Happy New Year to you and your family! If you have not already heard, my husband Leo came home in time for Christmas (a month early) from an 8 month deployment in the Middle East. We decided to keep it a secret and surprise our kids with a “photobomb” with Santa at the Thousand Oaks Mall. You can view the video at the following link vimeo/82511824 It was the BEST Christmas ever for our family, as you could guess, and 2014 is shaping up to be an exciting year with BIG changes as well! Coming up this weekend (January 25th) is our Pages & Patriots Auction with dinner beginning at 6pm. We have 4 spots remaining, so if you would like to attend please call the store immediately. The cost is $10 and proceeds from the sales of our layouts and class projects will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project and charities that benefit local military personnel and their families in Ventura County. If you have never attended this event and are thinking about it, I promise you it is a fun and memorable evening, even if you do not bid on a single item! Now for the BIG news…I have been blessed to own a retail business for 10 amazing years, and even more blessed that it is Scrapbook Blessings, a beautiful and inspiring scrapbook store. It just does not feel like “work” when I get to do something that I love AND sell great scrapbooking supplies to fellow scrapbookers and papercrafters who share my same passion every day. My passion for this great hobby has not waned, but my enjoyment in being a retail business owner has. For any of you who have ever owned a business or have been part of a family business, you know exactly what I am talking about. If you have not, it is an investment in time beyond measure. I made Leo a promise just before we opened Scrapbook Blessings that when retail was no longer fun for me anymore, I would get out. That time has come. Please do not misunderstand. I LOVE you and all of our customers. I love serving your papercrafting needs. I enjoy hearing your stories and sharing photos with you. I LOVE creating and designing many of the samples and kits you see on display in our store. I just no longer enjoy the daily 10am to 6pm (and beyond) grind of retail and all of the responsibilities that go along with it. With our family back together again, I definitely value my personal time differently. I am now at a point in my life where I want to enjoy doing things, big and small, that I have not been able to do in years, such as travelling to other countries with Leo on business, go on scrapbook weekends with my girlfriends, and sneak in lunch and a movie during the week to name a few. I have the endless support of my awesome manager Linda as well as my wonderful sister Ro who are always willing to jump in and take over if I ever need or want time off, but ultimately, the store is still my responsibility, and therefore I would always be tethered to it. Now for BIGGER news…as I mentioned earlier, my passion for scrapbooking and papercrafting is as strong as ever, and so although I am closing one business door I am eagerly opening up another! I am extremely excited about a brand new venture and in the coming weeks as I reveal more and answer all of your questions, I am confident you will be too! What I will say is this: Although I will no longer be selling scrapbooking supplies, I will be offering an amazing assortment of KITS, from page layouts to cards to chipboard albums to mixed media projects that you already have grown accustomed to seeing at Scrapbook Blessings….only on a much larger scale and created by myself and my ever growing circle of talented designers, including the friendly, familiar faces of Linda, Suzanne, Tracy, Pat and Nancy. Some of our kits will also be available as a class and can be purchased online, too. Things happen for a reason and I am convinced our paths would not have crossed if it were not for this store. I am grateful for the opportunity you have given me to help you create your masterpieces. I am thankful for all of the lifelong friendships I have made. Scrapbook Blessings will always hold a very special place in my heart. It has been my 4th child for the last 10 years. Together with my family’s blessing, love and support, I created Scrapbook Blessings, nurtured and developed it into the wonderful place you have grown to love and enjoy as much as I have. I’m beyond excited for the next chapter to our story and I hope you are just as excited to join me in helping write it! Okay, now about Scrapbook Blessings: We are currently in discussion with a couple potential buyers for the store. Both are great people and we are confident they would continue Scrapbook Blessings with the same level of passion we have had for the store over the last 10 years. That said, there is still opportunity for any other interested parties to contact us about possible ownership (partnership or sole owner) or even investment in the business. There are potential benefits in many ways we could discuss with you. We are highly interested in helping coordinate a sale that will help fulfill another’s passion for owning a scrapbook store while also keeping a local establishment for people to purchase their supplies and have a place to crop. With our ambition to transition to our new venture, we hope you recognize this opportunity cannot remain open indefinitely. We are in discussion with the property manager about potential space modifications to support a new owner and also planning the requirements for our new venture. Our goal is to be up and running in the new venture by March 1st. Selling Scrapbook Blessings to a new owner will certainly go a long way to help make that possible. However, if we do not have a reasonably confident plan in place for a new owner, we will commence a close out of Scrapbook Blessings at the start of February. We have a plan for addressing Blessings memberships and outstanding gift certificates should it come to this and will provide that at a later date if necessary. If you have considered owning your own business or are interested in a discussion about purchasing or investing with another potential owner of Scrapbook Blessings, please contact us at your soonest convenience. Don’t lose this opportunity if this is something you have dreamed of. We’ll be as candid as possible to give an appreciation for what ownership of Scrapbook Blessings can mean for you. The New Venture: Once we have solidified plans for the future of Scrapbook Blessings, we will be sharing more details about our new venture. We have started to share a few details with some people that will be involved. We expect to have a few ‘open house’ sessions in February to provide information to those that would like to come learn more about it. We’re not kidding when we say it is going to be fun and exciting for many! Again, Happy New Year and we’re looking forward to an amazing 2014 and beyond! Beth & Leo
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 07:09:35 +0000
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