Hi, everyone, I know it's been a while - we've been meaning to post updated pictures of the store since we changed the displays in April, but due to some difficulties, still do not have the pictures on a computer, and now all our displays have changed again. :)

As a quick update, April was a really slow month. Stupid tax season. :P As an incentive to buy, we did hold a raffle at the store (which I apologize since it should have been posted here but wasn't) where every item purchased led to an entry in the raffle for an apron not available through any other means. I know there is a picture somewhere, so it will be added to this post when found. :)

At the end of April, we had a nice large presence at the crafts fair held at Electronic Arts, where we piggy-backed off one of our consignors who works there, and took up lots and lots of space displaying probably half the store inventory. :) It was only for two hours, but we were able to tell lots of people about the store, and make some sales. :) Yay, sales!

May started off crazy, as jennicakes was at Bizarre Bazaar, aka Maker Faire, and brought some extra stuff with her as well. It was a crazy busy weekend, and we completely ran out of business cards (new ones should here soon *crosses fingers*) and then we had to prepare for Mother's Day with the florist while trying to put all the inventory back that we had taken out of the front for the fairs. We ended up helping the florist out a LOT, as there was a good amount of drama with some of her now-former employees, so things have been hectic. We did talk to a bunch of people at the Maker Faire about consignment, and have started getting some random inquiries for consignment, so hopefully we will be able to clean out the back area of the store, and make it into more retail space for our growing inventory. The biggest obstacle at the moment is a fridge that the florist had fixed for Mother's day that is blocking the wall opening that we would be using as a doorway. The fridge was non-functional, and was going to get hauled away, but it was discovered that there was nothing terribly wrong with it, so it was fixed. Only now, it's really super cold, and it kills all the flowers in it. So hopefully it will mysteriously disappear soon. :)

Meanwhile, we are redoing displays again, and trying to find a place for all the new fun stuff we've been getting in, so hopefully we will have pictures soon! So sorry this update took so long; things have been pretty busy!

Also, so everyone can save the dates on their calendars, Angelfish & Co. will be participating in the Menlo Park Block Parties:



In case that is not legible, it is on June 25, August 6 and August 20 from 6pm-9:30pm. So if you are in the area, do stop on by! :)

So let me start by saying the sale is done with. It was around for a good 2 weeks, approximately. Onto newer business - our weekly happy hours! So between Angelfish & Co., and Cindy's Flowers, we are hosting a "Flower Hour" every Friday night. Here's the little not-super-high-quality version of our flyer:



So one thing we might try to do is come up with a different kind of special each week. The florist has suggested a door prize, but I don't know how well that would work. She has offered to provide some flowers for cheap that we could pass out with every purchase. So that might be the first one, and then we'll change it up from there. Who likes daffodils? :D

The website now has pages for all the links. Unfortunately, I accidentally sent my tech guy some typos, and now he's in Hong Kong and they won't be changed for a couple of weeks. So I hugely apologize for that. A lot of it is still wordy and messy and just needs to be gone over, but at least now we have a little bit of something in each section.

Including a link to the etsy shop that I created a long time ago for my jewelry. Currently we just have stuff that was made exclusively for the store, but if any consignors are consenting, I will photograph and add some of their items to the etsy shop. Now my east coast friends can buy our cute things! :)

So that is the quick update... I am expecting to get some shipments in this week - we have more cards, and a couple more quillows for the moment. I am starting to plan out what is going to get brought to the EA crafts fair at the end of April, where I can talk up the store with my former co-workers and guilt them into buying stuff and/or coming down! We're still new, so I'll take what I can get, no scruples! :D Hopefully between that and the silent auction the store will get more exposure to the outside world.

The florist has been planning on putting track lighting in for a while, since from the outside the store looks very dark, and therefore looks closed sometimes. There has been no progress of this track lighting to speak of, but I really hope it happens soon. It only took the door guy three weeks to come replace the door, and he hasn't been back yet to fix what he broke. Ha! It's functional enough to not be an emergency, I guess.

Oh yes, and tell all your friends - there is a "broken heart sale" going on at the store - everything marked with "ES" is 20% off!! That's because ES got dumped and decided she wanted to put her stuff on sale! So now would be a great time to come and buy some jewelry or photos. Woot!

So a woman came into the store the other day looking for donations for an auction for the Palo Alto Nursery School. After some thought, I decided to go ahead and donate something from the store so that we could start getting our name out in nearby communities. So jennicakes and I put together a little travel gift set with an eye mask that she made for the store, and a matching passport cover I had ordered from Starlit Nest. My mother, who came to visit this week, had brought me these organza bags she had found rather inexpensively, so I used one to package the travel gift set. This is how it turned out:

  

I personally find this bundle to be super cute, and hopefully so will everyone at the auction! :) I also wrote up a little blurb for the listing:

Angelfish & Co. is a new and exciting store in Menlo Park offering hand made arts and crafts! It's a great place to find that special gift for your loved ones while supporting Bay Area artisans. We carry everything from handbags and jewelry to framed photos and throw pillows!

