Sounds of the Season: sugar plum bonk fairy

If you've ever had a kitten, you'll appreciate this one. When they're young, cats are so full of manic energy that their every waking moment is like some sort of madcap ballet, which makes the choice of music here so appropriate. And seeing him crashed out, reminds me of Chiquito. He would go and go and go until he just couldn't go any more and then just crash out wherever he happened to be. And it was a hard crash, too. He'd be dead to the world.

There are some who say that Christmas brings out the child in people. Maybe it brings out the kitten as well.



Aren't Scottish Folds just the cutest? I love it that their ears still react like other cats' ears do, despite the fold, but it's sad that breeding for the fold can increase the risk of skeletal defects.

Early Christmas Gift #2

This is one of my favorite songs, and the subject matter makes it appropriate for this time of year! Plus, it's got Emmylou in it, which makes it the perfect Holiday Gift! Enjoy.



I think they sound lovely together. Of course, Emmylou could harmonize with a singing doorknob and make it sound heavenly.

Forgotten Monday Rambles

Oops!  I decided to rest up a bit on Monday and Tuesday after a very busy weekend and totally forgot to finish this week's Monday Rambles!  Sorry about that!

My left ear is very stopped up, which is very disconcerting.  I missed a couple of student comments in class the other night because I couldn't hear them.  I need to hook up the humidifier on my C-PAP machine, I think.

Well, it looks like I just might make one hundred posts this year, after all.  Less than 20 to go!  Yay me!  Haven't missed many days since I started up again.  Yay me!  I'm going to be house and pet-sitting at the tech-challenged house again soon, though, followed by a trip to Arkansas, so we'll have to see what happens.  Keep watching this space.  If I disappear again, you'll know why.

I hit the manga motherload at Goodwill last week:  26 issues of Shonen Jump for 50 cents each!  I'll easily make money on those without even trying hard.  I've been finding a lot of manga at that Goodwill lately.  Just about every week, there's at least one volume of something and usually more.  I found a bunch of 1950's issues of Ideals magazine at the same store today.  Most of them are Christmas-themed, so they'll be out in YesterNook tomorrow!

Speaking of YesterNook, the Grand Opening/Opening House was fabulous!  There was a ton of food provided by vendors, and the place was decked out!  It looked awesome!  A string quartet from one of the high schools played, and, most importantly, lots and lots of people came!  There were constant lines at the register and nearly every customer had a basket full of stuff!  I spent the day stocking up to prepare for the day, and a lot of what I put out sold.  I was a happy camper.

And this coming Saturday is the Holiday Open House at the Peddler's Mall!  Here we go again!

Check out the Guy Clark tribute CD that came out last month and listen to some samples here.  Hayes Carll's interview cracks me up!  This is now on our "must have" list.  Lyle Lovett's version of "Anyhow, I Love You" made me cry!  And of course, Emmylou Harris--you all knew I'd work her in here somewhere--and John Prine completely own "Magnolia Wind." There's something about their interpretation of the song that really gets to me. 

Clark's version is kind of a medication on a love that's going to burn forever in his heart to the point that he'll give up most of the comforts of life rather than be separated from it.  The Emmylou/Prine take has an underlying wistful sadness to it that makes it seems like the separation has happened and now they're not sure how to go on living.  It really tears at me.  Hearing her sing the line "If I can't dance with you/then I won't dance at all" gave me the chills. By the way, I really like that Performing Songwriter page quite a bit.   Not sure how long the contest will run, but you can enter to win a copy of the CD too!

For reading through all of this (and waiting a couple of extra days for the privilege), you deserve some Narwhals! Enjoy!

Dear Santa....

If this is ever available in English, I WANT IT!



I mean seriously:

Comic book? Check!
Religious subject matter? Check!
Catholic religious subject matter? Check!
Padre Pio, one of the most awesome saints of all? Check!
Cheesy as hell? Double Check!

If there was ever something tailor-made for me, this is it!

Sounds of the Season: Linus and Lucy

While it's not really a Christmas tune, per se, you do find it on quite a few Christmas compilations, since it debuted in the classic "Charlie Brown Christmas."
Enjoy this rendition by guitarist Muriel Anderson.

It's Here!

Guess where I'll be today?  Maybe I'll see you there!  There's lots of vintage Christmas stuff everywhere, including Booth 62!

