Closing in on 3000 Used DVDs in Stock
178 words eaten alive on March 12, 2010 - Filed Under Business |
Sometimes I just can’t believe the amount of stuff we’re getting in stock here. Nearly 3000 used DVDs in stock now, most of which are just $5 each. It sure adds up fast when people bring in bags or even boxes full at a time! PS2 games have been going through the roof as well, we have just about 1000 of those in stock and I’m slowly working on giving them the same price drop treatment that the original Xbox and Game Cube have received. Soon most of the PS2 games will be under $10 each with a lot in the $5 to $7 range.
Other items continue to change on a weekly basis. Among the items that people have tried to sell me that we just don’t even have room for are big screen TVs, washers, dryers, commercial fitness equipment and bedroom furniture. At times like this I miss the amount of space we had back on Central Street, but overall it’s so much easier to manage with what we have now.
Tax Return
186 words eaten alive on February 27, 2010 - Filed Under Amused, Business, This Town |
It’s that time of the year again – TAX RETURN! and for us – it means very busy because everyone is getting extra money and is spending some to indulge themselves or their kids. No need for credit reports to get your tax rebate – just your T4s from you boss by the end of this money and you will be all set. If you are in a hurry to get your tax money back – you can always use one of those tax rebate company that sets itself up during tax season. I hear they tax like $60 outta what you get but the plus side is – you can get your money instantly. As for myself – i would never give out $60 just to get the money in a few days time. What about you ..?? did you get any tax rebate this year..?? Don’t forget to come spend some at Gator Byte’s! LOL! We have games/movies/computers and every game in any systems that you may have – just give us a shout eh.
What Is Your Future In Yarmouth?
368 words eaten alive on February 23, 2010 - Filed Under Business, Ranting, This Country, This Town |
As i sit here looking at my auto insurance quotes, I cannot help but overhear what the other tables of town folks are chatting about. This town Yarmouth is going thru’ some very major stuff and it’s one bad news after another. As an owner by association to my spouse’s business I wonder many a times – what future is there for my kid – who is 6 yrs old now. We love the town – don’t get me wrong and the spouse – well, he probably wouldn’t want to leave if he didn’t have to choose. But for me – I fear for my kid – I fear that she is unable to get the best in terms of everything – education, career, health and a wealth of knowledge.
The Cat issue and the airline issue does not affect us directly but like any resident in Yarmouth – we should all be concerned. It’s not like the town councils ain’t trying hard – they even offered to fork out $3 million with the local businessmen – which now makes me wonder, where in the world would the town come up with this amount of money? But that’s for another day and another story.
What is your future in Yarmouth? What is the future of your kids in Yarmouth? I know we all want our kids to excel – we want decent health care – we want to welcome our friends and family from away and show off our town. But at this moment, I dare not invite any friends even as near as Toronto to come visit me – why? BLEAK ! Bleak is the only word that comes to my mind – I have nothing to show for in this town. No airline coming directly to Yarmouth – now no ferry coming to Yarmouth and the revitalisation plans had been pushed from last year’s unveiling to January 2010 and then February 2010 and now they said in March – well – one can only wait. But like my grandmother from Singapore would say .. wait till my neck turned into a giraffe’s.
Fuck you Dexter, Fuck you.
371 words eaten alive on February 19, 2010 - Filed Under Ranting, This Country, This Town |
Yes, I said it. And I’ll say it again! Fuck you Dexter. I’m sure I’m not the only one who currently feels this way in regards to the current Premier of Nova Scotia. I had high hopes for the NDP government, who sailed into office on promises of accountability and transparency. I bought into it and voted for him, and early on things were looking good. Until he decided to kill our Cat. And then the whole MLA spending scandal built up steam and lo and behold, Mr. Dexter is right up there with the best of them, wasting tax dollars on insanely expensive cameras and laptop computers. What else have we paid for without even realizing it? Hair loss treatments maybe? Or snake oil. Lots and lots of snake oil, that sounds about right.
Dexter was recently quoted on CJLS news as saying “We made this decision some time ago and I think we’ve been very clear that we are not revisiting the question of continuing a subsidy to an unsustainable service….that decision remains and will remain.” and “what we want to see is of course is a proper transportation and tourism strategy for southwestern Nova Scotia, one that will benefit and grow the business for the region.”
We want that too you idiot! The problem with YOUR plan of action is that it leaves us completely cut off for an entire season while you fumble around in your pants for a new solution. In the meantime how many local businesses are going to close their doors for good? How many people will lose their jobs? How much revenue will the province lose as a whole during this one season? All because you won’t spend a lousy $8 million bucks to keep the current boat running while a better solution is found.
