Saturday, May 19, 2012

heard it through the grapevine . . . The Grapeseed Co. is opening STORE #2

We are giddy with excitement (and maybe lack of sleep) about opening our second brick and mortar location in Carpinteria, California! A little less than 2 years ago, we opened our flagship store in downtown Santa Barbara...
You may remember this time, it was the summer of 2010 and the economy was tough (to say the least.) Brick & mortar stores were closing left and right, especially in downtown SB. I listened to countless people (from my nearest and dearest to total strangers) tell me I was crazy, I was making a mistake and I would fail. I'll be totally honest; I got really bummed out at times. I even broke down and cried on a few occasions because I was so sick of hearing "why on earth did you open a retail store?" or "good luck" with a sarcastic tone daily from some random person off the street. After a few months I bucked up, developed some thick(er) skin and pushed full speed ahead with my entrepreneurial headlights beaming. What's that saying about what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger?

I'm happy to say 22 months later the SB store is proving those passer-by's wrong and we are weeks away from opening our second store in the adorable beach town of Carpinteria, CA!

We have a new warehouse space on the beach side of Carpinteria Ave. right before you hit downtown. It's a pleasant spot with some great neighboring businesses like Chocolats du Cali Bressan, Carpinteria Wine Co. and Upright Paddle Sports. We moved our production to Carp in April and have increased our manufacturing capabilities in the new, much larger space.

We are thrilled to be in a spot where we can build-out a second store as well! It's in the works, but I'll give you a peek inside. Here's what we moved into...
 First order of business was getting the production kitchen up and running so we could continue to fill orders. The new space has allowed us to up our manufacturing capabilities big time! Here's what we can now produce in a day...
We've been able to turn around much larger wholesale orders, and are so excited that Grapeseed goodness is reaching many more of you around the globe!
We're smack in the midst of the build-out, but have designed a great set up where you will be able to watch us creating grapeseed goodies through these large french doors that join the store to our manufacturing area.
Those of you that have visited our SB store know that we love to show our creative side through store design. We're bringing that same love to the new Carpinteria store, and are spending this weekend refinishing upcycled furniture and building displays in our own green, grapeseed style.
 We hope you'll stop by and visit in June... you can find us by these great lime green chairs that will be outside 4193 Carpinteria Ave #9!

Remember, don't let the turkeys get ya down. Amazing things can happen when you stay true to your roots, take risk and truly believe in success. Everything else is a good learning experience; it's all in how you look at things!

xoxo,




5 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Kristin! I'm so thrilled for you and how far you've come, and mostly, how far you are going to go. W00T! By the way, remember this - http://www.indiebusinessblog.com/whats-your-exit-plan/. You've come a long way baby! (When I switched blog services, the pictures was lost, I'll replace it with another one!)

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  2. thanks dM! wow... I was just thinking I left teaching right around this time too, thanks for sharing my story :) June must be my make it happen month. LOL! Thanks for being a great support, I wouldn't be where I am without IBN's resources.

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  3. Congrats to the store. Loved visiting them before.

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  4. This is a great blog. Glad I stumble upon your site. Keep it up.

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  5. Congrats on the opening of your second store! Keep the great posts coming!!

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