I have to do this one...

I know I've done this one before, but I have to do it again.  It's that time of year and I have to make it official!



There!  Now it's Christmas time!  Let the festivities begin!

Early Christmas Present #1

I was looking for another Todd Snider video when I ran across this one from several years ago.  It's hilarious and very well-done, and I had never seen it before!

So Merry Early Happy Ho-Ho Something-or-another!

One month down...

It's the last day of November.  The new booth opened on the first day of November.  So, with nearly a whole month under my belt, it's time to assess a little.

By the way, for those of you who are missing the detailed sales breakdowns I used to do for the other booth, don't worry.  They will return.  I even have this bizarre idea that I may actually catch up with them from the point where they dropped off.  I have the data, but the spreadsheets are on the laptop that's having issues right now.  It works, but there's a problem with the jack where the power cord plugs in, so it won't charge properly and I can't turn it on.  I'll be getting that fixed in December, so I can get my record-keeping back on track.

So, how am I doing at the new place?  Not that bad, actually.  Am I totally happy with it?  No, not totally.  Am I contradicting myself?  No, not really.

When I jumped into the whole re-sale business a couple of years ago, I kept my initial goals modest.  I wanted to make my booth rent, which I have done every month.  As my sales have grown over there, I have increased my expectations.

So, with the new space, I kept my goals modest as well.  I wanted to make my rent, first and foremost.  Then, I wanted to have sales every day.  And finally, I wanted those daily sales to be in the double digits.  Let's take a look at each of those individually.

Make the rent.  No prob with this one.  Rent was made within the first few days pretty easily.  This is a very important goal to me.  After paying out for the first month, I do not want to go back into my pocket for rent again.  The space needs to cover itself.  And it's doing that.

Sales every day.  Can't say we've met this one.  I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation, mind you.  In the past year, at my other site, I've had one day where I did not have any sales at all.  Since starting up in 2009, I've had probably less than ten overall.  Daily sales, regardless of the size, decrease the pressure to have a big, killer day to make ends meet.  And everything adds up in the end.

I had three days without sales in November.  While that doesn't seem like much, when you compare one in a year with three in a month, it feels like a lot.  I'm just not that used to it.  Still, I had sales for most of the month, something like 90%.  So, I'm happy with this (if not totally happy), so I consider it to be mostly met.

Double digit days.  Now, this is where it falls down.  I've had a lot of days where I didn't some close on this one.  Again, based on my experience in my other space, I don't think this is an unreasonable goal.  However, it's also not one that I meet every day there, either.  Although, I do come a lot closer.  I've had a lot of one and two dollar days at the new space.  While it's true that it all does add up in the end, I'd like to see that number go down considerably.

I'm grateful for each and every sale I get, mind you.  But several days in a row of low sales make me start doubting myself and my abilities.  I wasn't expecting to wrestle with this much self-doubt this month.  I have to call this one not met.

So with three primary goals, I have one met, one mostly met, and one not met.  Which makes me more happy than not, even though I'm not totally happy yet.  I do believe, however, that I am on the right track.  And, I see no reason to think that I won't eventually make all my goals.

Enough about the goals, what about the bottom line?  What am I going to be getting out of this?  Well, honestly, I'd like my monthly take to be about a hundred and fifty more than I'm going to get for this month.  Nevertheless, I am getting something for all my trouble, so I'm on the right track.  I think I can make this goal, I just wish it was something I had to grow into.  Again, color me happy, but not ecstatic.

So, the question now becomes why am I not meeting all my goals?  And the answer, unfortunately, is me.  I simply was not as equipped to deal with some of the challenges I'm facing as I thought.  I've got some learning and some work to do.  I'm not afraid of either, but how well I do them is going to determine how well I do with the booth overall.  Pretty much it boils down to three things:  furniture, layout, and stock.  Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Layout.  My booth is long (18.5 feet), but narrow (5.6 feet), which creates a special set of challenges for me.  And, I'm afraid I haven't met them very well.  I knew I didn't want to line both long sides with shelves, because that would create a long, dark alley that no one would enter.  So, I've tried to keep one long side more open with lower pieces and pieces with open backs.  I was thinking that people from outside could see in the booth and be drawn in from there.

