What a Long Strange Trip It's Been!
Even though we still have a couple of boxes to unpack and a piece of furniture or two we are waiting on, we are finally open and operating at 5 Smull Ave in a first-floor space. We have envisioned and manifested this dream for several years for both personal and professional reasons. It may have taken a global pandemic, but here we are! Grateful does not even begin to describe where we are.
We are now ready to serve all. By all, we mean including any guest in a wheelchair or otherwise physically compromised. This has been an important goal for us, to be able to include anyone who wants access to our services, and we want to scream this from the mountaintops! Not kidding one bit.
This past year has been challenging for sure. As a business, we have had to pivot, rethink, set some plans in motion, challenge ourselves, grow, and change our way of thinking. These are not bad things. We were able to meet the challenge—sometimes with grace, sometimes as not so graceful humans.
The first rule we learned was: Do not angry tweet Secretary Mnuchin, the SBA, or your regular business bank. Not a good look. Nope. Cannot undo that... However, the results of these missteps did rekindle a 25+ year friendship with someone who could point us in the right direction for help. This is something I will be forever grateful for. To revive an old friendship, picking up right where we left off and realizing we are both still obsessed with makeup and skincare? What a gift. On to the second rule: Do not say “No” to people who offer you help. All, and I mean all, of our contacts came from direct referrals or clients. Those kinds of connections are priceless and amazing.
Back to HDS V.2…
In the early days of the pandemic, we donated and delivered food to local hospitals. Our goal was to keep our favorites local restaurants running and our first responder hospital workers fed with real, healthy, delicious food. In turn this fed our souls and kept our hands and minds busy during the mandatory shutdown. Thanks to so many for the assist! Most importantly, we did this all with the help of our outstanding team. These are the most amazing, genuine humans I have had the pleasure to work with. I call them the #ateam and it is all true! Jazz hands, claps, and hearts to each one of you. The same is true for this buildout. Why do I mention this, you ask? Karma—it is always watching. I honestly believe we were able to complete this goal not due to my crazy organizational skills, but because of karma and the power of manifesting good energy for the realization of this goal and dream.
So we secured new space in October of 2020, 3 months after reopening from the mandatory shutdown. We built out our new space in 2-1/2 months to be completely ADA compliant/accessible. We worked with an exceptional local architect and builder to make this happen. Our architect understood our challenge immediately. We were not looking to grow into a megaspace; we just wanted to make our space accessible to all. During all this, we went through a different kind of holiday season than we have ever seen in 17 years, underwent the buildout, spent more money than we have ever dreamed of on rented space, and moved twice during a very snowy February. Oy, my head hurts, but (now screaming like Oprah) WE DID IT!
What is the moral of this story? While we may have picked the absolute worst time in history to build out space, the plain fact is that we did it. Our old space just did not work for our needs or goals any longer, so we moved on. It was time. It’s done. We had an incredibly supportive team around us from the get-go. We learned more than we ever thought we would about construction, finishes, codes, and permits, and we are glad we did. We leaned into this project, sometime with glassy eyes, sometimes charging Home Depot with gusto... We faced the fear of going big. We pivoted. We changed. We may now serve all guests. We are here to stay.