Tuesday, June 30, 2009

shop pics









I thought it would be nice to post some images of some of our current inventory.  Take a looksie. Don't forget we are having a store wide sale, 20% off & keep an eye out for our postcards announcing a very special basement sale in July.  More to come on that subject later. 

Monday, June 29, 2009

lovin from dear daisy cottage






I received a nice email from the Kimberly McCole, the girl behind deardaisycottage.typepad.com letting me know she had written about her recent visit to Savannah and my shop. She took some lovely photos (above) and wrote a very complimentary post about the store. Thank you Kimberly, you made my day! 

visit her site, click here >  www.deardaisycottage.com

Sunday, June 21, 2009

summer sale

20% off storewide
starting tomorrow

Saturday, June 20, 2009

betsey + chelsea

I just got word today that Chelsea Cook (a former @home shop gal) just landed the new technical designer position at Betsey Johnson. Chelsea was a customer of mine while she was attending the Savannah College of Art and Design.  After she graduated she hung around Savannah working for me and saving money for her big move to NYC.  If I sound like a proud mama, I am.  All of my girls have gone on to great successes and this just adds to the ongoing list of amazing accomplishments.  

I would like to think that Chelsea's wedding dress design for Halligan (and her sweet disposition & love of ruffles) got her the job. Betsey sure hired a winner. 


Friday, June 12, 2009

flip update

It is looking cute...workmen are moving inside soon. 

before
during





Thursday, June 11, 2009

now available @home

We now have Boho Magazine available at the store. Stop by for the summer issue soon. 

taking love to the bank


This morning I opened my email to find the most wonderful note from a girl that had visited my shop this past weekend. I sat there sobbing while I read it. I get notes like this from time to time but this one really got me. Maybe because it has been so hard to be a retailer lately. I know I am not the only one. Specialty retailers across the nation are struggling.

We all love what we do. We love our customers. We love being creative. We love that you love us. It fills our hearts and keeps us motivated but we can't take love to the bank. Oh, how I wish I could because I would be a very rich girl.

So, thank you Abany for your kind words. It made my day.
I have attached her note for you to read and please be sure to visit her blog too.

HI Liz! Oh my goodness! What bliss!! my name is abany - and I visited your store this past weekend, when my girlfriends and I were on a much needed getaway from the grand ole Hotlanta. I must first tell tell you that after a VERY LONG and hot day of wandering through the many various shops along broughton - we found ourselves in front of your store only 10 minutes after the shop closed. with frowns on our faces, we stood there simply stupefied over the beautiful store (and that was just from the outside!), so i was determined to be sure to come back the next day.

after 12 hours and many annoying reminders i'm sure, my friends and I galavanted over to @home...in which I found myself in a heavenly dream of general store glory!! i seriously think that i was in quite a stupor of the beautiful details and the delicate merchandising...my girls thought that i may have died and gone to vintage heaven...so they left me alone to wander in amazement.

i got all tied up in little girl giddiness at the vintage flash cards and letters at the front of the store - and made my way through the labyrinth of yummy smelling soaps, and passed the uber cute basket of "peeps" - i ended up chatting with your sweet employee - and just gushing over her with how wonderful I thought that the store was.
i knew that the store had a "bloggers" touch to it - and quickly asked, "does the owner blog??????!" (disclaimer: i'm an avid blogger and designer...i think that we can smell each other from 1000 miles away! haha) to which your pixie haired blondie quickly threw one of your cards in my hand with a big smile, and we were out the door just in time for her to lock up.

(sigh...)

fastforward: i find myself this week sifting through my dear friend's brand newly launched blog - OnceWed! emily is a dear friend and we have worked together on a few events in the past year or so - and I was just tickled to see the precious post that was written by a certain "Haylie Bird"...immediately tagging her onto my RSS feed, I've been following her for the past few days - only to read this morning that she posted about YOU and even used to work for you!!!! oh how the world is ever so small. :P

so needless to say - you are an amazing artist, and have the eye of a queen when it comes to merchandising. your store is so quaint and welcoming - yet impeccably clean and refreshing. thank you so much for bringing life to savannah and for bringing a certain loveliness. i know i'll be sticking around to watch as it grows more!

