I am at home in my comfy pants writing this post. The emotions that I feel at this moment are frustration, anger, and I just give up and surrender to it all. COVID has impacted the way we all do business, especially if your business is located in Portland Maine. Last night the Portland city council had an emergency meeting and ruled in favor of shutting down all business activity during the temporary emergency order issued by the state. The Portland city council decided to take it a step further and expanded the definition of shutting down all business activity to include shipping products. Can you feel my frustration? This directly impacts my business. I never get involved in politics if I can help it, but this time the Portland city council has gone too far. All the other local businesses in the Old Port are getting together to have the ruling overturned. Seriously, what were they thinking?
I have decided to pull my business out of Portland Maine and relocate it to my home in Cape Elizabeth Maine for now at least until i have another plan. This means that my retail shop on Market Street is permanently closed which is sad. It was a great shop and I will miss being there. As always, everything that was in the retail shop can be purchased online. I sincerely doubt that i will own and operate another retail shop for the time being. i think this pandemic is really going to change the way we buy things. i don't see brick and mortar businesses thriving again until COVID is behind us all in the rearview. For me, I will be putting all of my energy and focus on my website.
I get to take all the items out of my shop and move them into my home, lucky me! In an attempt to free up space in my studio and most of my downstairs area, I will be marking most of the remaining shop merchandise on sale 50% or more. I also offer free shipping right now so feel free to shop and do a little retail therapy for yourself. Support a local small business. You can also still mail me your beach sand if you want to. You won't be able to drop it off at the retail shop anymore since it is permanently closed due to COVID. You are more than welcome to drop it off at my home if you'd like. Feel free to leave it on the table on the deck. We can safely talk to each other 6 feet away for now until things get better.
I hope everyone stays healthy and as happy as you can be during this time. I keep getting told that this experience builds character. I think this pandemic is here to stay for a long time and it will become a defining moment and event in our history. I want to leave you all with this thought. I can honestly say that when all this is over, I will never eat a birthday cake after someone else has blown on it ever again.