I had an idea in 2019 to make a little “village” in the boutique for us to display our children’s products. But it was like squaring a circle to keep a consistent style and feel in our original store. In 2020, the space next to us became available and we took the plunge. I expanded on the idea of a village to be an outdoor marketplace. The Paris setting is one of the many reasons that I love the movie “Charade” (Audrey seems to find herself in Paris in just about every film). I also used to build sets for theater and I felt that this would be the best way to make this space feel like you were stepping out of New Mexico and into France. Here is how we did it:
You would never know from Kasse’s enthusiastic smile that she had been scrubbing overspray off the floor just a few nights before!
This is the 3rd time I’ve opened a store and I was confident that I wouldn’t need to stay up all night to get it done (like the 2 previous times). “With all of this planning, we’ll be fine,” I said. What really happened is that many staff members and I stayed up til 3-4 in the morning multiple nights leading up to opening day to make it happen. Nothing motivates me quite like a deadline (we had already sent postcards with the opening date!) and being 5 months pregnant applied some healthy pressure to stay on track.
While there were both welcome and disappointing surprises along the way, the welcome surprises were much more common. Brittany helped me open the original boutique and it was special to work with her again. Our staff brought their own ideas and improved on mine. I think that the passion of the team is visible as you cross the threshold and leave New Mexico for a moment.
