There are only THree NPHC sorority
 

Clearly, I didn't get the memo I thought there were four,but when it comes to para the vendor only think there three.

Why did I go to my local greek shop to have something embrodired and took a look around the store to find that the CUTES Afrocentic straw (jute) bags with a afro lady on it with the greek letters on her bandana. I ask the manager if they had any in sgrho she said they don't make them. I was very very upset. This was after I saw a few items in aka and delta that I wanted for sgrho and she said they don't carry sgrho or they don't make them for us. One item I've seen on line for sgrho so I know she won't trying.

I sorry sorors but this is an injustice it make me feel like that we aren't important. I know we small and understand that plays apart business-wise but really if you greek and own a store please rep all the orgs not just the largest ones.

Thoughts

Now I have no choice but to start my own para store one day

http://www.chezpoodle.org/sigma3.html

I thought at first you meant the bag on this page, but I reread and thought maybe not. Anyway, support DC's own Chez Poodle!

Thanks sorhor not that one. I probably going to buy that too but it's different. Its smaller it more of a purse than a tote. It has flowers and one afro lady on it with the greek letters on her bandana.
http://www.greekstuff.com/store/cart...gs+and+Wallets
http://www.eastluna.com/timages/pics/7971o1.jpg


One thing I don't like about it is that the blue is too dark. IF they made a SGRho they should use a bright GOLD/YELLOW to make it closer to the offical colors.

I'm not an SGRho, I just like supporting Phi Sigma Chapter. :)

my bad, I was to caught up in rage I hadn't even thought to look at your name. Your an alpha?

I totally agree with you on this.

You're the SGRho who types with an accent. :)

Cute bag. Never seen it before. Wouldn't buy one, though.

I know you do. ;)

To Soror Goaldigger: You're not the only one who has felt this way. I usually just educate vendors before I get upset. I buy whatever they have and then I say "Well, I would have bought more but you don't have anything else." :rolleyes: I've done this twice and then I've come back to the same vendor with about 5 or more sorors with me and say, "where's our stuff?" When I've seen the vendor for the 3rd or 4th time, they are usually well stocked. You just gotta let them know that's all.

i agree with Soror BR. if you mention it to enough vendors, they will make sure to have stuff the next time around. and that way, you get more sayso in what gets put out there for us!

I'm fortunate to be in a city (Houston) that has a number of greek stores, with about three of them that maintain our para.

I agree that if you talk to the store owner / vendor and express your concern then they will usually try to keep our para in stock. Otherwise, I've ordered from the internet and have been satisfied.

I've also gotten para from Chez Poodle - lots of cute items!!

Oh, also, encourage your chapter sorors to buy from that particular store / vendor once they get our stuff in stock. There is one lady, a Delta, here in town that does a very good job of keeping our para in her store - only problem is that she moves the store a lot. :(

I guess I understand what you're saying but I never have problems finding nalia...but maybe that's because of where I live (Philly). Even on the web, I find whatever I want. And also, if you go to a store that doesn't have something for us, then educate the store owner and tell them that if they get more Sigma items, you and your sorors will buy them.

And as far as our org being small, please stop saying that. Sorors can make us sound like one of those BGLO's that's not in the NPHC. Our org is not small with over 85,000 members since inception. It's smaller in comparison to the other NPHC sororities but we are among the largest of greek organizations in this country and there is no reason why a so-called greek store shouldn't carry items for us, so you just have to educate people.

Sorors today have it good. When I was a neo (in the early 90's) it was quite tough for us to find a variety of quality nalia but today I just don't see this problem, especially since we have the internet. All I can tell you is to save your money for Regionals and Boule. That's where the good stuff is.

Sorhor Golddigger,

Listen to Sorhor Ninjapoodle just educate them - don't get up set because there are a lot of vendors that carry enough for all four sororities.

Serioussigma22

Amen sorhor! I STOCKED UP at regionals last year!!! If you are looking to get good stuff, the trip is a learning experience and an investment.

You are right about the Internet too. I have gotten some really nice stuff from www.somethinggreek.com and ebay.

