When size doesn’t matter…
Our introduction started like this “And now for our next five NICHE Top Retailers of 2009, the galleries range from 5000 square feet to simply 465 square feet”. A few gasps were distinctly heard from behind us. FOUR HUNDRED and SIXTY FIVE square feet? Unheard of for a gallery. Exactly…that’s why when we were called to the podium to accept this wonderful award we
were described in our words as “the little glass shop with a big attitude”. Right on!
That was Sunday night, August 2nd at the NICHE Magazine’s award ceremony at the Pennsylvania Convention Center during the Buyers Market of American Craft, the nation’s largest wholesale craft show.
Four days later and we are still on cloud nine and feeling pretty honored. It’s all in the numbers when you look at it from afar, our four hundred and sixty square feet of space represents ninety nine percent North American craft from seventy artists at any time, has three employees including the two owners, us, and now was named one of twenty five Top Retailers for 2009 from over six hundred nominees throughout North America.
If I may say so myself that’s quite a feat for two ex-corporate suit types who have taken on a whole new unfamiliar career within the last three years.
To be honored with this award a retailer of craft had to show commitment to fair business practices and commitment to growing and strengthening the North American Craft community. Nowhere did the qualifications say you had to be big. The commitment and the passion can come in a small package just like our little glass shop.
Mike and my sincere appreciation must go to our fabulously talented artists and our ever-loyal customers who have not only made us a success but make our life fun! As Mike said at the podium…”Goes to show you don’t have to be the biggest to be one of the best”! Right On!
My time spent with our social networking on Facebook and Twitter is time well spent. It has introduced us to many local businesses that we might not have known about otherwise. See, with working seven days a week, we don't get out much, ("wink"). One great example of a connection we made on Facebook was our "friending" with Old Growth Riverwood, a local husband and wife wood working enterprise. Old Growth Riverwood located in Castle Hayne, reclaims lost pieces of history and transforms them into unique and beautiful wood products for home or business. When I read that on their website an idea immediately popped into my head. We were planning a new display area in the shop, so why not contact Chris at Old Growth Riverwood for shelving. Well, the rest is history now, literally. The display is finished and all the shelves are historical...reclaimed from the bottom of the Cape Fear River. Over a hundred years ago, these logs were cut from trees somewhere upriver and were floated down to mills to become lumber. The logs were rafted together, but the heavier dense logs sank to the bottom of the Cape Fear. Now they are wonderful heart pine wood shelves floating on the walls of our shop.
