THREE YEARS! Can you believe it? Every time I go to write a reflective post like this one, I’m reminded how absolutely beautiful, challenging, fun, overwhelming, memorable, exhausting, and rewarding the last three years have been. Before I started this business a lot of people warned me and some even discouraged me (with all the best intentions). There is a lot of truth to the fact that the first few years of business ownership are the hardest. It tries every particle of your being and you truly have to have passion and commitment to what you are doing. The past three years have been a whirlwind of ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
When we opened the doors on August 15, 2015, I was a nervous wreck. We had very little inventory, a brand that still needed a TON of work, no staff, and lots of learning gaps. Now looking back and knowing what I know now, we may have been a little naive, but we stuck to a limited start up budget and did the best we could with what we had.
Three years later I can confidently say that the growth and positive change we have experienced is more than I ever imagined. We have created a beautiful space with ever changing displays, hired a team that is passionate and driven, built a brand that extends past the basic retail game, created a line-up of annual classes and events, returned to our blogging roots, launched a special occasion fresh floral arm of the business, created our own exclusive Bailey & James products, and got to share it will all of you along the way. The journey hasn’t been without mistakes or missteps, but we embraced those too and did our best to learn from them.
As we move into this fourth year, we have some big goals. The biggest and most pressing of those goals is to create a fully functional e-commerce site that truly reflects what Bailey & James is all about. As some of you might remember, we tried this once and we fell flat on our faces. We are taking a new approach and are certain this next go at it will be the best representation of the brand and our product offering. Stay tuned for more details on that.
We have so much more coming your way and we look forward to sharing with you over the next year. I want to personally thank every person that has supported the shop. I say it a lot, but it never fails to be true. It’s only because of you that we get to do what we do. Thank you for giving Bailey & James a community. Also a big thank you to those that attended that Birthday celebration this past weekend too, we always have a blast with you.
Cheers to year four and many more!
XOXO
Amber