New Shop Hours

We've waffled back and forth over this for a while, and maybe it's because we've had such a crazy last few weeks, but we've decided to shorten our bricks & mortar shop hour, at least for the summer, and see how it goes. While things have definitely been a bit intense as we prepared for the move, and now even as we continue to get settled in, we're finding that we're working harder and harder to balance both being open for people to come in and see and feel the notebooks and try out the pens, and keeping the online side moving quickly and efficiently. We've been so fortunate to have the business continue to grow and expand, and we want to make sure that we aren't getting in over our heads, and letting too much fall through the cracks. Answering e-mails, arranging special orders, getting the inventory counted and out, we're finding we're having a harder and harder time keeping up and there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day. Keeping up with social media and the blog are also important parts of the business, but we're finding we definitely have to pick and choose what's going to be done every day.

We have thought about hiring, but right now, that's a lot of additional infrastructure to the business that we just don't have in place yet. We are certainly working on it, and maybe sometime soon. We'd also like to have the space available for events like our Letter Writing Club, calligraphy classes, and maybe a few other things we're thinking about. And now, especially with the baby, we're hoping that this business will give us the opportunity to enjoy a work/life balance (although this may be a myth for most small business owners). Jon and I sometimes joke that if we didn't have the baby we could do so much more with the business, but I think we both know that the baby is why we have the business, so we could work together as a family. We're certainly in no way looking to wind down our bricks & mortar in order to focus more on the online - I think the bricks & mortar is such an important part of our business, not only that people can come in and try out the pens and see the inks and paper, but also it's allowed us to get to know and talk with some of our customers. When some of our online customers who stop by when they happen to take a trip into Toronto, it's a great thing to be able to put a face to the emails and phone conversations. I think both sides of our business have allowed us to share in this community, and we're pretty grateful for that. Our new shop hours, effective immediately, are: Tuesday to Saturday 11 am to 6 pm Closed on Sunday & Monday I hope you'll stop by!