I am proud to announce the opening of my new store in April 2015 !
It is only five minutes far from the first one, at 14 rue des Greffes in Nîmes, and is twice the size! Hooray! Moreover, it's in a pedestrian street with a lot of restaurants and shops, joining a large boulevard to the City Hall.
Right now, I'm jumping for joy on my keyboard, but honestly, this choice hasn't been easy to make. My lease was about to end, and I had to make a decision quickly : renew my lease in the first boutique ? Seek for a new one ? Close my business and look for a job ? It got messy and fuzzy in my head for a couple of months, and at one point I had decided to stop everything and I was starting to think about what do do next...
Because in one hand, all of my responsibilities, the paperwork, or some cooler months were tilting the balance to a fatal decision. But in the other one, I couldn't help myself thinking about what I built, of course not a business empire, but a world I loved, my clients loved, and I thought back of all the time spent on my website, on communication, on improving my skills and taking care of your orders... "All that for nothing ?".
Then I started to explain my situation to some faithful customers who supported me and were wishing me to carry on. Their many kind words made me think again... "After all, if I find a new and interesting shop, why not ?". A little while after, my current landlord contacted me and told me about one of his other real properties : a shop which was twice the size of the first one. " Is it well placed ? Will my customers follow me ?". After some advices from my relatives, the conclusion was obvious : it was a new chance for me to follow through with what I intended to do :
THE WORKSHOP.
And it was love at first sight with this place
♥, because I wasn't looking for a cold and sterile space, but one with character and a story behind. I had a crush on my first shop because of its purple walls, its grand vaulted door and forged iron gate....
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| At the beginning in may 2013, it was quite empty ! |
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| Then it got filled up progressively.... |
The second space, in an other style, has vaulted stone walls, with a huge mirror in the background.
Okay, these are pictures from the agency, you will see more soon !
So, the concept is about to change a bit, of course it will still be free entrance but it will be more of a workshop and a salon than a shop. As a matter of fact, synthetic dreads are the main part of my work and your orders are increasing; delivery times are inevitably longer.
There will still be some jewels and the option to customize it, and still some low prices piercings, balls and expanders though.
Up to now, I was making your orders home, where I also used to store all my stuff and braiding hair, because of lack of space in my first small boutique (about 10 square meters), and not only it all took a lot of space, but besides back home at night, I found back all my orders in progress, therefore hard to distinguish professional and personal life.
I had to dedicate matinees to the creation of your dreads, in doing so I couldn't open my shop in the morning. Likewise, I couldn't take benefit of cooler afternoons to progress on your orders : all supplies needed were home.
Anyway, it all ends in April ! This is what is going to be better from now on :
1/ The workshop will be open in the morning.
2/ I will be able to dedicate ALL DAY to the creation of your dreads.
3/ Delivery times will be shortened.
4/ I will finally, in addition to your custom orders, make ready-made full sets, ready to install or send forthwith.
5/ I will also be available for artistic partnerships and photo shoots, which I care a lot.
I would like to set so many things on, but longer is my list getting, more I realize in fact, 20 square meters is not that large !
- A nice and comfortable place to install your dreads, with chairs for your friends whom often come with you.
- Coffee and tea, warm drinks so that you can really be relaxed and at ease.
- A large table where I would be able to scatter all my beads and charms when I am blessed by inspiration.
- Shelves where I will stock all my boxes full of craft supplies, ribbons, beads etc, as well as packs of braiding hair - which will also allow me to control my stock in real time, once you confirmed your order at the shop, in order to estimate properly your delivery time. I could also store more hair, and rarely be out of stock !
So let's push the walls to make everything fit in !
I would like to make clear that despite significant increasing of charges from April, there will not be any price rise for your dreadlocks, because this relocation was my choice and I don't want this to make any impact on your orders (impacts which are finally all positives !) .
See you soon then, at 14 rue des Greffes, in Nîmes !
