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What a title. I can honestly tell you I never thought I would write that sentence. We opened a gift shop. Full stop. It’s happened. It’s here. People come and shop daily. What is life?
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In 40 days we went from getting the keys to the location to our soft opening. 40 days of sleepless nights, gallons of spackle, and a whirlwind of emotions. But here we are on the other side. We’re no where near “finished,” but we’re at a point where I feel like I can take a deep breath before diving back into things. Like blogging. And videos. And sleep.
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We got the keys to our location in downtown Grand Rapids on November 1st. Look at us…all smiles without a clue in the world what we were doing. I mean we still don’t know, but we’ve learned a ton since this photo (like you can’t paint outside if it’s below fifty degrees. The awkward paint swatch on the outside of the building is testament to that gained knowledge…)
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Looking at this photo I’m amazed at how far the space has come. I remember standing in this space not two months ago thinking, “what the hell did I just do?” I had so much doubt and fear that I had just made a terrible mistake and four year commitment to something I most definitely could not do.
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I’ve tried my best to document the journey. It’s been lacking in the recent weeks as we turned our life up to eleven to get the store open for Small Business Saturday. But there are still a few videos showing you where we started and walking you through the journey.
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Putting the logo on the door really made it real for me. You’d think the hours of painting and rearranging furniture to get the perfect “customer flow” would have done that, but nope. When we put that vinyl on the door it became officially our place.
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There were so many 2 a.m.’s that I thought for sure we wouldn’t be able to open for Small Business Saturday, yet we somehow pulled it off. A sneaky selfie was a must.
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And people showed up. People continue to show up to shop. It’s mind blowing. When I’m able to complete full thoughts I’ll do another post I’m sure, but it’s completely astounding what can happen if you decide to do something and just do it. I’m a gift shop owner now.
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I’m currently planning our calendar of events for 2020 and it’s been amazing to meet local artists and talented crafts-people to talk about workshops. Be sure to follow our Instagram and Facebook so you know what events are coming!
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Thank you so much for your cheerleading and patience during the past months as I completely disappeared in a whirlwind of paint swatches and wholesale orders.
