It feels like sometime I just can’t stay still. I don’t mean to always be changing and moving and such but one of the greatest lesson’s I’ve learned is to really just ‘go with the flow’, as cheesy as that may sound. Opportunities arise like kismet when it comes to Bamboletta – it’s pretty amazing. This latest upcoming change is a classic example of how things roll here …
A few weeks ago, Jennie, our sweet Jennie, who ran the Cowichan Bay shop, told me she was leaving to work for her friend down in Victoria. Of course I was happy for her and this huge life change but really unsure of our shop. You see, I pretty much opened Cowichan Bay because of Jennie – this gal has amazing energy that is perfect for a retail sort of gig. She immediately makes people feel comfy and you just fall in love with her. Well, without Jennie things just don’t feel the same with the shop.
A few days ago I posted a picture up on my Instagram on how I was toying with the idea of closing the shop and then doing a weekly market at Bastion Square in Victoria, my Granville Island stints each month and maybe doing big shows across North America. A great thread started with people expressing sadness on the possibility of the store closing, excitement over the idea of shows and general great chat. Then Jessica P piped in wondering why we didn’t put a shop in our studio. We had a little ‘sort of’ shop put in the corner of the studio but it was never it’s own ‘thing’. Jessica’s comment did get us thinking about where we could locate the shop within our studio that would be separate yet still a part of everything. I toyed around with the idea of moving our office into another side but where the office is located in our building just wouldn’t quite work..
This is the entrance to our shop! Can’t you just see the sweet little Bamboletta sign hanging over the door? The flower baskets? And that little garden at the front is a teapot garden! So cute!
Oh man, this story is getting long .. So, very recently the space beside us with a retail area came up for rent. Many of you long time customers know this space because it’s where I used to take my photos, it has the red window frames. I have been coveting this space for years – YEARS – but when we expanded it wasn’t available . We ended up going the other way in the building and into the courtyard. Brooke nonchalantly brought up the idea of moving into that space and closing off the office and shifting things over. I hadn’t even put that in my mind because the thought of taking walls down and putting walls up is exhausting, lol! Well, yesterday I called Alice the landlady, had a chat and now the space is ours! YAY!!
Windows and cuteness abound! John starts painting this week! Can’t wait to get some new chandeliers!
Soooo – new retail space will open up at Whippletree Junction as of June 3rd! You can come in and browse dolls, doll clothes, some fabrics and whatever we will have in there. THEN you can come in the back and stop in so we can say hello! Jennie would always have to send people up to see up from the shop, but now you can just pop your head in! Yay! We will be having a Grand Opening Celebration sometime in mid June, I’ll be sure to announce details on here and FB! Our last day in Cowichan Bay will be May 19th and I will still continue to do the Granville Island Market, Kits Farmer’s Market and Brittany will be at Bastion Square each Sunday starting in June (all our dates will be on the calendar). For the winter I will be applying to a few bigger shows in Vancouver and Victoria – not sure what yet as applications haven’t come out yet. It’s going to be a busy year!
Leave a Reply