http://www.nhbr.com/news/931925-395/how-a-retailer-turned-marlborough-into-the.html

Town-wide festival spearheaded by Inkubus Haberdashery

INKUBUS YOUTUBE CONTEST

Great news!  We have come up with our first ever YouTube contest and you can be part of it!  What is this contest all about you ask?  It’s about you, our customer, making a “commercial” for us.  But mostly is about having some fun.  You make a video about us, we post it (provided you make it interesting/funny/relevant and follow the rules) and a great time is had by all.

I can hear you thinking: “What’s in it for me?”  Fair enough…  First prize is a $200.00 gift certificate to be used at our store or website.  Second and third place get $100.00 certificates each.  All accepted videos will get a $10.00 gift code to be used on our website.

Are there rules?  Boy, do we have rules for you!

THE RULES:

1.        Keep your video to a length of between 30 and 90 seconds.  Too short?  No one will get the idea.  Too long?  You might put us to sleep.  So keep it short but interesting.

2.       Please no obscenities. Yes, not even the word “penis”.  Inkubus is a store for the whole family.  For goodness sake!  We have baby clothes!  So keep it clean and friendly.

3.        Make it relevant.  Remember you are making a vid about Inkubus.com.  Say our name.  Mention our wonderful array of merchandise.  Our wicked good service.  Our fair prices.  We’re not going to write your script for you so I’ll leave it at this but you know what I mean.

4.        Again, this will be a video about Inkubus.com.  So while we want to save the world just like anyone else we do not want to use our company as a platform for politics or religion.  So please no mention of either of these subjects.  Not even on your t-shirt, wise guy!

5.       Do not mention other businesses by name.  Yes, we know that we are better than the other stores but we would like to keep it fair.  So focus on us and us alone because our mom says we’re worth it.

6.        Please do not use copyrighted materials.  This includes background music, slogan shirts, that poster you are standing in front of, etc.  YouTube really, really frowns upon that.  There might even be a law or two that supports this.  Who knew?  Use only original materials.  We know you are bright.  You can do it!

7.       By entering our contest you are giving us the right to broadcast and monetize your video on YouTube and any other media.  We might, at our discretion, edit or make changes to your video.  We will, again at our sole discretion, post any and all submitted videos that we determine qualify for this contest and keep ‘em playing.

Now that you know the rules, what do you do? 

Post your Inkubus vid as a video response to ours then send us an email that includes your YouTube user name, full name, physical address and a brief description of your project.

Videos should be submitted by May 13, 2011 (yes folks, that is Friday the 13^th.  How apropos!)  We will then take our sweet time to review them.  OK…  We will actually have them all reviewed by May 20^th and approve all suitable video responses by May 24^th.  Once they are approved you will have two weeks to pester your friends and family, post to your Facebook, Tweet about it, post it as video responses elsewhere or whatever other means you can find to get people to vote (we’ll be doing the same!).  The videos that get the most “likes” will be the winners.  We will not be considering “dislikes” so please tell all your thug friends that there is no need to click on the thumbs down of your competitors (and yes, yes…  We’ll do likewise).

On June 7^th we will announce the winners and distribute gift certificates or codes depending on whether you won or your video was just accepted.

Now go and get cracking!  Make it fun!  While production values can be important your message might make all the difference.  Think before you shoot (video, that is).  Write a script.  Rehearse.  Is it funny?  Great!  Does it offend people?  Boo!  Cute?  Yay!  Does it, in 30 to 90 seconds, show how awesome Inkubus.com is while being entertaining?  w00t!

See you all in YouTube!

As this unending winter continues, my mind turns to fashion.  Don't get me wrong...  I actually look forward to the colder weather so that I may indulge in layers and beautiful coats.  But it would be nice to shed some of the layers and show off all of my stuff.  I am sure if you live in a cold climate you know what I'm talking about.  That said, regardless of weather I'm grateful of how far alternative fashions have come.  For those of us who are not good with needle and thread and have to rely on  store bought items to make our statement it used to be, shall we say "interesting"?

The late 70's and  the early 80's where actually relatively good.  I remember going to the Fiorucci store in NYC where I could find plenty of clothing that reflected my personality.  To this day I miss that store!  The early 80's where promising.   There was Canal Jeans, also in NYC where you could find alls ort of items that would complete your look.  Then, somehow, it all dried out and I would have to go to many different stores to find, if I was lucky, one item that I would have to then take home and dye to my liking and I would "Frankenstein" a look by purchasing items here and there; ripping ruffles and collars, slashing this or that, dying black, gluing something on.  While you may think it was oh so creative of me, it never looked quite right.

