Home at Last
Y’all… I didn’t mean to go full radio silence these last few months but, well, things got a little bit crazy around here. We got the new plumber in and they did an amazing job of getting us through our inspections, hooking up all the fixtures, and making the space workable. Big love to The Robson Co for taking on this project, especially when they normally don’t work with tiny independent coffee shops. Turns out they do a lot of work for our new landlord, so as a favor they agreed to do our tiny (to them) job. Go go community!
With that done, we were able to finish packing and start moving in. Hooray! Just in time for it to snow. Fuck! Thankfully we had lot of helpers, including some movers we hired, and everything was out of the old store before it really got icy. I did manage to drop the big white freezer on myself, which was a whole adventure of making bad choices while over extended. The good news is the freezer wasn’t damaged, and I managed to get away with only an epic bruise. The old store looked so empty with all the furniture gone.
We spent the next week unpacking. I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of a mess of boxes in the upstairs office area waiting for me to have time to unpack them. Maybe once my new desk arrives next week I’ll get around to dealing with these alleged boxes.
And then suddenly it was time for our soft opening in early December. I was totally prepared, and at the same time completely unprepared. We had a full store. We saw people that have been regulars of ours for years. We saw people who had lived in the neighborhood for a decade and never knew we existed. Our long time friends the Seattle Critters had their holiday meet up with us and raised a few hundred dollars for The Bureau of Fearless Ideas, a rad AF group that supports and encourages youth story tellers and writers. It was an all hands on deck situation and the team did an amazing job rolling with all the things that went wrong that weekend, and there were several though thankfully nothing catastrophic. It was absolute magic, and absolute chaos, and I am not ashamed to say I cried happy tears more than once.
Which brings us to now. We’ve been open a little more than two months, and feel like most of the kinks are worked out. So now it’s time to party!
As it turns out, our third birthday is just around the corner. So we’re having a Grand Opening Birthday Blowout! On March 18 and 19 grab your friends, your neighbors, your enemies and come help us officially warm our new home. Since it’s our birthday, there will be cake (while supplies last), and lots of good cheer.
When I say we couldn’t have done this without you, I mean it. Every time we asked for help, you showed up. When we needed cheering on, you came through. This new location is for you. Bask in the natural light. Eat the tasty things that come out of the oven you bought. Play games and connect with people at our tables. Share your joys with us, and let us share ours with you. Let this new home be a love letter we write to each other, one cup of coffee (or tea) at a time.
