Friday, August 7, 2009

A Change in Plans...

Well it appears that we jumped the gun a little. It now looks like our expansion in our existing location is not going to happen. These last few weeks have been a series of ups and downs for us. Both Shawn and I have debated on the best way to handle and communicate our situation because we have had so many inquires and buzz about our expansion. We do know that the loyal folks that read our blog really care about us and our business. So we want to let you know (because we all know how word travels in our little town) what the status is on our expansion.

A few months ago we asked the owners of our building about the terms required to lease the entire building. They told us what they would require for a three year lease. We felt that even though the market was a little soft and that there were some better rates out there we knew that we liked our upstairs space and we felt we had a good relationship with them and it would be easier to stay in this building. We accepted their terms, and we thought everything was a done deal. We were just waiting on the current tenants to move out. Once they gave their official date to vacate a few weeks ago we made our exciting news "official" here on our blog. We received our lease and everything was exactly as we discussed so we signed it that day. Unfortunately the next day the landlords sent us an email stating that they made a mistake in the terms on the lease and would require additional fees for another deposit. We felt that since we had never paid rent late that the deposit they already held should do. However they disagreed and the bottom line is that we simply could not agree on terms. Therefore we decided against leasing their additional space.

We really wish we could have worked something out and to tell you the truth we are very disheartened. But we understand that they need to run their business the way that they want and we need to run our business the way that we want so we have no hard feelings. However, the one thing that we know for sure is that everything happens for a reason so we just need to move on. With that said we have had to make some quick adjustments. We have some great new merchandise that is already arriving, and some of our new furniture arrived today so please forgive us if the store is a little crowded. We will continue with some great sales to make way for the new stuff so please stop in and see us. Finally, we realize that it is going to be extremely difficult to get traffic up the stairs especially until there is another merchant downstairs so PLEASE tell your friends about us, and where we are located. As always thank you for your continued support, we appreciate you more than you know. We will keep you posted once we determine what the future holds for Gatewood Hall Gracious Home!

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