This morning I came across a few photos of the Milpas shop before we moved in and thought you might like to see the difference and what went into such an incredible transformation!
In September 2009 we finally parted with the high rent district of State Street. While we miss being in such a historic area in all of the country, we were faced with increased rent which would result in increasing prices, or the option to move to a "funky" area and be able to keep our over head down and thus keep our prices reasonable.
We decided to take the leap to Milpas and boy are we happy with that decision. Now, we know it was difficult to reach every single person but we did our best by mail, email, advertising and Internet. We are SO thankful for our loyal and long time customers for making the effort and spreading the word of our move. In deciding to move, so many requirements go into picking a space. Parking is foremost, quantity and proximity for loading and unloading is so important to us. Second, are the doors big enough to accommodate even the largest estate furnishings. Third, ease of access from freeway and streets for locals. One sunny day in September we found our dream location.
DAY ONE GREENHOUSE!
GREENHOUSE TODAY
We absolutely love our building, which has been around a long, long time. Most folks remember our building as the La Sumida Nursery building which they resided in for many years until they expanded up to Hollister and Overpass Rd. The building (for those who have never shopped with us) consists of an interior (house like) structure which is about 2400 sf and an adjacent fully enclosed and functioning green house of approximately the same size. When we laid eyes on this building, we knew it was PERFECT, though it was FAR FROM PERFECT when we took possession. We had a vision of what we wanted and were able to execute it pretty close to our original dream.
INTERIOR DAY ONE
We put on our work clothes and went to work patching, painting and fixing. Funny story, one day we decided we needed to have a door inside that led to the greenhouse so we started cutting into the drywall, and low and behold, we found a sliding glass door (which was covered up after La Sumida left). That was one of the best discoveries and money saving accidents of all time for us. We painted almost every inch of the place including the floors. The incredible open beam ceilings we left with the peeling paint because we loved the texture, dimension and age it provided to the newly drywalled and painted space. INTERIOR TODAY
So, here we are almost a year and a half after our move and we are so happy here and the response from our customers and consignors has been wonderful. We still have more to do, we would like to get the frontage of the shop painted as well as the entrance area and fully enclose the front area with a permanent fence. So please excuse the rest of the building which we do not lease. When we say "funky" area, well, we weren't kidding. It looks pretty funky and the nice thing is that we don't take our selves so seriously that we can't just live with the surrounding area. We affectionately refer to our location as the "Wild West".
We even reached a record this week, of having the most new consignors added in a single day, 10. We have almost 2700 consignors and many have been with us since day one!
Some rumors (and I say that lightly because things are always flying around) are that a "Fresh & Easy" market is coming to the leveled shopping center across the street (where Whitefoot Meats used to be) . Fresh & Easy, if you don't know, is an AMAZING grocery store which I believe started down south in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Great prices, fresh foods with lots of pre-packaged meals etc. We would LOVE to have them next door. The other rumor I heard but it is more far fetched is that "Starbuks" might move onto our block too! Woo Hoo! So some possible exciting additions to Milpas on the horizon.
We always welcome your thoughts, opinions, suggestions and comments so please comment on the blog or on Facebook.
