A New Adventure

Go big or go home, right?

With only 4 hours notice, the open house at the new shop in Avon was rescheduled for Friday night at 7:00. It was quite a hustle to get home from work, throw the frozen pizza in the oven and wolf down dinner before leaving to pick up MJ to find our way to the store in time. Good thing I did take time to eat though, I didn't get home until 9:00 or so. I wasn't thrilled with having to back out on a Friday night but that was definitely the better choice than going on Saturday or Sunday since I had other plans for those days.

The store is right next to The Avon Inn - and was formerly an antique store I think. I should put antique in quotes, I think, unless I don't know the definition of antiques. Lots of junk, if you ask me. The daughter of the former owners was there too - said her parents had to sell it due to health problems. They had been having sales for a while to get rid of stuff but there was enough stuff left to make it difficult to envision how the new place will look under new ownership. And it's very difficult to imagine how Sandra will get this place in shape to open on November 12!

We kind of wish she had made appointments with people instead of having the open house because she's the only person with the information so we all had to wait our turn to speak with her. There were probably 6-8 other vendors there during the time we were there. Some seemed to be friends that didn't require her attention though.

I went there feeling pretty skeptical, maybe to prevent myself from being disappointed if it didn't work out. I'd had a feeling all along that my decision to join that store would be based on one thing: Did I like Sandra? The other details of the vendor arrangements were fairly standard, so I decided to just rely on my gut and make my decision when my instinct told me it was time.

I like Sandra very much! That's probably in good part because she's a CPA so I know she'll have the accounting part down pat and she'll be good with details. I know she's keen on email and a morning person because the first time I emailed her for store details, she replied the next morning at 6:30. Email and morning? Score! She appears to be younger than me, works full time as a CPA and just opened a co-op gift shop in Henrietta a month ago. For local readers, it's called Henrietta's Country Cottage and it's at 2982 East Henrietta Road, between Lehigh Station and Calkins Road. I asked her if she'd been part of other gift stores previously and she said no. The fact that she's opening two stores within a couple of months of each other fascinated me. I teased her, "How do you know you can do this?" She looked me right in the eye and said, "I just know I can do it. Type A personality, I guess." Love that modest confidence! She seems very down to earth.

It's a Victorian house with lots of chopped up rooms and floors so uneven, walking on them makes you feel drunk. I went from thinking of possible consignment, which you'll recall Sandra offered me via email when I said a 20 square foot booth for $50/month was not in my budget. But once I saw the set up at the open house and realized she was renting every nook and cranny at a standard per foot price, which is how it was at the Fairport store, I considered renting a small space.

Go big or go home, right? So I negotiated an area just big enough for my large wood card rack with a strip of wall space for $35/month for a year's lease and gave her a deposit. There is a possibility that someone else wants that spot but she was a package deal with another vendor who will not be renting there, so Sandra thinks it unlikely my spot will be taken. If it is, I talked to her about similar area on the other side of the same wall. Both are on the first floor, near the register. Score!

It will be a challenge - I'll have to sell 9 cards/month or about 2/week to cover my rent. I'll have framed art on that strip of wall and probably suncatchers and maybe paper jewelry so hopefully it will all go well. It's up to me to make it happen and I'm enthused.

MJ initially wanted to be on the first floor but when we went upstairs she found her own little room with just enough room for shelves and lots of wall space. She sells a little bit of purchased product besides her hand painted glassware, which she can display on the walls. She signed up for a year also. It's a perfect space for her - she'll fix it up nice - and she's not right next to someone else's product, which is what she wanted.

We are both happy and excited. And now we're even more so because I had a voice mail from MJ today telling me she visited Sandra's other store (the above mentioned Henrietta store) and found it to be clean, well presented and full of customers. So she's even more pleased than before and I trust MJ's judgment and experience enough to be just as excited as she is.

MJ said that Sandra said all the old stuff should be moved out by November 2 and we should be able to move our stuff in that following weekend. That's the weekend before the craft show at St. John of Rochester School and after dithering about if I'll have enough product for both, I've decided to email Sandra and tell her I just won't be ready until November 13. That will either fly or it won't and I'll react accordingly. Meanwhile, it's create like hell for me!

I'm happy.

(I just realized - I don't know the name of the new store! I'll get back to you on that.)