This auction features a brocade eye mask by quilter Jennifer Pellecchia of Hambone & Jennicakes in Menlo Park, as well as a matching passport cover made by Alison Antone of Starlit Nest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. For more items like this and other unique gifts, please come see us at 558 Santa Cruz Ave. inside of Cindy's Flowers and Gifts, conveniently between the Menlo Park Caltrain station and El Camino Real. Hope to see you soon!

I am actually hoping that the store gets more opportunities to donate - it seems like a good way of getting our name out into various communities in the area, as posting flyers is nice but doesn't really describe the store much past our offerings of handmade arts and crafts by bay area artisans. And as long as I keep the donated items relatively small and at low cost to the store, hopefully the money made back from the larger exposure will really help out.

I just realized I should have posted sooner about my new e-mail that came with with the website! E-mails can now be sent to and from eily@angelfishco.com, as well as info@angelfishco.com. So in case your e-mail spam filter is overzealous, please add the angelfishco.com domain to your "safe" list. :)

Thanks thanks! :)

Today I redid all the jewelry displays to make them more eye-catching as well as space efficient. I liked the trees on the round table, but there just wasn't any height variation, or apparent organization to them. 



That black tray in front has a few bracelets on it as well as some pendants I finally figured out how to display:
  (Pardon my poor photography)

I also redid the display on the chain necklaces, which were just sort of hanging in a row on the shelf - I think only one person really looked at them while they were displayed like that, since you had to rifle through them, but now you can just SEE them:
        
    

Also, got some light fuzzy scarves in that I totally want to wear:



Oh and I took pictures of one of the super cute coverall bibs, as well as a child's chalkboard:


Overall, a productive day. Even sold some stuff! Woot! :) Tomorrow I'll be putting up flyers!

There is officially a website at http://www.angelfishco.com!! It's pretty empty right now, but I've made some mockups for the website, and construction should begin soon. Thanks to jon for setting that up for me. Means we also now have company e-mail addresses, which will also be good because it means I can stop giving out personal information to everyone who wants to know about the store. :)

Here's an itty bitty version of the mockup:
 

The website is especially good  because when someone Googles "Angelfish & Co.", the first website to comes up is not someone's personal blog. Yay! It will also make it easier to understand who does custom orders and who does not, and even perhaps send in custom orders online to my new nifty e-mails. And of course, the amount of information made readily available to the public about the store as well as its consignors can surely do no harm.

Since St. Patrick's Day is coming up, I've been trying to make the store display more green. There is surprising little green by way of decoration or merchandise in the store, other than the live plants that are not allowed to go in the window. So, other than filling the display with green vases, I was a little stumped. Good thing jennicakes made green bunting which is now in the window, and as well as a green "hung over" eye mask for Mortimer, the bear in the window whom I have thusly named. I also put some green pillows on the bench that came from home, so now the pillows that were on display before can be on display in the store so people know to come buy them cuz they're cute! :)

Pardon the street reflection, as usual:


Upon closer inspection, I see that Mortimer has some new friends that the florist put in the window:


They sing. All of them. Poor Mortimer. That has got to be the most painful hangover he'll ever have.

Another recent update to the store is that we increased the inventory to include more children's items - coverall bibs, toddler backpacks, play mats with toys, and chalkboards. In doing so, the store is gaining more boy-friendly products. :) It is still predominantly geared towards women, though. And maybe little girls too. Like the little girl who already owns two quillows but still wanted a third. I almost wished she was a little more spoiled. :)

Added some of the new inventory to the front table:



Got more quillows in for the fans:


This time none of them are actually mine:


Also currently in progress: a website! It's unfortunate that I already ordered business cards with the blog website on it - now there's going to be a business e-mail (instead of my personal e-mail currently on the cards), and a new website... I want to order new cards, but I think I should wait until the store has its own phone number. Because if the trend continues, I will have a phone line not too long after I get the business cards with the website on it. So I will wait. And just link the website from here in the interim. When it's up. Which hopefully will be soon. :D

As a side note, our bulletin of polaroids of people "trying on" various items in the store is slowly getting populated. So far it's only of people we know, but someday... :)

So the grand opening was slightly successful. Because of the plague that seems to be going around, quite a few people who had been planning on stopping by were unable to do so (feel better, everyone!), but those who came ate and shopped, and it was all good. Thanks to all who helped with the effort - the homemade snacks were delicious! The florist would like to have a little party like that once a month if possible. I'm all for it if she's willing to pitch in for the cost... :D

I was so busy running around talking to people and selling things, I totally forgot to take pictures! :( Oh noes!