I hear what everyone is saying about educating the vendors, but Sigma Gamma Rho is NOT a new sorority; we, along with our three counterparts, are one of the largest and leading historically black Sororities. If you are a vendor of Black Greek paraphernalia, ten to one, I don't have to "introduce" you to Sigma Gamma Rho. I think a lot of these vendors buy into the stereotype that there are "all two of us SGRho's" in the country and it makes no sense for them monetarily to carry SGRho paraphernalia. I've tried the "we would be inclined to buy more if you carried more" position; it doesn't work, or at least not in South Florida. I instead swing my support to businesses that acknowledge my organization, period, the end. Another thing I hate is that even when a vendor does have our stuff, you'll look at what they carry for the AKAs and the Deltas and our selection doesn't even compare. What the heck is that about? That's insulting.
And. . . all I can say is that if you think we have it hard, think of the Iotas! My fiancee is one and I have the HARDEST time buying unique paraphernalia for him, too . . . but if you compare that to the selection the other fraternities have, again, it's insulting. It's like non-verbally admitting that you specialize in Black Greek 'nalia. . . but just do a better job at it for some orgs than others. (Gotta stop typing now; get a cold drink and alleviate the steam coming from the top of my head over this!)

I've been given this reason before by a greek store owner. I also told the owner, a Kappa, if he would provide more, we'd (SGR chapters in Houston) would buy more. He refused so we've boycotted his store.

...and the church said Amen!
 

E-X-A-C-T-L-Y! That's what I'm saying. . . these vendors do not need to be "educated" on the sororities of the NPHC or "introduced" to Sigma Gamma Rho. . . they know we exist!

It depends on the area. Around here, a shop that invests in a lot of SGRho and Iota 'nalia would have that 'nalia there for a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long time. A promise to buy more if he invests more isn't enough to most vendors. He can't hold you all to that promise. He can just go by what he knows to be true, especially if there is (what he perceives to be) a relatively small amount of SGRhos who are promising to patron the shop.

i hear what you are saying, i think even in the more populous areas of where SGRho is (and i have no data that says where that is lol), we still get the short end of the para stick. it may prove to be somewhat profitable to have a few awesome products in my letters to keep my interest and more likely to buy your stuff. i understand that said vendor may not want to stock too much SGRho para, but at least be consistent. there are TOO many items that i would have liked for myself, but to have it in XYZ in multiple quantities and in my letters in NONE, that's the beef I have.

if anything, perhaps we are better suited to vendors as customer loyalists, being that you are way more likely to find even the most basic items in AKA or DST at 9 out of 10 stores/websites. hell, what if i just wanted to pick up an umbrella or a basic pin? i can't do that. i have to pick and choose who i go to even for the simpler items. forget cute bags and things. i'm just suggesting that if the word on the street is Vendor A ALWAYS has SGRho para, and good stuff at that, business may pick up in that area.

but of course if your concern is bottom dollar, then you go with whoever buys your stuff up.

I agree wholeheartedly.

And you want them to have more than SGRho keychains and license plate covers.

because there are only so many lettered keychains one can have. heck, there are only so many keychains one can have, period. unless youre a teenager and need 50-11 keychains, plus two lanyards and a photo frame.

and yeah. im not driving right now so license plate covers, meh.

Good for you all. I know if a store didn't have anything for us and it didn't look like they were likely to get anything for us, the word would spread and sorors wouldn't go there. My thing is how can you call your business a greek store and you don't have something for all the NPHC orgs whether there are a lot of members in your area or not. My sorors and I have thought of opening such a store ourselves where we live and as a business owner, I darn sure wouldn't want any of the members in the NPHC or other well known greek orgs to stop by my store when I have nothing for them. I don't care if there were no members in my area...what about the members from out of town that are just passing thru. If you are really about that money, you won't want to alienate anyone.

Sorhor, this is why I was so upset plus the overall service was bad. My custom made polo was going to cost me 90 dollars and I was willing to pay it but when I got back to the store they hadn't even moved the t-shirt from the folder they put it in when I brought it in.

