Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Kress Emporium Upgrade

I've had space at the Kress Emporium for about 8 months now. I walked in one day to inquire about space and whaddya know, they had something available! They offered it to me that day and after some hemmin' and hawin' over it with friends (for all of about an hour) I decided to go for it.

It's been OK! Christmas time was the best time, but other months haven't been so great. So I've decided to upgrade my space with the hopes that a new, more professional look will bring more buyers. I mean, it can't be the Kress' fault I'm not getting sales! The space they have is beautiful and the quality of art has increased over the last 5 years, so I feel proud to be a part of it. Overall I have a pretty sweet space (go left and look in the first 'cubby'). I'm surrounded by a bunch of other jewelry, but my space is not locked up (thus easier to peruse) and it has great visibility as soon as you turn the corner.

cards on dowels in new frames
However! The display they provided for me is preeety preeeety preeety blah. An old frame of a window thing with screen to put the jewelry in. It gets messy, the screen comes loose and it looks completely unprofessional. Not to mention the hideous 5-minute hand-drawn sign that says "Gritgoods" above it. It must go.

So I put together my Buy Local brain and my Just Economics brain and found a local frame shop to make some frames for me, Frame it to a T. These were preeety expensive, but I like that I supported a local, living wage certified business.

side view

Well, with frames in hand I was excited but paralyzed! I was so afraid to drill them myself! Thank goodness for awesome business owners like Bert at the Citizens Hardware store! He drilled every hole for me and cut my dowels for free! We had a moment, thanking each other. I didn't quite understand why he was thanking me, and as it turns out he has 7 grandsons and it was a pleasure for him to help a young lady. Aww. We had a moment. It was beautiful.




Now I'm ready for all the incoming tourists, following Fodor's travel guide suggestion to make Asheville, NC their #1 travel destination this year. And may I so boldly suggest that these same tourists make the Kress Emporium their #1 downtown shopping destination. :)

4 frames, 20 dowels, will hold a total of 120 cards with earrings







2 comments:

  1. Can't wait to see a picture of them up and in place at the Kress Emporium! Or even better, maybe I ought to check 'em out in person!

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  2. Hopefully they will be up by the end of the week. I'm making clusters to fill them now!

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