I feel so tempted to start this blog entry out as, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." If you are a Judy Blume fan like myself, then you totally get where I am heading. If you are not, then I really have no idea how you made it through your childhood and I have probably already lost you.
Any-hoo, its been an unbelievable year, and I am past due an "update:"
We just hit our "1 year" of opening mark, which fell on Jan. 3rd, but we are celebrating in store on Feb. 6th (yay!! Store sales and door prizes in the works, btw.) This year has been crazy exciting. We killed our yearly sales goal in 3rd quarter, won Chattanooga's Times Free Press "Best of the Best" antique store in the area, and we are fortunate to have a list of talent waiting to come onboard. (<--------- the toot, toot part)
Insanity. I am so thankful and grateful for our wonderful vendors who have poured so much time, money, creativity, and ENERGY into making Vinterest successful. I am equally thankful and grateful to our amazing customer base who chooses to come stroll the aisles of Vinterest- the ones who let us kiss their babies, allows the Mr. to make up "nicknames" for our repeat offenders, and then choose to spend their hard-earned money with us. Truly thankful. Without vendors and customers, there would be no Vinterest. We totally get it.
People have asked me, "would you do anything differently?" And I have to say, not much. If I could change anything, I would just call us "Vinterest." The Mr. disagrees and loves the ring "antiques" brings to the end of our name. Sometimes I wonder if it would have made a difference?! For example, if we had come to the community, posted a sign with just "Vinterest" with our tag line, "Where Artisans and Pickers gather," would people have still "gotten" what we were about?! Would it had made any difference?? (Seriously- I'm curious what you think!?! Post your opinion in comments!)
Now, as I'm sure most of you know, we never intended to be primarily an antique store. What we intended for was to have diversity and to provide an additional outlet for local artisans to feature their wares that would be available to them other than sitting in the heat or freezing cold at a market festival somewhere. We also wanted to provide a place for folks to sell their vintage and antique finds. Personally, I think we nailed it. 2 folks on Google Reviews disagree. (This is where I insert a shameless plug that if you AGREE we nailed it, please go to Google Reviews and let folks know. If you DISAGREE, please do not go to Google Reviews....haha. Is this a legal request?!? haha. Don't report me to "google police, please.) Anyways, we are so proud of whats been accomplished in the City of Hixson.
With all that "tooting" behind me, this year hasn't been without heartbreak, which I accept is just life. There's not a moment that I don't wish to be able to pick up the phone and call my mama and tell her all the good news. Mom, as many of you already know if you have followed me, has Alzheimers and is in one of the latter stages. Paul lost his mom several years to Pancreatic Cancer, and I know he aches to speak to his mama as well. I feel fortunate that I can still travel and visit mine each week in Nashville, although she doesn't know who I am. Oh, and boy do I miss my mama when it comes to handling the critics. My mama could become "Mama Bear" quick-like. I miss her. It's funny how grief works like that: it happens during good times and bad.
Anyhow, as we look ahead in 2016 and the future of Vinterest, our mission is to stay the course of doing what we can to contribute to the local community wherever we can. We want to keep Vinterest a consistently fun and inspiring place for folks to come and enjoy (and occasionally escape life from with some "retail therapy.") We want to continue to help folks grow their small business dreams. We also "may" have a few surprises up our sleeves to be revealed in the upcoming months. I hope you come share in the excitement. Bring the family, and see you soon!