When I opened Inkubus in 1997 it was my goal to bring one place where you could get one cohesive look regardless of what branch of Goth you were into.  And even then it was hard!  There were a couple of labels that were working at it (Do any of you remember early Tripp?) but as a whole it wasn't that easy to find goods, even as a retailer.  I still found myself making trips to the designer district of Miami, finding one top here and one skirt there.

Today, Many designers and companies work with different styles: Steamer Punk, Gothic Lolita, Glam Goth...  You name it.  While the lifestyle has maybe gone more mainstream there are enough different looks that will allow you not to just mix and match but to remain unique and to show the world what you are about.  It is still my goal, at Inkubus, to cater to you.  To the person forever looking for that different item, for an accessory to complete your look, for your complete outfit.  What the outside looks like does matter in that it makes us be able to match our image to what's in the inside.  I know, looking forward to the eventual Spring, that for me personally, fashion has always been a huge part of my life.  I hope with out store I can make it a fun part of yours.

This is the reason why we have not sent order is a couple of days. My apologies to those waiting and thank you in advance for your patience:

Buyer beware! This is an old but true piece of advice. As a store owner trying to improve my service every day I do look around at my competition and look at trends and practices.  I have noticed a couple of what I believe are disturbing ones.

One such practice involves flat out deception:  The merchant lists a price are "regular price" followed by a lower "our price".  Oftentimes this "our price" is in fact the regular price at ours and other stores or even just the M.S.R.P.  As a consumate shopper myself I always ask myself some questions before I buy online:

-Is the price for the item the best price I can find?

- Now that I have found the best price: is this merchant reliable?

- Do they have a good standing with the Better Business Bureau? (www.bbb.org)

- If I have a question, does the merchant answer in a timely manner or even at all?

And then, one of my questions is where I found another disturbing trend:

- Those the merchant actually have the merchandise in stock?

I have found plenty of sites where all or part of their inventory will say "special order" or "ships directly from the manufacturer".  Sometimes they use the less obvious "please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery".  This means the site you are buying from does not have the items they offer in stock.  They might not have a physical store or even a storage room.  They might actually be able to get the item right away from some manufacturers but, more often than not, the manufacturer has minimum amounts a merchant has to meet and this might mean that if the minimums are not met you will not get your item.  Sometimes items might no longer be in production and, again, you will not get them at all.  Other times you will have to wait an inordinate amount of time to get your order.

At Inkubus what you see is what you get.  We set our prices in a fair manner and our sale prices are truly reduced.  Obviously, we are not the only merchant in the industry that abides by fair practices...  There are many "good guys" out there!  A savvy shopper needs but to do some research to find it.  We do advice that you do just that.  It's worth the time and effort put in!

Another year is upon us.  They seem to go so much faster as you get older.  Inkubus will be 14 years old in April, 2011...  Still a rebelious teen-ager.  I really did not think, back in 1997 that we would still be going strong, but here we are!

I kind of do not like the way this time of the year makes me soppy and reminiscent but still, winter is one of my favorite times of the year because I get to wear tons of clothes at the same time.  Yet another reason why I so prefer New England over Florida.

For those of us who are fashion conscious this is such a great time!  When else can you get away with wearing a beater, under a long sleeve shirt, under a short sleeve tee, under a cardie, under a hoodie and/or jacket/cape/coat?  It's just perfection!

And speaking of...  It's 22 degrees outside.  Have to get my layers on and get going. You guys have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful, healthy new year.  Stay warm and stylish!

Hello all from down under!  Having been hanging out in Brisbane for the last few days have given me a better understanding as to why we get a lot of orders from Australia.  Great sense of style can be found here!

Last night I attended a crime tour of Brisbane conducted by Jack Sim himself!  I will not go into details because I don't want to ruin it for you but anyone in the area should definitely book a tour at www.ghost-tours.com.au and if you are not close enough to do so I suggest you pick up all of Jack's books.  I have started reading one and it's great fun and very informational.  Jack has a great sense of history and loves what he does.  You will get the *real* story on a lot of hauntings and crimes.  Truly fascinating.  Jack is, in addition, the ultimate goth.  A true old-school soul.

So do yourselves a favor: book a tour and/or buy the books.  You will be glad you did.

Lounging on the patio, playing dominoes with your friends, a cortadito in hand and guayabera on your back; is there anything more appropriately Miami? Well you don't have to be strolling through South Beach or Little Havana to sport one of these awesome shirts, they look good anywhere!  We happen to have a few Guadalupe Guayaberas left, each a steal at $20.00. You'll cut such a cool figure, you may feel compelled to keep a cup of hot coffee around to regulate.

We'll be blogging soon..too busy getting the new site ready.