A Store is Born

Inspired by my fellow "mom-preneur," Mae Chan Frey of Ruby's Garden, I have decided to give this Blogger thing a shot. I had heard of blogging, even read a few blogs, but never really contributed to one. Frankly, I don't know if it will be of any interest to anyone, but what have I got to lose? Only time, I guess.

Grove Street Kids opened 15 months ago, on my step-daughter, Bailey's birthday, July 18th, 2007. I really owe her a lot of credit for getting the idea to open the store in the first place. The fact is, she is a teenager, and I was working from home at the time, and getting way too caught up in her life and the time she was spending on MySpace. One day back in May, I found myself spending way too much time scouring through her "friend's comments" looking for any hidden meaning or insight into what was going on with her and, ultimately, decided that I really needed to "get a life" of my own!

Not long after that, Charlie, my husband, Bailey and Olivia, our youngest, and I were walking up MLK from Virginia Street (we live only four short blocks away from GSK - what a commute!) on our way to breakfast at Fat Apples. We had passed a vacant store front on that block on this day, and many times over the previous year, and I got to wondering. Fantasizing, really. "Wouldn't it be great to have my own store?" Charlie and I had spoken many times over the years about having our own business. We had talked about opening a shop that carried only hand-made items. But I had secretly wanted my own resale shop for years. I had even started collecting the clothes when Olivia was an infant, but the overhead of a store front scared me. So I eventually sold all those on-line which I thought might actually be the way to go but, alas, I needed human interaction. Conversation. A store!

So, I thought, "That place has been empty for a long time. Maybe the rent's outrageous, and I can bargain the Landlord down. "What does it hurt to call? So, I called. The rent wasn't outrageous. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't outrageous. John, the Landlord, was actually very reasonable about it. But picky. He didn't want just anyone in there. Hence, the long vacancy. Anyway, after seeing the space, talking it out with the DH, negotiating the terms, I found myself signing a lease on May 16th (my parents' anniversary). It happened that fast.

A lot of people ask me, when they come into our store, "How long did it take to put it together?" "Was it hard to do?" and questions of the like. If I had had too much time to think about it, it might not have happened, truth be told. I had no business plan. No data. No statistics. Just a fantasy, a desire to get back out there, and the hope and belief that I could make it all work. And the fantastic support of my friends and family. Especially that.

Well, over a year and a half later, I'm still figuring it out and, like my friend, Mae, learning to run a store by running a store (sorry, to steal your line Mae, but it's a great one!), whilst balancing home and family and trying to get a little sleep somewhere in between!