Ok we did it. Again. For the eight year in a row. I can’t believe that we have reset a shop for eight holiday seasons. Many of you know that my business partners Liz, Lisa and myself started this store with what was left in our pockets from our booth spaces and a 2,500 square foot building with a roof waiting to collapse. Which in a big snow storm, it did. But don’t worry, like the scrappy sisters we are we just shut the door to the back room and remained open.
Those were such simpler times. Ironically it took us just as long to flip a 2,500 square foot store as it does a 16,000 square foot store. Granted, we have major help now from our incredible team but still, it takes us a full week and many late nights to get The Found Cottage holiday ready.
The Found Cottage sometimes feels like my alter ego. By day i’m an advertising and marketing gal for a chain of convenience stores and by night (and sometimes early morning) I’m a shop gal. Oh and don’t forget blogger, mother and wife somewhere in there. The shop is my creative outlet. The shop is all of our creative outlet. We are blessed enough to have this amazing space where we get to decide what to put in it, decorate it and sell what we love.
Sure sure, there are times we think about driving a truck through it. You know as sometimes business goes but most of the time we just soak it in. I was at the shop Saturday working in the back room, pricing and bringing out new product and as I made my way around the shop tidying up I got to just listen to people chatting away. If you ever see me at the shop, know that I’m being the biggest eavesdropper ever. I walked back to the warehouse with the biggest smile on my face because it truly brings me joy to hear people ooh and ahh over our teams hard work. I listened to a group of woman tell the front staff that this is their annual tradition. I thought to myself. How lucky are we? How lucky are we that we were chosen to be someones family/friends tradition AND that we’ve been in business long enough to be a tradition.
So many small businesses are out there struggling friends. It’s a tough year. Any small business owner knows that it doesn’t matter who is running, election years are always very tough on store sales and the economy. I’ve worked in retail since I was 15 years old and it’s very cyclical. I could set my watch to it. Consider this my plea before I get off my soap box and back to talking about the open house that if you can, shop small . It doesn’t matter if it’s a candle, a gift or even a card. Every penny counts. Your local small business is the one buying ads in the high school year book, hosting church groups, donating to your kids little league team…Small business are the fabric of the community and if we want to see them stick this out then we HAVE to support them with our dollars.
ok stepping off the box.
Let me give you a little peek behind the curtain of how the Christmas reset goes.
We start planning the dates around July (sooner if we are on top of our game) We usually pick early October because life is so busy in November and we are already seeing places like Macys, Terrain and Hobby Lobby advertising Christmas and Holiday. If we don’t get the product out sooner, we’re toast. It’s like the great philosopher Ricky Bobby says, “If you ain’t first, you’re last”. This gives us an opportunity to have more holiday events in November and December like Small Business Saturday and perhaps… a visit from Santa himself.
Once we are finished with The Found Cottage Mercantile, we get fall on the sales floor until the last Saturday before we close. Saturday night we start taking everything fall off the sales floor and in to the warehouse to get it out of the way. We get the larger display and furniture pieces in place before we start decorating the shop section by section. Sure we have a plan but it might be 10pm and we decide that yep, the kids house needs massive faux candy arranged around the front of it. Cut to Clair and Raelyn drilling huge peppermint swirls to the front of the structure at 2am. (Trust me, I told them to GO HOME). But these two seriously are amazing and take their jobs seriously. They had a vision and it was executed to perfection. There is absolutely no way we could do this type of event to this scale without the help of our amazing (all female) team.
This cycle continues for the next five days right up until we open the doors. Sure there are many coffees strewn about the store and door dashers dropping off but we really come together and make things happen. Before every major event at the shop (or mercantile) we gather together and share our thoughts and feelings of thanks and gratitude before joining in a group prayer of thanks and protection before opening the doors and welcoming in the line for the official holiday season. It is such an amazing experience and one I’m so grateful to be a part of.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years. We couldn’t do this without you and cannot wait to celebrate with you and your friends and family this holiday season.
xxoo abby
ps you can shop a lot of the holiday product online now!
My daughter sets out a pillow ever winter season that I brought her at your first Christmas open house. I have a small cabinet that sits in my prayer corner. Some might say a home decor shop has nothing to do with faith and God. I beg to differ. Helping to create spaces where family can gather and feel “ cozy,” loved, calm is important!!!! That you for your dedication…. Your creativity,…..L Haefner
The store looks glorious! You are one amazing woman! I loved what you said about small business and so true. Very imperative to support our local businesses!