7.24.07

Well we are signing a lease next week for the space that I wanted.  Of course it's more money than I wanted to spend on rent, but that’s the way it goes.  A friend of mine once told me that if you are worried about making rent, you have bigger problems than just rent.  At least that helps me justify things.  Ultimately it's a great space, so it's not hard for me to get over the rent issue.

7200 square feet as opposed to our current 3000, and as I mentioned earlier it has three loading docks which will make our lives dramatically easier.  The warehouse itself is nice and simple – a large rectangular shaped area of around 6000 square feet with 20 foot ceilings.  On the south end of the rectangle will be two loading docks with all glass garage doors (that we are putting in), and at the other end another loading dock and garage door, so we can open the whole place up during summer and fall.  A nice clean concrete floor, half of which will be showroom and half warehouse.  The two spaces divided by a free standing wall that will stop 8 feet short of the ceiling and have around 20 feet on either side to go around it.  I am hoping to find someone that can do that traditional mid-century brickwork in shades of dark grey stone.  

The show-space will be divided into vignettes and grouped pedestal display areas.  The warehouse area is just that: warehouse.  This at long last will give us a single storage area, and areas to assemble multiple orders.  A photography area, a spray room for the various refinishing things we have to do and a packing area.  There is also an office area that is around 1600 square feet which is not of much use to us, but I would imagine we will inevitably fill it with something.  Maybe a little quiet room for afternoon naps and such. . . . don’t try and tell me you wouldn’t want to work at a place where you could take a nice half hour/hour afternoon nap – we are civilized people after all.  Also a kitchen area and maybe a quiet little meeting area as well.  Maybe a half pipe skateboard ramp, although there are only 10 foot ceilings in there, so maybe not.

That, of course, sets us up for a big fat moving sale.  None of us wants to move stuff – it costs money and takes energy.  It's also a time that we need a little extra cash flow to help in the setup of a new space:  the afore-mentioned wall, all glass garage doors, signage, new computers, new database program, new awning and signage, business cards, new set of bribes for local authorities and city council people, you know, typical start-up stuff.  We are tentatively set up to run it the last week of July through the first week of August – same style as our annual January sale – everything except for rugs and jewelry at least half off retail.  For us, that’s a huge discount as we keep pretty tight margins.

After the sale we will close up for three weeks until the Tuesday after Labor Day.  The closing is good timing in that we have the New York Gift and Accessory show to do in mid-August, and of course we need to set up the new place and close up the old space.  We are planning on still being “open” for wholesale during those three weeks, just not for retail.  The new place will have different hours.  Monday through Friday 10-6 and open the first Saturday of each month 11-4.