique and
craft malls, "upgrading" to Windows 2000 ® could be an
unmitigated disaster.

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Dave Cunningham is one of the principals of Software Gallery,
LLC the developer and owner of Antiques SOS (tm) and
Antiques SOS Lite (tm). He specializes in technical issues
which affect the Software Gallery client base. Dave's special
interests are: e-commerce and its appropriate use; privacy issues;
and time saving aspects of technology. He has accumulated an
assortment of wallpaper from a number of fineinstitutions of higher
learning as well as The University of Life. The foregoing qualifies
him to issue profound mutterings, occasionally stumble into
solutions to user problems and, when necessary, cook dinner.

Sue Cunningham is also one of the principals of Software
Gallery, LLC. She's been writing computer software
professionally since 1964 and has been an antiques dealer since
1967. She's a self proclaimed "nerd" who even had "FOXPRO"
on her Pennsylvania license plate.

Software Gallery, LLC is a business venture of The
Cunninghams. Long active in the antiques world as dealers and
in software development, Sue and Dave Cunningham live and
work in Laramie, Wyoming after having been located in
Denver, Pennsylvania for many years.

The Antiques SOS (tm) product line has its own web site at
http://www.antiques-sos.com. More information about
Software Gallery, LLC and its products can be found at
http://www.softwaregallery.com.

To subscribe to The Antiques SOS eJournal email to:
subscribe_ASOS@antiques-sos.com

To unsubscribe email to: remove_ASOS@antiques-sos.com

_________________________________________

(C) 2000 Software Gallery, LLC

We encourage you to forward a copy of this issue (w/ all
copyright notices intact) to as many antique, craft or design
mall owners or managers as you wish. This information may
not be altered, transmitted or transferred; electronically or
otherwise for any other purpose without written permission
from Software Gallery, LLC. All rights reserved.

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