Saturday, September 29, 2012

Sleepless!! Homeless!! What next??

I can't sleep, so will chat to blogland as I contemplate the next move for Precious Purl. I'm feeling rather devastated as we have become the meat in the Real Estate Agent/Landlord redeveloping sandwich, having been told just a matter of hours ago, that we only have a week to vacate the premises!
The last 3+ years have gone by so quickly as we branched out with our own Retail Space and I have loved every minute of it!
 I have so enjoyed meeting all the wonderful, creative people who have become our customers and it has been a pleasure helping them source supplies and introducing many to new passions. As the wonderfully wise Penny O"Neill, "Crochet Teacher Extraordinaire" said to me recently, "It's not about the money, it's sharing the knowledge," and women do that so well!
After moving on from many years of Teaching, it has been wonderful to pursue the passion that was obviously begun at a very young age by a creative Mother who sewed all the clothes for 4 females in the house and even indulged her love of millinery, making hats for us back when a Sunday best outfit with hat was "de rigeur!"
We really want to stay in the Brunswick St area of Fitzroy as we have loved the vibe, the convenience of it being halfway between my partner/sister Pam and I and where our customers have easy transport access to us!
We will continue to search for something suitable and we are flexible about what that is. A shared space with like minded Business or Artisans, small warehouse, upstairs/downstairs but with reasonable rent! We would love to hear from others who may be in similar situation as I know many retailers are finding it hard, while many landlords seem to continue to expect high rents.

BUT! our customers will benefit from all this, as we open our POP DOWN shop on the ground floor of 397 Brunswick St on TUESDAY 2nd OCTOBER commencing at 11am. There will be huge discounts, as we reduce our stock drastically - less to pack and move for us!!
Our shop will only be open for 5 days!! Yes! we have to move out next Sunday 7th October.
Do come and see all the Specials and help us to feel a little better about this next  step for Precious Purl. We are not ready to quietly "ride off into the sunset!" just yet!

Our plans for more workshops such as the Felted Flowers on 13th October will have to be cancelled unfortunately but do stay tuned to this blog and our other means of staying in touch!
www.facebook.com/preciouspurlfitzroy 
www.lara-downs.com.au

Enough! Thanks for reading this, my longest post ever! It has helped to share it with Blogland and I had better try to get some sleep now before I front up for my last day in our current space!
Cheers
Wendy


9 comments:

  1. Nooo.. how sad to hear this! I hope you can find a lovely space for your shop really soon, best of luck all the way from Italy!
    yes, your Italian customer...
    PS you could always open up a shop here in Italy, since it's quite hard to find these products...:-)

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    1. Sooo good to hear from you Linda!We are trying to be positive about all this and it helps that people are thinking of us, even as far away as Italy!
      How's your felting going? We do mail order, so can always post supplies to Italy! Cheers Wendy

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  2. I do feel for you. My prayers are for you to find the perfect space very soon, plus lots of energy for packing up. I'm sure you will go on bigger and better in your new space when you find it.
    Hugs
    Kay

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    1. Thanks for your lovely wishes Kay! We are spending any spare minutes looking, so we are hopeful of finding something soon! 25% off everything today has already reduced our stock, so less to pack! Cheers Wendy

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  3. Sorry to hear that, Wendy!!
    Here's hoping you're able to find somewhere new soon especially in the area. How's your Twitter account going? ;o)
    xo

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    1. You may have guessed CC, that my Twitter a/c has not yet started! Toooo many things to organize, lots of packing, moving downstairs and getting a BIG Sale together very quickly!!

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    2. Just yanking your chain... I'm very confident things will work out after much organisation and searching. I have faith!!!

      By the way, I've restarted my blog, but under a different name...
      http://cecrob87.blogspot.com.au/

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  4. Dear Wendy and Pam I hope all goes well in your search for a new home. I'm sure you will find something most suitable. It is inspiring to see how your love and commitment to fabric and threads has developed into such a creative resource for so many.
    Hope to catch up with you soon.
    Cheers
    Sharon T.

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    1. Thank you Sharon!All the support we are receiving both here and on Facebook is making us even more determined to find that suitable space!SOON! Will keep you updated.
      Regards
      Wendy

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