What does ‘Beta’ mode mean? It means that we’re still tweaking some things and that there may be some bumps in the road. We ask that you be patient with us if we have any hiccups in the ordering process. We’ve already run a few orders without any issues, but we’d just like to get a little more practice before we remove the beta tag.

So how do you shop with us online?

First, you need to register and activate your account. Online shopping with us is still wholesale only.

After you’ve registered and activated, you should be able to login to your account. You can click the link at the top of every page to login. Once you’ve logged in, you can browse our products, and you will now have the option to add those products to your cart.

When you’ve added all of the products you want to your cart, you can checkout. We accept Visa, Mastercard, and American Express for your online orders.

Once your order is placed, we will pull and ship your merchandise. If we have to make any adjustments to your order, we will let you know. For instance, if we are short on quantity or need to adjust the shipping rate, we will notify you by phone or e-mail. We will never charge you more than the price you agreed to without your consent first. For instance, if our shipping estimate turns out to be low or requires more boxes than we thought, we may have to increase your shipping charge. In that case, we will contact you and work it out.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when shopping with us:

• Shipping glass can be expensive, especially in larger quantities. Shipping companies have guidelines for shipping glass, and in order to comply with them, we may need to break larger quantities of glass into several boxes. Our shipping calculator is not yet able to handle that, so if you order glass, we will most likely have to adjust your shipping rate. Our apologies in advance.
• We can ship anywhere in the United States, but have yet to explore international shipping. If you are interested in shipping something to outside of the US, please contact us so we can try to make arrangements.
• Larger items may also be very expensive to ship or may require a freight service. We will let you know if you have a large item that has additional or special shipping requirements.
• As mentioned above, our online store is still wholesale only. In order to buy from us, either in-store or online, you will need a business license, seller’s permit, proof of tax ID number, or proof of buying authority for a church, school, etc.
• We will try our best to keep up-to-date with prices and quantities on the website. In the case that we are unable to fulfill your order, we will notify you as soon as possible and ask what you would like us to do. We will not charge your credit card until your order is complete.

We hope that the online store is a valuable service, especially for those who do not live in the area. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us and let us know. We’re very excited to start this new chapter in the story of Shinoda Design Center, and we’re really excited to serve customers new and old across the country.

See you around the (online) store!

-Chris

A couple days ago, while checking the new page for a problem I thought I had created, I stopped to look at some of our new merchandise. We’ve been posting a lot of Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving items. I sifted through some of my favorites and wanted to post them here.

Count the days of Christmas

Put candy in me

Mummy!

You can check out all of our new stuff in one of our stores. You still have 2 days left to take advantage of our Christmas in July sale, so hurry!

See you around the store.

-Chris

Christmas time is here

I can’t get over how detailed the endcaps are. There’s the papering of the back, the decorations running up the four corners of the endcaps, and even the tops. It’s really nice to look at our professionally designed endcaps (as the pro designers out there already know) because our designers know how to create an attractive display without making it too busy, too plain, too empty, or too confusing. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to stumble upon an attractive looking layout, but our designers actually know why that is attractive or what about it is particularly eye catching. Since my first question is usually, ‘what color is this again?’, I think I’ll leave the endcap design to the pros. Luckily, we have some good ones working at Shinodas.

I’ll be posting more pictures as they come in. Christmas is a really exciting time for us at Shinoda’s, and the Christmas endcaps are part of what makes Shinoda’s, Shinoda’s. Hopefully the photos can do them some justice, although they’re really best viewed in person.

12►

If you see something you like, be it a blog post, product, or a page, you can click the +1 button to let everyone know you think it’s cool. And since it’s a Google product, +1′s will also show up in search results, so you can see what other people think about it.

One of our plus one buttons, which someone has already clicked!

By using the +1 button, you can tell us what products you like, what content you’d like to see more of, etc. And don’t worry: you can click any +1 button again to undo.

-Chris

Someone discovered that yes, the gate is solid

Our poor gate! Due to its extreme brokeness, we could not open it this morning without destroying it. Since we weren’t prepared to do that, we kept it shut and opened the gate by Orange County Wholesale. Shinoda Design Center is still open, even if the gate isn’t. Just go a little farther down the street if you’re coming from Segerstrom, or a little less down the street if you’re coming from Warner, and turn in. You can still park in any of the usual spots.

Sorry for the inconvenience. If you see our gate, don’t mention anything about it being broken. It’s very self conscious.

The most interesting flower in the world: I don't always grow flowers, but when I do, I make them proteas

Proteas are ancient. I know I thought magnolias were old, but proteas make magnolias look like the new kid on the block. Ancestors of the protea are 300 million years old. Wikipedia told me that proteas were native to Gondwanaland. I thought that wikipedia had made up a word, but Gondwanaland was actually a real place. When all of the 7 continents were grouped together forming Pangea, the southernmost ‘supercontinent’ was Gondwanaland. If you’re wondering, the other supercontinent was called Laurasia, although I don’t think anyone at the time called it Laurasia since it was mostly non-speaking amphibians and invertebrates.

So they’re really old. They’re also a controversial national symbol of South Africa. During the Apartheid era, most of the sports teams were represented by a Springbok, which is an antelope. Even though the Springbok mascot came about before Apartheid, it had developed a close association with Apartheid, and it was unpopular with anti-Apartheid groups. The protea, native to Southern Africa, was proposed as an alternative that would appeal to all South Africans. The protea is now the symbol of all South African sports teams, except the rugby team, which has received a special exemption.

Over 300 million years old and still causing problems today. Not bad for one flower.

-Chris

Thanks to Wikipedia for all the information about the symbolism of Apartheid and Gondwanaland. Without you, Wikipedia, I wouldn’t know the adjective Gondwanan. Wikipedia can be found on the internet at www.wikipedia.org

All snowballs are hydrangeas, but not all hydrangeas are snowballs

Being a curious person, I was still unsatisfied. Viburnum is the name of a genus, and does not refer to a specific flower. There are about 150 species of viburnums, so which one is the snowball? I did a quick inspection through the listed species to see what I could find, and it looked pretty similar to viburnum plicatum and viburnum macrocephalum. Viburnum plicatum is also know as the Japanese Snowball Bush, and I believe these are the ones we have.

So what have I learned? If you call something a rose, or a viburnum, or any other genus or family name, it’s a pretty broad term. When I read about orchids, I learned that there were over 20,000 species of orchid. However, if you say, ‘I’d really like a viburnum plicatum’, that might not get you very far either. Ultimately, the name doesn’t matter too much (‘a rose by any other name … ‘). It doesn’t really matter if I can’t figure out exactly which species of viburnum the snowball is. You know how it looks, and if it fits in with what you’re designing, and that’s what matters.

Chris

Thanks to Botanica and Wikipedia for various facts about the viburnum or snowball. I’m not sure where Botanica is at the moment, but I bet wikipedia can be found at www.wikipedia.org.

These are giant Zinnias. I'm not even sure if giant does them justice.

The zinnia’s namesake is Johann Gottfried Zinn, a German botanist and anatomist, famous for describing the anatomy of the human eye. He was also very fascinated with botany, and when Carolus Linnaeus was handing out genus names, he named the Zinnia in honor of Zinn. It must have been nice for Carolus Linnaeus to like you. If he did, there was a good chance that he’d name an entire genus of flowers after you, and 250 years later, people would still know your name.

-Chris

Thanks to Botanica for some facts about the origin of the zinnia. Botanica is probably in my car on its way back to Santa Ana.
As always, thanks to Wikipedia, this time for information about Johann Gottfried Zinn, and a check in with our friend Carolus Linnaeus.