Friday, June 26, 2009

New Store Location - moving means lots of SURPRISES!


... and not all of them good! I give kudos to the City of Apache Junction Economic Development Department for making their part of our move as smooth as possible. I wish I could have done the same for the phone and security companies. Today - we are finally getting the final component of the security system installed! We're still working out bugs in the cooling and electrical system - we've got 4 outlets along the counter in the kitchen and NONE of them work. AND, if we run the coffee pot and the microwave at the same time, it blows a circuit that not only shuts the kitchen down, it also kills juice to the computer, cash register, and credit card machine. That is NOT a good thing! We've gotten a TON of help and we're gradually getting things straightened out.

We moved into our new store on June 1 and spent most of the first 2 weeks getting unpacked and organized. We were sort of open for business, though my standard "line" to customers was, "If you can find it, I'll sell it to you!" It worked out well - they found enough to pay the electric bill! It's almost culture shock to look around the store and realize that with a few exceptions, everything that we have on sale in the new store was packed in the old store. The new store is really open, light and airy. We have everything at eye level (well, I'm still working on getting the seed beads there). I have to laugh when an old friend comes in and says, "This is new" - nope, they just couldn't see it in the old store because it was too high or too low. Walking around in the new store, I'm realizing how crammed full the old store was!

We just got signs painted on the windows - now people driving past on N. Apache Trail and those cutting across the parking lot to and from the Good Apple don't have an excuse to say, "I didn't know you were here!" Another good thing is that we'll be moving the sign from the old store to the new one. It will be on the south side of the building, facing the Phelps Drive/W. Apache Trail intersection. YAY! Yes, I know that the building needs some major cosmetic work, but that will come this winter/spring when the weather is cooler. We've got a 5 year lease on the place - all things will come with time.

Come on by and say "hi" - we've always got the coffee pot on! We've got lots of fun things planned for this fall and winter.