Coming along nicely. . .

Here's Jon (the hubby) trying to remove the writing from the front window


I feel like this is going really slowly. I just started. It's only been three days. There has been a lot of cleaning going on. I never realized how much hidden hair there is in a hair salon (and in the strangest places)! I am actually making a lot of headway. We picked up those shelves on Monday night. Nobody got hurt (unless you count sore muscles!). They are ginormous!! 6' wide, 7' tall and about a foot and a half deep. They barely cleared the door of the 15' truck we rented. I'll post some "before" pictures of them soon. Right now they're lavender and white. That's all about to change. Thank you to Mark Mosher for coming to the storefront to help us get them off the truck! It took four of us to get them in (thank goodness that there was another customer at that closed store picking up stuff!)

I just realized that I haven't posted about my angel(a)! Through a long string of serendipitous events, I have been blessed with a real retail expert (a former Nordstrom merchandiser named Angela). My friend Laurie in Tacoma sold her something on etsy, and she was from Berwyn (but she used to live in Seattle). So Laurie mentioned to her that she has a friend (me) in Berwyn. Angela said I could call her, so I did, because Laurie's stuff is super cute and unique and so I figured Angela was probably pretty cool. Boy, is she! She is totally helping me figure out a color scheme for the store, and she's been surfing the world wide web finding great display ideas. She's a stay at home mom with a newborn, Oscar, and a four year old genius in the making, Arden. They all came to the store today in the rain and got me so excited about colors for the interior and exterior! We're narrowing it down, and trying to brainstorm about the unfortunate shingles around the top of the walls. The landlord doesn't want me to paint or remove them. She's been so helpful! I have a feeling that this will be a friendship that lasts much longer than this project.

There have actually been a lot of VERY helpful people along the way so far. All the other merchants in the area have been awesome. Tom from the ice cream shop came over to see the place today. He and his partner, Jose, are leading the Depot District Merchants Association and doing a swell job of it. I'm so glad I joined up with that group before I got started. They're all full of helpful advice and moral support.

I also met the mailman Bob and the UPS man Scott (see, if I write their names here, I can come back and refresh my memory if I need to). They are both really nice. We'll see how nice Scott is in a couple of weeks when all the products come in. . .

Constructor Success!

Congratulations to Norah and Fly Bird on a very successful craft show. It was packed full of great artists and lots of buyers, too. I got to touch base with a few of my planned vendors for the store (Mosh Baby and Sheriff Peanut) and I met some great potential vendors too. They were all receptive to my consignment idea, which will be a blessing to me as I get up and running. In the future wholesale is an option, once I get a feel for what people really want around here.

I had a lot of contact with my neighbors on Memorial Day, due to some happenings on my block which brought everyone outdoors. They all seemed excited to hear about my store. Charlie across the street said he saw my little ad in the newspaper last week, too. It's so nice to know that not only my friends (who, for the most part, share my vision) but also other folks from different backgrounds feel like my store is a needed addition to the Berwyn scene. I have a rep coming over tomorrow to sell me more stuff for the store--luckily, I have my lists prepared and I refuse to be talked into buying more than I planned. Unless it's really cute. I will be strong.