Thing is, I didn't plan it very well and I still ended up with an alley, albeit a multi-level one.  There wasn't enough space for people to enter from the long side, so they didn't.  There's always been an opening along one short side, but I think people were either missing it or only going in a few steps, but not going all the way down.  I can kind of judge this by the items which sold and where they were located in the booth.

I'm planning to address this issue by removing a few things from along the side.

Furniture.  This is a real challenge for me, simply because I'm not used to selling it.  Add that to my space challenge, and you end up with quite a pickle.  Conventional wisdom is that re-selling furniture is where you make all your money.  I believe the reality is somewhat different.

It is true that you can make more money on a piece of furniture than you can a typical small.  (I say typical to leave out those rare, special, collector's item pieces that aren't likely to be a part of a standard re-seller booth.)  But, you also pay a lot more for furniture.  And, it usually doesn't sell for your initial price.  Buyers are much more inclined to expect to negotiate on furniture than anything else, even if it's already a bargain.  Add this to the fact that you are much less likely to sell a piece of furniture every day than you are a small, then throw in the number of times you have to mark the piece down to get it to move.  In then end, I'm much more in favor of volume smalls as a reliable, consistent money source, with furniture as the gravy.

And yet, in spite of that, I bought into the furniture line and built it into my booth expectations.  I thought I was keeping it modest by only expecting to sell a piece or two a week, but that inflated my expectations and took my focus off of keeping the booth stocked with lots of quality smalls.  The reality is that I need to be thinking in terms of about 3 or 4 pieces a month and be prepared to not sell any for a week or more.  Furniture needs to be my guest star, but not my headliner.

I think keeping this approach will also help with my booth layout issue and keep it more open and inviting.  I'm already working along this line. 

Stock  I took a long look at my space yesterday and realized that I just did not have enough stuff in it.  One of my worries about shifting from the kind of flea market-level vendors mall setting that I'm used to into a slightly more focused shop was clutter.  I keep my other spaces jam-packed with stuff because I can get away with it.  It sells regularly and fits the setting.  I didn't think that was going to work in the new store, particularly with my layout challenges. 

Problem is, I erred on the side of caution.  It dawned on me yesterday that I had restocked the day before, only sold two pieces since, and yet the space looked half empty!  Not good.  Fortunately, this one is easier to fix.  I've got plenty of stock on hand, so more is coming!

I still think opening in a new spot was the right move to make.  I'm very happy with the store overall.  I just need to focus myself a little more to get to where I want to be.  Let's give that a try and then see where I end up next month!

'Tis the Season to be Mini!

I haven't done a lot of writing about comics here in recent days, which is kind of ironic, given that I wanted this to be a comics blog when I started.  (First bozo who says "You haven't done a lot of writing about anything in recent days, Eddie!" gets coal in their stocking!) Heck, I hardly even read them any more.  But, they will always have a find place in my heart, for sure, even if most of the ones I'm buying these days go straight to one of the booths.

Every now and then, though, I stumble on a bit of comics news that gets me really excited.  Like this tidbit from my favorite publisher Fantagraphics.  I used to love mini-comics back in the day.  I've got a huge file box full of them.  There was something kind of thrilling about shoving a buck in an envelope and waiting for a new treasure to arrive.  I found so many great artists that way--Matt Feazell, Elizabeth Watasin, Leane Franson, and so many others.  It's a real shame those days are gone.

So, I'm plumb tickled that Fanta is bringing out its own line of minis as premiums for ordering with them.  Right now, you've got to order fifty bucks to get one (or order something else by one of the creators), but maybe that will change.  Surely some will show up in the, ahem, secondhand market for not too much money.  It is only Fantagraphics after all, not something the fanboys would really want.


There's some awesome looking stuff in that lot, for sure.  More than enough to have a younger me shoving dollar bills in envelopes for a month!

Monday Rambles

Busy, busy, busy!

How busy?

Well. this is the week that was:

Monday:  Stock YesterNook. Take flyer draft for Grand Opening. Pick up Mayoral Proclamation for Grand Opening.  Hit two favorite thrifts.  Teach evening computer class.  Edit flyer draft.

Tuesday:  Take proclamation and final flyer to YesterNook.  Prep large holiday booth load for Peddler's Mall. 

Wednesday:  Spend day at Peddler's Mall.  Finish booth decorations and holiday stocking.  I already had done a lot of work, but I didn't like it, so I redid it.  I had to move some tables around, and a whole bunch of stuff.  It looks much better now.

