I can't believe it's May already. It means that Sew Crafty's 10 year anniversary is less than a month away! We have been working really hard to get the shop looking at it's best, with a few changes and a little re-branding.
This is the outside as it looks now, soon it will look a little different...
When we moved down to No.3 from our previous home in the Nicholson's Centre seven years ago we planned the move in the week between Christmas and new year 2005/6 - it was stressful to say the least! On the morning of the 27th of December we were all packed up and ready to go, we waited at the old shop ... an hour passed, we called the removal company.... no answer, maybe they were on their way? just running late? Nope, two hours later our removal company still hadn't arrived. There were lots of tears, unanswered calls to other local companies and discussions on how long it would take to walk all the boxes and fixtures the seven minutes down the High Street! Finally, a breakthrough ... we managed to get a hold of the company that had helped me move house a few years earlier, Green Brothers. Not only did they answer the phone, but they were with us in half an hour with a band of burly helpers to get the job done super fast.
We managed to fit all the stock and shop fittings into a their truck and drive down the road to the new shop. Then came the challenge of fitting all our stock into a new space that was 1/3 the size of our previous shop. We had done extensive planning of where everything had to go and in theory, like fitting a new sofa into your lounge, it all fit perfectly, however in reality it was like a giant shouty game of Tetris. My Mum, Dad, Grandpa, Myself and Steve (we had only been dating for 2 1/2 months at that point) were at No.3 until the early hours for the next three days moving furniture and filling shelves. We were planning to open on the 2nd of January, but we managed to get most of the stock in place by New Years Eve, We were all so tired, we all went home and were asleep that night by 9pm, totally missing all the New Years parties we had been invited to.
It was such a hard couple of days, in the back of our minds we knew we were taking a massive risk with this move, we didn't even know if anyone would visit us at our new location (at the far end of Maidenhead's high street now, compared to our location right next to the car-park in the centre of town)
Seven years on after the move, we can look back on it now as one of the hurdles that made us stronger.
We spent the first six months without a sign, as we are a listed building we had to gain permission to put one up. It's been up their for seven years and in the next few weeks it's coming down, to be replaced by a new one, it makes me feel quite emotional when I think of all the things that have happened in the last ten years since we took over. More about that soon, in the mean time, I wanted to show you a sneak peek at some of the improvements we have made inside the shop.
We have painted a giant tape measure on our pillar (H's brilliant idea) and a hand painted nod to Mary Poppins along with it.
Some of the new shelving and new window graphics.
New wool storage shelves.
My new desk area and shelves above, who doesn't love a jar filled with tape measures! I can't wait to show you all the new things we have done and the new sign when it's up!
Sammy xxx
