Saturday morning we hitched Honeybean up to our Xterra and trekked over to East Nashville for What The Truck!'s first mobile market. It was so great to be with 6 other mobile shops (and a food truck, and even a mobile car mechanic!) this time around... last time we tried doing this (Black Friday, last year) there were only 3 of us and it was a major fail. I wasn't holding out for much this year but I'm happy to say it was far more successful. We were set up from 11am until 4pm and during those 5 hours we had friends stop by, made new friends with the shop owners, and even met blog readers! It was actually a pretty nice day, too. The sun was shining so we were happy!
One of the main reasons we wanted to get out there and do this mini-event was because Porter Flea is this weekend. Woo! We love Porter Flea, but we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us. We used WTT as our mock-setup so we can know what needs to get made/built/merchandized this week. It's funny because a solid 80% of Honeybean is jewelry, but that's by far our best seller so it works out. We've been trying to find good ways to merchandise it so we'll be busy this week! I debuted my donut prints in the 'bean this past weekend, too! I was so tickled that they did so well! I'll have to whip up plenty more before Porter Flea but I'm excited.
Maya dropped by for a bit and brought her friend Ryan for us to meet. We carried on for a bit and had a fun time. Then Jesse stopped by after saying she follows me on Instagram and saw about the event there! (-above- Isn't she darling?!) She picked up a couple of awesome pieces from the 'bean, too. Then Amy (Hi Amy!) dropped in and said she recognized the 'bean when she was driving by! (She has a Kurt Halsey sleeve, too! Snap, we need a picture of them together next time, lady!) I finally had a chance to meet Kim (from one of Nashville's newest mobile shops) and she was an absolute gem! And the folks over at the K.McCarthy Fashion Truck were so friendly and awesome to chat with at the end of the day. -- Seriously y'all, I love that the mobile movement is finally progressing here in Nashville! It's such a breath of fresh air. I love it even more because so many of the owners/operators are so so kind. Loving the community feeling!
You can tell the 'bean was on a super slope-y parking lot! haha Even the jacks couldn't level it out perfectly.
After setting everything up for the first time since Summer, we were able to see just what needs to be taken care of come Winter. Honeybean is getting an interior makeover! It's a long time coming honestly. We've been wanting to renovate the inside (again) for about a year and a half or more, but since the 'bean was going on the backburner for 2013, we didn't want to get ourselves in too deep. We're hoping to put the 'bean on a more level playing field with Him + Honey for 2014, so in order to do that we need to make our renovations happen (fast!). The idea is to gut the entire interior and start fresh... and that terrifies me. We really just sort of got taken advantage of when it came to hiring someone to do it for us. We were too far away to keep up with the progress and then when we picked her up it was all rickety shelving. We're going to replace the walls, the floor, rip out the breakfast nook, etc. We're going to hopefully make it more boutique friendly. Right now the first 1/3 of the 'bean is almost unusable because it's such an awkward space. Luckily Mike and my stepdad are ultra handy! I'm dreaming up a moodboard of what I want everything to look like now so I'll share that soon! Gotta get through Porter Flea first! haha
They're calling for some ridiculous snow in Nashville this weekend (and by ridiculous I mean like an inch or two... which if you live here you would know that's basically Snowmageddon) but I'm hoping it'll hold off long enough to get the PF event out of the way. I don't really want to tow a trailer that far in yucky weather, and I don't want it to keep people from the event! Ahhh! Cross your fingers for me, yeah?
If you're in Nashville or plan on stopping by Porter Flea, please say hello! I'd love to meet you. That's by far my favorite part of each event. So many new friends to make! Anyway, Happy Monday! I hope your holiday/weekend was so much fun!
PS; I get a lot of emails asking for advice/information/etc about mobile boutiques... if there's anything you'd like to know or ask or talk about, let me know! I've had people ask me to write posts about it but I don't really know what to include because I don't know what information you're looking for! Don't be shy!
PPS; I'm offering 20% off any and all wooden sign orders! Today only! Snag a Cyber Monday deal by emailing me for the updated rate sheet!
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