Day 2: Just A Card Indie Week

Here's my shop door, and I fully support the #justacard message. If we want to be able to visit nice shops in the future, we need to support them now. And what can we do? We can make a purchase every year, no matter how small. Just a card, or just a book, or just a coffee will add up to decent sales for a small business when we recommend our favourite shops to our friends and family.

Handmade gifts are the ultimate: unique items that someone else can’t buy!

This year, this message is more important to me than ever on a very personal basis.  Financially, this has been the hardest business year I’ve had in a long, long time.  I’ve seen only about half of the visitors that I usually see in any given year, and of course, that translates heavily into sales/income.  My own business needs the support of those who don’t want it to disappear, and I know there are many businesses who are feeling the same.  The economy is weirded out because of how we’ve changed our buying habits through the pandemic, wars causing fuel price craziness, and the cost of everything else through the roof… I totally get that a piece of art is the thing that a buyer can do without.  It’s a hard place to be, and it’s painful to ask for help, but I think we all need help sometimes, don’t you agree?  I've got a lot of work ahead of me to make sure that 2024 turns out much better, and I'll be asking for help anywhere I can find it.  The thought of losing everything I have here in Norton's Cove is very frightening to me.  I love where I am and what I do and I don't want to have to change too drastically.