Hi! It's me, Lisa, back to answer another question we get asked at least once a week that can't really be answered with a quick answer and also doesn't really belong in an FAQ:
"Do you get enough people down here?"
"Do people find you down here?"
"How is business down here?"
These questions always throw me off a bit!
The answer is:
Yes. Of course. We're good. Or we wouldn't be here.
(but this feels a little defensive??)
The above pic is a screenshot of a text I sent a friend in April of 2019 with my location plans!
The long answer is:
We CHOSE to be here. We LOVE this spot. We purposely, intentionally, sought out a "secret" spot. We built an entire store out of a blank space, and then two years later built an entire kitchen out of unfinished space. We're just a couple months away from our 6th anniversary. So, yes, people find us. And what does "enough" mean anyway??
(ok, maybe I do sound a little defensive, but it's because I feel a little defensive!)
The longer answer is:
When I was first learning about herbs, it was the late 1990's I was living in a small city in Ireland. There was my first herb shop / health food store that introduced me to calendula, a place that still exists physically, and will live in my heart forever.
And then...
There was the magical, "secret" herb shop.
This herb shop was a little room in the back of a chemist shop (a pharmacy in US terms). It was on a main street, but hidden away. I had to walk through the chemist to the back of the shop, and go through a curtain (or door? I can't remember this detail) and into a little room filled with herbs. The walls were bookcases and the bookcases were filled with jars. It was amazing. And I loved that it was a secret space right in the middle of town. I loved how it felt to walk into this little magical place.
When I started planning out this shop, I was looking for a place that would be a secret space, right in the middle of town. Something that would give others that same feeling of finding a little magical space hidden in plain sight.
Originally, I looked at the spot across the hall, purely out of curiosity. I wasn't planning on starting until 2020 (which the realtor knew). But then he asked me if I wanted to see this spot, letting me know that the space was currently being leased, but they'd be moving out in a couple of months.
The second I walked in, I knew.
This was the space.
Even though it was currently being used as an art gallery, so had a solid door, was all white, and a cement floor (perfect for a gallery, not for a shop). The back (where our kitchen is) was unfinished. As in, no wall, no ceiling, cement floor, no plumbing, and barely electricity. And even though this was months ahead of my original plan. I knew. This was it.
So, every time someone asks if we "get enough people/business/etc" down here, there is no simple answer, because my mind runs through this whole story. Through the years of a new herbalist, through all the years (two decades!) of dreaming about a secret spot, through the instinctual feeling of "this is it", through all the struggles, through all the people who helped me, through a pandemic, through meeting so many amazing people and building community.
With all of that running though my head, I never know how to answer.
I simply say, "yes".