If you need to buy food for your dog and the store only has some that costs $100 a bag, but next month they’ll have some that costs $5 a bag, do you cut him off and wait until the cheaper stuff comes in? No, because it would be dead by then!
Rip-off plan fails
338 words eaten alive on February 19, 2010 - Filed Under Business, thieves |
A few weeks back someone brought in an iPod touch to sell. The price was right so I bought it and the guy left. Not more than 30 seconds later someone else comes in asking if I bought any stolen items today. Uhm, yeah, like I’d know they were stolen when I bought them! So he rattles off this list of random things that he supposedly lost, including an iPod touch. So I asked him to bring in a list of the items along with serial numbers to prove he owned said items.
He said alright, I’ll be back, sounding rather upset that I didn’t simply hand it over to him. I’ve been buying/selling a long time and even when something does turn out to be stolen I don’t just hand it back to the “owners”. That’s a great way to lose money in a hurry. If it’s really stolen, file a police report and they’ll come confiscate it. Eventually the owner will get it back and maybe someday, on rare occasions, I actually get my money back. It’s the most honest way I can think to do things and since I can sleep well at night without the need of supplements like natural sleep aids, I take that as a sign of a clear conscience.
So, over the course of a week I had 4 people call up about this particular iPod, all claiming it belonged to them or a relative of theirs, but none could prove it. Someone claiming to be the uncle of the first guy even called to say he was bringing the cops in to take it back. Never showed up either. Finally it did get sorted out with the original owner coming in with serial numbers as proof and a 3rd party involved returned me the money I had paid for it.
Just one of the “fun” things I get to deal with as the owner of a (mostly) 2nd hand store!
Burned Games Are Illegal!
161 words eaten alive on February 17, 2010 - Filed Under Business, Honesty, This Town |
I don’t know if I should be upset or just laugh at some people’s ignorance in this town. Every so often we get calls to see if we want to buy burned games! Now why would we want to do that for, right? Firstly it is illegal, we sure don’t want to get in trouble with the law – and secondly, why would I sell burned games to my customers if my entire store is legal stuff only. And NO! We do not knowingly sell stolen stuff, if we happen to come into possession of stolen properly it’s us who ends up losing the goods and the money! So no way will we buy stolen stuff knowingly. People think that burned games are like brochure printing or some copying pages from a book, but sorry to break it to ya folks copying pretty much anything is a no-no, especially if it’s copyrighted.
Previously Played Xbox Games For $5
134 words eaten alive on February 15, 2010 - Filed Under Business, gaming, sale, shopping |
$5 games? Really?!? Yes really! 99% of our original Xbox games are now under $10! Whoohoo! A customer was in asking to buy something for blackhead extraction… yeah… so we sent her to Pharmasave for that. But guess what she said, she didn’t know about our games being so cheap and ended up buying quite a few. So for those who are still playing the original xbox, you should come on down and load up on games. You can beat our prices, and we do warranty all our games, if you have a problem with the game just bring it back and we will either clean it up for you or exchange it for another game if it still doesn’t work. But remember, no cash refunds.
Previously Viewed Movies @ $5
126 words eaten alive on February 13, 2010 - Filed Under Business, Movies, This Town, review |
We just dropped the prices for nearly all of our previously viewed movies to $5 each because we have been accumulating quite a bit in the last few months. So we are passing the savings to our customers – YOU! The first day of the sale a customer came in to buy half a dozen movies as soon as we were opened and told us that he can now afford to buy supplements for joint pain and get his movies as well since he is on sick leave for about 2 weeks. He was one very happy camper that’s for sure. Well, come on in, what are you waiting for? there’s nearly 3000 movies for you to choose from!
Congrats!
177 words eaten alive on February 11, 2010 - Filed Under Business, Health, This Town |
Our town has always been known as a baby boom town – there are a lot of teenage pregnancy here – in fact when I first arrived here some 10 yrs ago, I had mistaken a young mother for a babysitter. I had told the spouse that the babysitter wasn’t the best because she was pushing the stroller and puffing a cigarette. The spouse turned around and told me – that that’s the mother – in a matter of factly way. I guess this town don’t need the best prenatal vitamins eh..?? I used to joke with my friends back home who are trying to have babies that they should come here and it’s like magic.. i’m sure they will get pregnant and have a baby… it’s the water here.. i told them. But it’s nice to learn that long time customer turned into friend – Katie will be having her first baby this fall – Congratulation is in order ..! and we can’t wait to see your beautiful baby.