Thursday:  Be thankful.  Cook. Eat. Clean. Work on booth stuff. 

Friday:  Black Friday!  Get up too early to go to Half Price Books and wait in line.  Did not get 100 dollar gift card (bummer).  Take care of holiday shopping at HPB.  It's nice to have a family of readers.  Go to Big Lots.  Hit a yard sale.  (Bust) Hit a couple of thrifts.  Miss out on set of Masonic glasses.  (Bummer) Go home. Eat leftovers.  Work on booth stuff.

Saturday:  Work on booth stuff all day.

Sunday:  Take another load to Peddler's Mall.  Spend afternoon there.  Hit thrift.  Come home.  Work on booth stuff.  Get ready to spend Monday at YesterNook.

Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat. 

I'm laying in my winter stock of smalls, so it requires a lot of work to get it all organized.  I'm trying hard to get everything priced as it comes in the door, so there is less handling time.

Sales were pretty good last week.  I sold a dresser and a vanity chair at YesterNook, and easily matched that amount in smalls at Peddler's.  I move a ton of smalls through Peddler's.  I had a strong smalls day at YesterNook too, which surprised me.  It was the first time that had happened.  I'm moving a lot of vintage Christmas there.

I realized while riding my bike last week that a person riding a bike is soooooo much closer to the fresh-smushed possum guts in the streets!  Yuck!

I also saw the first Salvation Army bell-ringer of the season at the grocery the other day.  I got to wondering if the prevalence of people using debit/credit cards to shop was causing lower takes in the kettles.  There are lots of times I come out of a store anymore and I don't have any change because I never went in with cash!

Some more cyber-cleaning:  The Popdose Guide to Patti Griffin.  It's a little too fawning, perhaps, which is a bit unusual for a Popdose guide, but it does provide some good background into her career.

And finally, wow!  Just, wow!

It's Coming!

It's Small Business Saturday!

I think the idea, encouraging folks to remember the little guys during this busy shopping time, is a good one, although seeing the Amex logo plastered all over everything does make me a little queasy.  While it is good to see one of the big corporations realizing that small businesses do have something to contribute to the overall economic health of the country, it also seems to me that if anything should be a grassroots movement, Small Business Saturday should.

 

I've been having some thoughts about consumption lately, thanks to Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day, the Occupy movement and the like.  Small Business Saturday plays into that as well, but now is not the time to share anything.  It needs to gestate a bit more first.

So, in the meantime, while you're out there looking for stuff:  remember the little guys!  I'm a part of two different small business shops, you know.

Post Tofurkey Day Music

It's Black Friday. I'm off waiting in line at Half Price Books trying to get a free 100 dollar gift card. One of these years, it will be mine! Regardless, I'll get most of my gift-shopping done right there and pick up a few things for the booth.

Needless to say, I'm on a blogging break today, so have some vintage Nanci Griffith. I'll be back tomorrow. Same blog-time. Same blog-channel.




It wasn't until after Katrina that I realized how many musical artists I like had some sort of tie to the Gulf, either through their music or their heritage. For more than a year afterward, it seemed like every Americana artist we saw either had a story or a song that related to New Orleans, the Gulf of Mexico or hurricanes. I kind of have to wonder if Nanci sings this song with the same sense of abandon any more?



I totally love this song, but my fave part of the video is the Norwegian subtitles when she is talking!



Back from the days when her record label was trying to make her into a country star, replete with all the stereotypes. I have a feeling this may be the only country song ever recorded that mentions the Mormon church.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was going to do one of those traditional "what I'm thankful for" essays here. but I'm not really that kind of guy.  Nothing against doing that, but it comes off as forced when I try it.  I honestly believe that, if you read my blog posts throughout the year, you pretty much know who and what I'm thankful for.

So, anyway, we're off not eating turkey, but still feasting nonetheless.  Go green bean casserole!

 

So let me leave you with a thought to ponder this fine day:

Why does this pic of Eric Bana come up in a Google image search for funny turkey pictures?

 

I mean, really?  Just look at the man.  "Funny turkey" is the last thing that comes to my mind, let me tell you!  At least I can understand why this one pops up!

See you all tomorrow!  Don't eat too much!  (Yeah, right!) Travel safely!  And may your teams win the games!

