I wanted to send out a few thoughts as we close our storefront and transition to an online presence.
As many of our longtime shoppers know, we started out in an old building on 7th Avenue in February of 2007 (yes, right before the big economical crash!)
My vision was to create a place that embodied the things I loved about visiting Paris: the quaint and quirky shops in the Marais, the mingling of different styles -- vintage and new, and just the magical FEEL of the whole city. Some of the best compliments I ever received were from people who said, "I feel like I just stepped into a shop on the Left Bank!"
We were in our 7th Avenue home for six years, and in that time we tried different things -- offering clothing, adding handcrafted lighting and furnishings alongside our vintage finds -- and truly it was all fun, and all successful in the ways that mattered most to me; namely that our customers enjoyed spending time with us, were excited to see what we would do next, and kept coming back!
Retail, as many of you know, is a tricky thing. Often you find that you do well enough to keep the lights on and the shelves full but maybe not much else. As time passed we realized we needed to re-evaluate our focus. Filling 2000 square feet was a tall order, and my co-owner Jason had his hands pretty full working his "day job" as an engineer. We decided to make the move to Union at Biltmore Fashion Park -- a new concept with a group of small local businesses under one roof -- last November.
As our one year lease comes to an end, we are again making a change. I will miss having a "brick and mortar" shop. And I may miss it so much that we resurrect it at some point! But for now our lighting is our main attraction, and as such it deserves our full attention. I hope you all will continue to follow us on our Etsy.com store (search parisenvy) as well as here on our blog, which I promise to update on a much more regular basis! I will be styling rooms featuring our lighting as well as new design ideas for the home. I may even do occasional travel-related posts.
Thank you all so very much for your support and patronage over these past seven years. Happy New Year and here's to creating our dreams, whatever shape they may take!
Laurie
