Saturday, January 27, 2007

Things are taking shape

So the good news is that we can actually see the floor in the new store now. Not all of it, of course, but more of it than we saw earlier in the week. We've gotten a good deal of merchandise onto shelves or on hanging thingies (technical term), so we can at least see stuff. Not everything is up yet but hey, it's been less than a week since we've been there, so all in all we're doing OK.

Topo Giogio, our store cat, has adapted more quickly than we thought he would. He hid for only about a day and now is roaming the store like crazy, checking out people and visiting pups. He lit up Buddy the poodle on Thursday of this week as she was trying to purchase a new winter coat. What a diplomat that cat.
He has also set off the security system at least six times this week. It's been great getting those 1 AM and 3 AM phone calls...needless to say, we're working on tweeking the motion detectors.

Mary
, our dog, is a little out of sorts but seems to be doing well in general. She has a nice big bed in back of the counter and has lots of room to whip around Mr. Monkey, her abused toy friend.

We are definitely OPEN so feel free to come by and bask in the "Building 19 like" atmosphere while it is still around.

This is also a good time for people to come in and talk about things that they'd like us to carry. We'll now be able to expand our offerings a bit and want to carry the things that you kids want and the poochies, kitties, birds, reptiles, and small animals of the area need. We can't promise that we'll get everything, but we'll try to make sure that we have in most things.

So we're off to work now and we'll see you soon.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

We've Moved!!!

So thanks to the grand efforts of some of our friends and customers we were able to move today in record time. It certainly wasn't easy (who knew we crammed so much stuff into our other teeny tiny location??) but we did it.

We want to thank Jill, Maura, Fred, Milton, Heidi, Erik, Carl, Joe, Anthony, Maureen, Kristen, Chris, Kathy, Jim, Mary, Trisha, and Susi for all their excellent help and promise we'll make it up to you somehow. You all are so very cool.

Thanks again to everyone who's been helping us and look for us to be open sometime this week.
We're thinking Wednesday, January 254th, we'll be at least partially open. We may not be fully operational, but soon, soon, soon.....

Friday, January 19, 2007

Recommendation of the day

If you can manage it, we would recommend never moving anywhere. Stay where you are. Trust us on this.

And just so you know, the word of the day on dictionary.com is "yeasty". I am not sure why I am telling you this...it just seems to appeal to me right now. Let me know what you do with this knowledge now that you have it.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Things are getting better

Yesterday and today were very good days at the new location. We got a great deal done and it's taking some pressure off our heads. So we've realized that not everything is going to be 100% ready off the bat when we re-open but in time, it'll all come together. That's OK....right?

All you kids just be patient and we'll soon have a spanking new place to do all sorts of fun doggie-kitty-hamster-fish-reptile-birdie things.

We'll see some of you on Sunday for the move.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, January 15, 2007

So it goes

Today we got a good deal done at the new location but we did have one set back. As we went to put the tubs into their respective "stalls", they didn't quite fit. Just a touch shy...someone obviously had some measuring problems.
Soooooooo....tomorrow the SawzAll (another tool of champions, much like our beloved hammers) will come out and we will make a little room for the tubs. You know, I do love a SawzAll and usually embrace any opportunity to use one, but this would not be one of my chosen times to whip one out...if I had a choice. But I don't. That's why they make SawzAlls and sledgehammers.

Anyhoo, would you like to see some pictures of some of our progress so far?










Neat and tidy worksite.



Soon to be washroom.










The lonely life of a guard penguin on duty.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Flatlining

Painted the floor yesterday...oil paint in a closed room...opened the doors but it didn't seem to help...more suffering little brain cells lying dead on the floor...had to put them out of their misery. It was the kindest thing to do. Second coat tomorrow. More dead brain cells.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Moving day draws near

Hi kids,

So moving day is drawing close. We are working like maniacs on the new place trying to get it into some sort of reasonable shape to open up. It's exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time. You all know how moving is.

As of today we are planning to move on Sunday, January 21st. That means that we will be closed at our 4278 Washington Street store on Sunday, January 21st, Monday, January 22nd, and Tuesday, January 23rd. Possibly longer, we will let you kids know about that.

Anyway, so here's the thing...a good many of of you, our dear customers, have been offering to help us out with the move. If any of you are still interested and willing to help for a few hours please give us a call at the store (617.323.7387) and let us know. We definitely do not want to take advantage of anyone, so we'd be asking only for a couple-few hours of your time. No need to beat anyone into the ground.

Thanks much for all your offers of help and all of your support. We look forward to having more fun merchandise to show to all of you and we're really excited about sparking up the doggie wash. Woof!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Update of sorts

So we continue to work on our new location like mad. We're building and painting and sweeping and cleaning and even swearing a bit just to make sure that the process continues to move smoothly. (We find, that, like chocolate, this activity helps many things.)

We've introduced a new color into our famously "subtle" color scheme. It's called "Pumpkin Cream". We have kind of a "food based thing" going with our colors...we have "Dill Pickle" and "American Cheese" too. The purple is called "Gentle Violet", I don't know how that one crept in there... because we do like the food theme thing. Wouldn't you love to name colors for a living?

Anyway, the color combo will either horrify you or thrill you depending what you're feeling like that day. I am sure we'll hear plently of comments on our "taste" or lack thereof.

Let's see, what else to tell you kids....we are looking at moving up to the new place, tenatively around the third week of this month. Please realize that these plans are NOT YET FIRM because there is a myriad of things left to do yet.

We will likely be taking you all up on your very kind offers of moving help so we will keep you updated on exact dates as we have them.