We rearranged a lot of the space this past weekend to clean up the space, to display new fun items, and to make it nice for the grand opening tomorrow.

The front table used to house all the valentine's day stuff, and now...


My head about exploded when we got the plushies in the store. *eeeee*


Eyemasks are no longer on the bulletin board:


We cleaned up the area around the mantle and the wall in general:


Hung up the baby clothes (by Fresh Baby):


...and did some other stuff. I made flyers to pass out, which was an adventure in itself, but it's been raining a lot, and is not super conducive to flyers. :) Ah well. I tried to upload a pic of it, but it keeps showing up as broken, again, ah well.


Anyway, hopefully not only will we meet lots of fun people tomorrow, but make a killing at the same time. Also, Jenn is going to be making the most awesome looking cakes ever. EVER.

So before Valentine's Day, I had ordered postcards for the store, using the store poster as the image:



I was hoping to send them out for our GRAND OPENING this Sunday February 24th at 2:30 pm (hint, hint), but they have yet to arrive in the mail, and now I am not going to be able to send them out in time. But please, help spread the word and come meet the artists responsible for making this store possible! :)

So Valentine's day has come and gone, and while it did improve our business, Jenn and I ended up doing a lot of work for the flower shop, from taking and handing out orders, to making flower arrangements for customers! I wish I had taken pictures of some of our works of art, but it was too hectic and busy. Cindy (of Cindy's Flowers and Gifts) had hired extra temporary help for the day, but one of the women hired decided she couldn't deal and stormed off in the middle of the day, and Reyna, who usually does most of the arrangements, had to leave to take care of a sick daughter.

Needless to say, it was a very tiring day. I must say, though, playing with flowers is actually rather fun. :)

Valentine's Day is soon, and hopefully that will bring in lots of last minute customers picking up gifts. The store at the moment is still unable to accept credit cards, but lucky for us the florist has been kind enough to ring up credit card purchases, and then reimburse us with cash. The application for the credit card processing machine and account have been sent off, so it's really just a matter of waiting. Meanwhile, we've gotten more awesome items from consigners and fixed up some nice window displays for the big day:

Passport covers by Starlit Nest:


Throw pillows by Hambone and Jennicakes, as well as Chiccosas:


Bags by Chiccosas:


Ribbon Bracelets by LOE:


Accessories by Saints & Sinners:


Bags by Queen Puff Puff:


Headbands by Queen Puff Puff and earrings by Angelfish:


Photos by Erin McGaw:


Letter-pressed cards by Lizard Press:


...and much more!

Before we did the window display:


After (taken from outside, so pardon the reflections):



The outside of the store is even getting some seasonal decoration to help set the mood:


Thank goodness it's been nice out recently. :) Well, here's to having a good Valentine's day!

So by "closed" I mean the florist keeps us open, and in turn we keep the florist open on Sundays by being at the store. So there was a sad story from today that occurred just a few hours ago. As you all know (or don't but now you will), Angelfish & Co. is a consignment store that sells arts and crafts of local (for the most part) artisans. Because of that, everything is meticulously labelled and catalogued so that nothing slips through the cracks. This is pretty widely known by everyone who works at the florist, as well. So, recently LOE had provided us with a quillow (fleece throw you can fold into a pillow) to sell, but since there was only one, I brought my personal quillow in to assist in the display:



Well, I got an excited call from the florist saying that she sold both the quillows, but oddly enough, one didn't have a tag, so she sold it for the same price as the other... while I'm glad people are excited about things that the store has, I am mourning the loss of my own personal quillow. From now on I will have to tag everything that is for display only with NOT FOR SALE to prevent further sale of personal items. I miss my quillow. *sniffle*

So the store has been selling what items we have received so far since the first of the month, but today, Chinese New Year, is the quiet, official opening date. We still only have about half of the merchandise we're expecting, but apparently there was an error in the address that was given out, as the actual mailing address of the store is that it is Suite A, not just 558 Santa Cruz Ave. Too bad the landlord didn't mention that part. :)

Anyway, below is a picture of what we opened with earlier, minus the aprons which are to the left on the rack:



The store name has even officially been added to the window:



So slowly but surely, it's all coming together. Will post more pics later! Thanks to all those who contributed and supported this effort thus far! :D

Cindy's Flower's and Gifts is making room for Angelfish & Co....

...while Eileen is busy making jewelry:



Aprons are hanging on a brand new clothing rack!


All this work makes for sleepy bears!