Back story on the Hurlburt thing
206 words eaten alive on February 9, 2010 - Filed Under Life, Ranting, This Town |
I forgot I hadn’t written yet about the first thing Hurlburt did! Before the $2500 TV was discovered, it was made public that Richard Hurlburt had purchased a generator for the heft sum of $8000. I also hear he paid $3000 to have it installed at his house! What the hell was that man thinking?!?
He claims the generator was purchased for community use, emergencies, for a seniors residence or for ground search and rescue teams. He claims that it was at his house merely to make sure that it was kept charged up for when it was needed. But tell me, how do you keep it ‘charged up’? It’s a generator, it generates it’s own power! Does this unit have a big honking battery built in? I guess it would it it truly cost $8000. I hear it was more like $1200 though. Where’d the other $6800 go? Only Richie Rich knows that answer. And I hear he’s currently off on a Florida Keys vacation, conveniently avoiding all the current scandal.
His facebook fan page is looking pretty funny right now, I must say most of his ‘fans’ aren’t acting very fan-like at the moment!
Hurlburt Claims the $2500 TV
242 words eaten alive on February 9, 2010 - Filed Under Life, Ranting, This Town |
Well well well, what a surprise that turned out to be. Not really of course, but when I read today that Richard Hurlburt was the MLA who had claimed a $2500 LCD TV as an expense I was like “well that figures, that fucker”. Boy I’m sure glad I never voted for him! Hopefully no one else will either the next time election day rolls around. I’d love to know how he managed to spend $2500 on an LCD TV about a year ago. Even then you could get a really nice one for $1000, $2500 must have netted him a Sony XBR at least. Waaaay too nice just for a constituency office. That got flooded. And supposedly destroyed the TV. Yeah sure, I bet it’s in his house now.
What’s that you say, maybe $2500 included installation? Nope, installation was another $579! Paid for from his personal health savings account? Yeah right, paid by the taxpayers again! I’m still confused on that one. Did he fly a technician in from Toronto or something? I can’t see anyone in this town charging such an insane rate. Oh wait, he probably had his brother do it for $100 and write him a receipt for $579 so he could pocket the rest. Oops, did I say that out loud? Fuck it, I’m allowed to have an opinion!
Setting up a New Router
172 words eaten alive on February 9, 2010 - Filed Under Business, Internet, computers |
Since Christmas of this year I’ve noticed increased sales in 2 specific items. VGA cables so people can hook up a computer or laptop to their shiny new LCD or Plasma TV, and wireless routers so they can share their internet connection to new computers and/or game systems. Unfortunately it’s not always a matter of just plugging it in and having an easy go of it. If you have Eastlink internet you’re off to a good start, just set up the wireless security so that your neighbours don’t leech for free, and you’re done. But if you have Bell internet (Aliant around here) you have to set up the router to login to the internet first because Aliant uses a PPPoE connection that requires a username/password to get online. Normally your computer does this, but a router can be set up to do it for you automatically so that all your devices can get online at any time, whether the main computer is running or not.
Support The Tourism Industry
203 words eaten alive on January 28, 2010 - Filed Under Business, Life, This Town, Travel |
If you are from Yarmouth or anywhere in Nova Scotia and can make it up to Halifax for the rally on Thursday Feb 4 at 10am – i urged you to go and support the people who are fighting to keep the Cat for another season. We at Gator Byte is not directly affected by the tourist coming in but tourism helps to create jobs and in turn people here and around Nova Scotia will have money to spend – even though some still believe in spending it on Walmart or big stores instead of support your local stores. But that’s alright – we still want to see everyone have a job and to create new jobs. Just like the people on Main Street selling clarks shoes, why isn’t everyone buying from them instead of the big stores – i have no idea – but as far as I know they sell original Clarks and the price is just as good. So yes, support the tourism industry if you can even if you do not have a job on the Cat or the hotels or restaurant – it’s Yarmouth and Nova Scotia you are trying to save.
Lucky Boxes
122 words eaten alive on January 24, 2010 - Filed Under Business, sale |
One of our regular customers also loves hockey cards and has been buying a pack or two once in a while. Tonight in a pack of Upper Deck series 1 he pulled a rookie card that he says is worth about $90 on eBay! A couple of days ago in a pack of UD Black Diamond he pulled a jersey card that sells for around $50. Either he’s a lucky guy or these boxes just have a lot of really nice cards in ‘em. Either way though, take a break from that Dallas job searching or whatever it is you’re doing and come buy some cards, from what I’ve seen this week it could certainly be an investment!
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