I just have to say that when I look for stuff for SGRho and compare it to the DST and AKA the quality and creativity is lacking. Also whatever they did have in stock was blue. Everything is blue I mean yea blue is ONE of our color but not the ONLY color. Not to mention I prefer gold anyway so why can't I find a gold bag or hat or anything else. Plus how hard is it make something ROYAL BLUE and GOLD. I've seen so much navy and light blue crap and yellow and pale yellow stuff ( and tan WHAT?) that I could hurl. I mean in the NPHC we share our colors with iota, omega, zeta, sigma, and alpha. And you mean to tell me you can't put royal blue AND gold together on a straw bag( the bag don't even match when I wear my offical colors) Imma need yall to do better. Cause I'm a neo AND shopper and they are truly missing out on alot of business from me.


Blue thunder we are >here<
:)

As far as the quantity of merchandise, we just have to face facts that many times SGR lines are fewer in number as compared to DST and AKA. While they may have 50 - 100 women online, which is very common for their Texas chapters and we may have 5 -10, then from the store owner's point of view he can sell more mechandise to them. Still, it is no excuse for the owner to not have anything, or have old, outdated stuff.

As far as the color, many orgs have a problem with this, not just ours. There are many bootleg vendors out there. That is why it is suggested to get para from IHQ approved vendors.

And, if I can't find it in a store I can always order online.

Sorhors,

I don't know where some of you are shopping for nalia but if you just check out the back of the AURORA our official magazine you will see that there are volumes of vendors that sell plenty of nice nalia for Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

Also we have more sorhors on our roster than the 85,000 the sorhor in a previous post stated but it should not be about numbers for any organization. If you feel the vendor is not willing to stock our merchandise educate the man and keep on stepping. In the end they are the one's that lose out because they aren't making any money. :cool:

Serioussigma22:cool:

How about that. I think sorors forget about the approved vendors listed on the back of the Aurora. And I only mentioned numbers because the soror was implying that the reason some vendors don't carry merchandise for Sigma is because we are small as an organization and that is not true. Smaller in comparison to the other 3 NPHC sororities does not mean that we are a small greek letter organization, although it wouldn't matter if we were. The size of an organization does not make it greater or lesser.

That is a good point sistergreek.

Plus the 'authorized' vendors pay a lot for thier listings with our orgs so I am sure they would appreciate our business.

I did not!! But, when you are in a situation where you want to pick up something quick, like a pin, or t-shirt, it is great to know that you can run into your corner greek store, pick it up and keep going. That is the sentiment that I got from the OP. Yes, we can and should use the approved vendors but a soror may find herself in a situation where she needs a small item in a hurry.


I don't think that what we do as an organization relative to our size is at issue. I've known of SGR chapters on campuses with 1/3 the active members of the other three orgs, yet that SGR chapter won greek chapter of the year, most community service, best programs, highest GPA - so yes we still do things big!!

I think our numbers are an issue with respect to the greek store owner because all he is looking at is the number of members from that org who will walk into his store and buy something. He, or she, really does not care who has the highest GPA on campus. All the store owner is doing is calculating his profit margin: 50 new members = 50 key chains at 3.95 that he can sell, versus 5 new members = 5 key chains at 3.95 that he can sell.

He is going to try to stock more for the other orgs because he feels he can sell more to them. But, like I said, it is still no excuse for him to not have any, or very little, of our stuff.

Hmmm.....108 new members of ABC sorority in DC.....122 new members of XYZ in PG County....

Yeah, I need para as a side hustle!

Unfortunately, if our struggle is any indication, you all have a long long way to go toward being fully recognized, accepted, and given your due respect as a member of the NPHC and let's face it, this whole vendor thing and certain vendors not having anything or very little for SGRho and Iota is about respect to an extent, plain and simple. We have been dealing with this forever and we are 85 years now. The good thing is that things do change over time and things are already changing for Iota and they will continue to change with each passing year (although change doesn't come nearly as fast as it should). When I was a neo in the early 90's, things were much different for SGRho in certain areas and very different of course for Iota overall in comparison to now. Even today the struggle is very real for us in certain areas and on certain campuses. Looking at Iota is like going back in time and seeing ourselves. This is undoubtedly the reason that SGRho and Iota have grown close in some areas and on some campuses. Our connection has nothing to do with our orgs being "desperate" for a sister/brother relationship like some would like to believe. But all you can do is keep representing, educating people, and striving to be the best in the show, because the stage is and probably always will be a popularity contest.