BEST of luck to you!!
-abany

www.brownlinen.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

spirit

I found this fantastic video on one of my favorite blogs today, The Bedlam of Beefy.
I appreciate the tremendous support and comradery that I have witnessed all over the internet about the economy, independent businesses and entrepreneurship. I hope people are paying attention.



Tech issue: If you can not see the entire screen double click on it and it will take you to you tube.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

local press for 3/50 project



A special thanks to my friend Bill Dawers for writing about this great project in today's newspaper. You can pick up a copy or read the excerpt below.

Initiatives to support local businesses gathering steam


If you're a retailer and your numbers are up over last year, congratulations. Keep doing whatever you're doing, but don't get complacent.

Anecdotally, most downtown retailers with whom I'm in regular contact have seen their sales numbers are down from last year, in some cases 30 percent or more.

That seems like a huge number, but it's consistent with the statewide retail environment as revealed by sales tax collections, which declined 24.5 percent in April compared with last year.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the resilience of some businesses that have hunkered down and seem poised to survive the recession and a potentially slow recovery.

But we're likely to be in a difficult environment for retailers for many months. (Six? 12? 20?)

So it's good to see that the Savannah Development and Renewal Authority is going to launch a local ad campaign to promote downtown business. More on that soon. And it's good to see that there are other initiatives across the country to encourage consumers to support small and locally owned businesses.

On her blog (www.vintage general.blogspot.com), Liz Demos - owner of @home at 320 W. Broughton St. - recently wrote about the 3/50 Project (www.the350 project.net), a grassroots movement to encourage consumers to spend more thoughtfully.

It's a simple idea: Choose the three independently owned stores that you would miss most if they closed and spend $50 in each over a period of time.

I've also noticed an uptick in the number of downtown residents who have been encouraging me to write about specific stores. (Three people have approached me independently in the past week or so to write again about Papillote, the French to-go bistro that opened earlier this year at 218 W. Broughton St.)

These trends obviously mirror the growing interest in locally harvested food that led to the creation this year of the Forsyth Farmers Market (www.forsythfarmersmarket.org) and the expanded hours at the Market at Trustees' Garden (www.trusteesmarket.com).

Perhaps this renewed interest in intentional spending and fostering locally owned businesses will prove to be the recession's silver lining.

City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached at billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.

Friday, June 5, 2009

haylie b getting crafty

My sweet & talented former shop girl Haylie Waring in now a regular contributor to Once Wed, an online resource for brides to be.  Her first project is this lovely headband that I noticed she wore to our friend Ginny's wedding over the weekend. Check it out.  I regularly visit this site for ideas and inspiration.  The projects, color palettes and celebrations can easily be translated to everyday events.  


Wednesday, June 3, 2009

pain free house flipping

One of my favorite customers has hired me to help her with a house flip. I get to make all the choices associated with a traditional remodel without the financial investment which is a strange feeling for this DIY girl. 

It doesn't look like much right now but this little house is going to make the sweetest cottage for someone. It is full of potential. The new roof and exterior paint should be finished by the end of the week. Things are going at such a fast pace but I will try to post progress pictures from time to time. For now here are some before pictures. Can you say YIKES? At least the wood floors are pretty.





Tuesday, June 2, 2009

3/50 project



While roaming around online yesterday I discovered the most amazing movement and I wanted to share it with all the people I know in the hopes they will share it with all the people they know. This is especially important to me because I am independent retailer and it has been tough doing business during the economic slow down. I am not the only one. There are loads of amazing retailers out there with really great shops that would be missed if they disappeared. So pick 3, for me and keep the project and our futures going. 

When you want to buy a gift or something special for yourself, help the little guys - those big box stores have enough money.  

Click the image above to read the flyer or go to www.the350project.net to read more and join in.