A Pop-Up Shop and an Announcement

Hi there!  I have been hinting for months that there was going to be an announcement about my business, Mitchell & Company Designs and Events. In the end, my announcement was more of a whisper than a big clanging cymbal but, in reality this is more my speed, especially at this point in my life and career. 

As I have already mentioned, I have given up doing wedding flowers.  I have also mentioned that I moved to Boxford, MA a little over a year and a half ago.  This was to be closer to my children and grandchildren.  Moving and settling in has taken longer than my husband and I expected.  It hasn't been bad at all.  It has just taken longer than we thought to feel at home and to make our way around the area without getting totally lost. Haha! Hence, figuring out how I wanted to move forward with my floral design business has taken some time, as well.

I decided to take a page from daughter Brittany's book and move towards a pop-up shop to begin the process of getting back into my business.  A pop-up allows me to be more fluid with my time and commitments, which is something I need right now.  Family keeps me pretty busy and there are often spur-of-the-moment kind of days that I love!  As time moves on, I would like to maybe offer flower subscriptions, special orders, classes during the holidays and even, perhaps, a returning to doing smaller events like showers and home parties.  We’ll see about all of that but for now the pop-up idea seems like it is a good one.

So, this past weekend, without much fanfare or much notice, I held a pop-up shop in the new flower cart my husband made for me.  By the way, he also made Brittany's cookie pop-up, as well.  He did a great job on both!  Unfortunately, for the people who live in this area, Brittany is taking a break from making her beautiful and delicious decorated cookies while she cares for her newborn. I guess we all can understand that :).

Here is the finished cart. It's really cute and is painted in colors that will blend well with our house.

Unlike my daughter's pop-up, which is cemented in the ground in her yard, I wanted a mobile unit since I didn't want it to be a permanent fixture at the end of the driveway.  I think that feature is going to work out very well for me.

I am not one to put myself "out there" so to speak.  I am a little bit timid about that so, a mobile cart is the perfect solution.

This was ↓ the cart as we placed it at the end of the driveway and as I started to fill it up with goodies to sell.

I do need to go back a bit, however.  In order to do a valid opening with the best chance of success, I should have gotten all of my ducks in a row.  I should have created a Square account where I could sell items easily and offer credit card purchasing.  I should have gotten better about social media, and I should have found the best way to advertise in my new area of the Northshore.  I should have made many more floral arrangements than I did and even tried to get a few pre-orders.

However, life got in the way, and I didn't get any of those things done. My mother passed away in May and we faced some personal family hardships over the summer which monopolized my time and attention.  As September was drawing to a close, I thought my husband's work had been done in vain and I would never have the time, opportunity or courage to actually try my pop-up idea.

While talking to my husband about my frustration, he asked me why I didn't "just go for it" and see what happens.  So, with only a few days to prepare, that's exactly what I did!

The only advertising I really did was to go to Instagram and Facebook and post the date and time of the pop-up with my apologies for being so last minute.  I have no problem it seems with self-deprecation.

To my surprise, I got all sorts of encouragement on social media from friends from childhood, friends from my old town of Groton, MA, friends I have met online from blogging, new neighbors and people I am starting to meet from my new community.  It was truly wonderful. 

I offered various flower arrangements in different sizes.

I offered one of my new kind of pick-me-up arrangements, too but no one bought it.  I think I have to work on marketing that one better :).  I still think they are cute and offer a cool way to be kind to your family, friends and neighbors.  You can find the post on this new kind of pick-me-up arrangement here

if you would like to see what I am talking about.

Homemade fall votive candle holders were offered, as well.  They received some good response, but I do have a few remaining.  I might offer them on Etsy.  We'll see!

In the end, I sold enough of the flowers and other items to make me happy and to give me the encouragement I needed to move forward, even though, to my chagrin, my road was closed, making it really hard for people to get to the pop-up!  I learned a lot. I will still work towards getting all my ducks in a row.  I might have to ask for some help from Brittany or maybe one of my teenage granddaughters for help with Square.  I need to get better about advertising also.

The good thing about the pop-up idea is that I can do it at my own pace.  Hopefully, this will be an avenue for me to do the work I love and maybe, at the same time, offer my community a little bit of joy and beauty at the same time.  Truly, that has been a goal for me all along.

I hope to use this platform of my blog to get the news out about future pop-ups and, maybe, new announcements to do with my business. Please check in to see what new happenings might be taking place.  My goal is to have an even bigger pop-up in three or four weeks, so please stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!