We Popped Up!

We did a short and sweet pop-up at our friends, Notary Ceramics, Spring Market in Sellwood Oregon today! Despite the weather being very typical of Spring weather in the Pacific Northwest (meaning it rained relentlessly), there was a steady crowd of folks all day that the hours flew by! At one point while I was chatting with a guest, I had to ask "Wait, is everyone else packing up already?" I loved getting to chat with people and share that our mother shop, Adored Vintage, is opening a flagship store in Sellwood/Moreland this summer which will of course feature Atèlette!

This was the first market I have done in probably a decade. While not a newbie to the retail world, back in November 2019 I did open up our first Adored Vintage shop only to close it in March of 2020 and my romantic notions of retail sort of just floated away into the mist. The unexpected outcome of closing the short-lived retail shop was our online business tripled seemingly in weeks.

I've never wanted Adored Vintage to just be an online store, it's where I started, but connecting in real life, with you, having conversations, seeing your faces light up, seeing you be delighted, inspired, it makes me so very happy. When selling online, you just don't get the same interaction. No one emails just to tell you "This is all so beautiful and so intentional. I can't wait for you to be in my neighborhood!" No one writes and tells you "I love how everything feels." No one writes an email stating "I can tell you really have a passion for this" or "You're going to do really well because you have such a happy energy." 

But people tell you this in person. And I know it's genuine because I feel their energy too. This was some of the feedback I received today and I received them all fully and with such gratitude. This human contact is so vital and I didn't realize how much I had missed it until our pop-up today. Getting to tell everyone about Atèlette in person and sharing my inspirations, what sustainability means for my brand, my plans for Atèlette's future (dyed to order, vote-to-make), was so invigorating! Of course as an introvert, I now feel extremely exhausted and will need the next few days to recoup, but I also wanted to get all these thoughts and feelings out so I don't mull over them. I also want to be able to read back on this entry on those days when I'm feeling a bit down and remember even on a very wet and cold Saturday, people showed up to support small and to listen and take the time to hear my stories. 

While today's pop-up didn't equate in that many sales, that wasn't my goal. My goal was to announce that we are opening our own brick & mortar this summer in the neighborhood, to pass out my postcards and info cards (I only have 2 left!), and honestly, just to get into the feeling of connecting with people again in real life, in real time, and sharing my world and my interpretation of beauty to those whose paths I cross. Despite it being cold (I wore two pairs of socks) and very rainy, the feedback I received and connections I made today really filled my cup and I'm ever so grateful and now even more excited to join the roster of other beautiful independently owned brick & mortars in the Sellwood/Moreland neighborhood. It is my favorite neighborhood in Portland and this honestly feels like a dream come true.