Your Reading Assignment for Today

I've been trying to clean up my cyber-life lately--finishing projects, deleting old drafts, clearing out emails--stuff like that.  It was in this context that I found a link to an old Emmylou story that I set aside to read at my leisure and never got around to doing.  (Leisure?  What's that?)   I love uncovering hidden gems.  I really do.

After reading it, I'm more in love with her than I was before.  I didn't even think that was possible!  It's quite possibly the most in-depth and personal look at her life I've ever read.  The whole thing is so sweet, it almost makes you want to cry.  Check it out.

My favorite part:  That she was named after her grandmother.  My mom once told me that she was so sure I was going to be a boy that she hadn't even picked out any girl's names.  She'd been calling me "Eddie" for nine months!  She told me that if she'd been wrong, she would have had to pick something on the spot like Sara Dorine.  Sara is a name she always liked.  Dorine was my grandmother's name.

My second favorite part:  The Abraham Lincoln quote.

Here's the lady herself with the late Charlie Louvin:

And then there was the time Emmylou Harris sang a classic Hank Williams tune

'Nuff said!

Monday Rambles

Well, I'm free this week, mostly.  Still got night classes a couple of nights, but the days are free.  Good thing too.  Did you know Thanksgiving is this week??  Even though it's just going to be me and Keith for dinner, there's a lot to do.  We're big guys.  We like to eat.

It's going to be hellasciously busy around here this week, so I might lapse into low content (video) mode for a day or two.  Don't worry.  I'm still alive--just have too many irons in the fire.  I'll throw in a "real" post if I can and then update you on all the goings-on next Monday.  Deal?

Junk picking didn't last too long last week.  It started raining Monday night and rained all day Tuesday.  That pretty much killed the set outs.  You don't want it after it's gotten wet.  (Although, I have violated that rule from time to time.)  But there'll be another set-out week in May 2012!  Start counting the days now!

There's nothing sadder in my mind than coming across a box of totally soaked books sitting in the rain. 

At least it was a warm rain.  I hate to be cold and wet.  It's bad enough to ride the bike in the rain without freezing too.  I had too many commitments on Tuesday that were time sensitive enough that I couldn't use the bus.  Thankfully, it wasn't pouring.

And then on Wednesday, the rain turned cold, then stopped, but left the cold behind.  Feels like winter's on the way now.  Makes me long for some hot chocolate and a fire place.

I did find a couple of kid-sized plastic chairs in a pile on Wednesday, that were salvageable, despite the rain.  Let's hear it for plastic!

Okay, maybe let's not go that far, but I do love kid-sized furniture and will grab it to sell every chance I get and all I had to do to save the chairs was wipe them off, so it was a kind of win for me.

We hit Half-Price Books last week during their coupon days.  Since it was a part of my rather extended birthday celebrations, I actually bought a few things for myself, which is unusual these days.  I'm so much more focused on stock for the booth and on downsizing what is in the house.

I also got a lot of stock there too.  I love their clearance shelves.  I sell lots of comics and graphic novels at the booth and Half-Price Books is a good source of good, cheap, sell-able material.  It helps that my mall is way across town from either HPB, so they're not competing with me.  I can almost always find something hiding in their boxes of dime and quarter comics.  And I've pulled quite a few books, games, and other items over to the booth and sold them as well.  Business or pleasure, it's a great place to shop!

One of the things I got for myself (with a fifty percent off coupon, of course) was the all-in-one edition of Jeff Smith's Bone, one of my favorite comic series of all times.  I'd been telling myself for years that I was going to complete my set of the Bone hardcovers, but as time goes by, I seem to become less and less likely to do that.  Plus, this puppy takes up a lot less space on my bookshelf.  I sold my single issues a long time ago.  Now, I can sell the hc volumes I've got as well.  I just need to find a free weekend to shut out the world and read this sucker.

 Here's some musical food for thought about woman in country music.  Normally any mention of Taylor Swift gives me the hives, but I thought this was a good piece.  It's also nice to see something about the history of women in country that looks beyond the "usual suspects"--i.e. Tammy, Loretta, Dolly.  I love them all, but there was and is so much more out there.

And here's a good article on Gram Parsons' classic Grievous Angel that's pretty good, even if it doesn't include the obligatory Emmylou reference.  I didn't think that was allowed!

