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

Geelong Fibre Forum this week and a POP DOWN shop!!

Precious Purl will be trading at the Geelong Fibre Forum, Geelong Grammar from Wednesday to Saturday  this week. Wednesday and Saturday are special Open Days, so come and join in the wonderfully creative atmosphere as about 200 participants enjoy a huge array of classes with wonderful local and international tutors.
Trades hall is open every day to the public so come and enjoy the shopping if you are in the Geelong area.

This was our stand last year so we will try hard to make it look just as inviting!

The shop in Fitzroy is open as usual this week with a slightly depleted stock!

UPDATE

You have heard of POP UP shops and restaurants, but we are having a POP DOWN shop as we pop downstairs into the space previously occupied by Calico House. As of Wednesday 3rd October we will open in this space for an unknown period of time!!! We are learning to cope with the uncertainty as we continue to look for a more permanent home for Precious Purl.

We will also have a big SALE to celebrate this new step!

 Busy times for us in the next 2 weeks!!

Come and join us!

FACEBOOK!

We had another great Crochet workshop with Penny O'Neill on Saturday. I even made a bit of time to join in, as my crochet skills have become a little rusty over the years! I love the versatility of these circular motifs! Any size, any colours, any combination of stitches, any yarns!! A great way to use up your stash.

 Congratulations to Shirley who had never really had the chance to master crochet skills but now she is flying! Thanks Penny for your generous sharing of knowledge and stories. We all loved your coat of many colours.

HAVE YOU HEARD?? Precious Purl now has a Facebook page!
www.facebook.com/preciouspurlfitzroy

Check in often to see specials that we will feature and become a liker to keep up to date.

Our next workshop is Felted Spring Flowers on Saturday 13th October. Email for all the details.