You see...that's where I think we tend to oversimplify the problem: it's not the YEARS we've been around, it largely boils down to being discredited. It's a respect issue. To a great extent, people still talk about BGLOs as if there are only TWO sororities and and FOUR fraternities. If you aren't a part of whichever group has the most notoriety or the most members, people pretend as if you don't exist or as if your existence has meant very little...not just in the paraphernalia shops, but also in the scholarly literature concerning African American organizational history, and on campuses around the country. And it's not because we all aren't doing AMAZING things in our communities just like everybody else...

Somebody tell me I'm lying: you can have a campus with a chapter of five SGRho's and a chapter of three Omegas; nobody will ever think twice about the size or "strength" on campus of the Ques, but everybody and their mama will talk about "all two of them" SGRhos! (Lawd, I'm venting my undergrad frustrations!)

I totally agree with you soror! I meant that since it's been 85 years (and that's a long enough time in my book), you'd think we wouldn't still have these issues but we do although things have gotten better with time, so Iota has lots of years still to look forward to dealing with the mess.

Exactly. It's all about a popularity contest when it comes down to it.

I think in terms of the random greek store vendor / owner we are mixing apples with oranges. I honestly don't think the vendors really care about discrediting a group per se. I think for them it is really all about numbers. The more members a group may have the more likely that vendor can sell more stuff to that group. For him / her it is just supply and demand - the more demand, the more he will supply.

For our case here in Houston with the Kappa store owner - he should have known better. But he flat out said that he would not do anything to ensure he has current para for us, so we said buh-bye!! And when I talked to him personally and expressed my feelings, he gave me the same attitude, then I told him I'd order my para on-line, he was like :eek:. I was like 'yeah, I really don't need your store. I was just trying to support a Black owned business, but since you won't support us, we won't support you.'

Now this is another issue. I was talking to this ug and I told her I was a SGRho. She was like, 'oh, is that one of those non-greek greek orgs?' I said no, we are part of the NPHC. I thought her response was kinda sad considering she was pressed to try to join this other NPHC org. She should have done her research about all of the D9 orgs. :rolleyes:

That's because people would rather believe hype than fact.

brought this over from the "you know youre a neo when..." thread, as it was more appropriate.

i think the awesomest part of that exchange was when a seasoned soror (and a well-known/respected one at that) walked past and, without stopping, said "let's not waste our time sorors, he has nothing to offer us" with 7-10 sorors following suit.

he DEFINITELY missed the boat on this one.

Sorhors,

Stick with the Aurora Magazine and get on "For Sorhors only section" of the website to find nice nalia. Also usually at Boule, regionals, area meetings, and the Midwinter meeting for Northeast Region Sorhors the vendors carry nice things.

When I used to go to the Greek Picnic in Philly(80s and early 90s it was called the Greek Picnic) - the vendors were always good to Sigma -I used to come home from Philly with tea shirts, bags, hats, pins, cups, etc for future members.

I've been a Sigma for a while - Yes, I pledged Sigma my freshmen year in the Spr. of 83' and I can truly say that the vendors have come a long way. However, there's always going to be room for improvement but I can't let them hold me down.

My final advice for sorhors: plan ahead, use approved vendors, shop online, but don't spend all of your money on nalia.

Serioussigma22;)

Thank you.

That's my Soror! Say it again Serioussigma22! :)

Maybe more of your sorors need to do that. Maybe some have already. You can look to their success and judge whether that would be a good business move; probably not because volume is key for a retail business. Your authorized vendors would probably have better items anyway.

We have the opposite problem - everybody and their mother paints something red and white then tries to sell it to us. There is so much junk out there that we really have to pick and choose what we buy because 80% of it is junk.

You know I have seen some things that made me say "what is that and why would they think anybody would want to buy it?