And, finally, here's a thought for a Monday:

BIG CAT HAIRBALLS!

YesterNook--The Outside!

I didn't get any outside shots at YesterNook the other night, becaue it was dark.   But I wanted to complete the experience, so I popped over there on my way to work on Friday and snapped a few.  I think the outside of the building adds so much to the whole experience.

I may have mentioned before that the building used to be a funeral home.  In fact, my booth is in one of the former funeral chapels.  At some point the family that owned it provided housing for mortuary students and interns on the second floor.  Lots of people from the neighborhood have been coming in and sharing little bits of the history with Patti, the owner.  Some have even given her pictures of the way the area looked back then.  It's kind of cool the response that the place has gotten.

When you see it from outside, it's pretty obvious that is used to be a funeral home.  It really couldn't be anything else, I don't think.  But I also think some of those obvious funeral home features really do lend themselves to its new life as a seconhand place.

Take a look and see what you think.  Do be aware, however, that I make no claim to be a photographer.  It was early, and I was in a hurry.  The sun was in the totally wrong place for a couple of those shots.  I've cleaned them up a bit, but I also make no claim to be a photo editor.  I know how to push the buttons in Picasa, but that's all.  I'm also doing this on my own, not on behalf of the shop, so please don't mistake the quality of my efforts here as a reflection on anything but my abilities or lack thereof.  (Hell, you can even see my bike in one of the shots, because I was too dorky to notice it was there!)

First up, the sign.

A side view of the building.  Kind of screams "Funeral Home!" doesn't it?

View of the front from across the street.  Can't you just see chairs and chests and things lined up here on the porch, enticing customers in?

This covering may have provided shelter from elements for mourners at one time, but now it does the same for vendors unloading merchandise.  It goes quite a ways back, too.  Several folks at once can unload their stuff and take it in, remaining happy and dry in the process.

It takes quite a bit of garage space for hearses and such, huh?  Eventually, this will be the YesterNook rough room.

This ramp used to help wheel caskets out to the hearses.  Now it helps wheel furniture in and out of the building.  That door is almost right behind my booth, so it's been a real help for us already!

You've seen the inside and the outside now.  So, check out the Facebook page for hours and such, then come on down!  Tell 'em Eddie-torial Comments sent you and buy something from Booth 62!  (That's mine!)

Meet YesterNook!

Like I've mentioned a time or two now, I've just taken space in a second store, YesterNook, which is located in the historic Germantown/Schnitzelburg area of Louisville, not too terribly far from my house.

One of the many things I love about the building is the architecture.  There are so many awesome features, that at times I find myself looking at them, instead of at all the wonderful merch!  It just looks and feels so right for this to be a place where secondhand goods, especially a lot of vintage items, are sold.  It's warm and cozy, which makes you want to stay a while, then buy something to take a little of that feeling home.

So, I thought it would be fun to highlight some of those features for you all here.  Maybe it will inspire you to make the trek to Louisville and check it out!

Note to any YesterNook vendors who see this:  I wasn't really intending to spotlight any one booth or item, but I couldn't help but catch some things in my pics.  We have stuff everywhere, you know!  So, don't feel slighted if your booth isn't featured here.  Also, if you do see your space/stuff here and would prefer that it not be shown, let me know and I'll be glad to take the pic down.

One of the things you can't help noticing are all the arches.  I just love the arches!  They frame everything so nicely and kind of draw you through to the next space.

Arches.

Double arches.  (The left one goes to my space.  The right one goes to the cashier stand.)

Triple arches.

And then there are the wonderful hardwood floors.  The upstairs is all wood.

And there are spots downstairs as well, particularly in front of the cash register.

I think the old counter, plus the hardwood flooring there gives it a real nostalgic feel.

In some spots, there are these cute little windows that let you peek from one room into the next.

One even has glass in it!

And, then there are all the wonderful spaces!  There are rooms...

within rooms....

within rooms!  Seriously, we just toured three rooms, each one leading you to the next.

Practically every time you come into a space, you get a little tease of what's to come.  Those little peeks keep pulling you through, making sure you see everything.

I hope you're intrigued by what you saw.  A lot of work went into getting the building ready to open.  It looks even more awesome in person.  Why don't you stop by for a tour?  Or maybe, to buy something?

I've got this waiting for you in my space!

C'mon!  You know you want to!