Saturday, September 18, 2010

Some of our favorite people!!

We are so lucky to have such loyal customers - and so many of you never ever miss a sale!! We feel that you have all become part of our extended SHR family! We have been getting such nice notes and letters from you guys and I wanted to share a couple - and a few photos of some of you folks at the September sale!


From Vivian (she and her dear friend Marlene are in the photo below) - "SHR is the best reason to meet my dear friend Marlene. She lives in Bismarck, ND but has a cabin on Bass Lake for the summer months. We have been friends since 7th grade and are now 74 years young! We have a first Thursday of the month date all summer long at Second Hand Rose! Thanks for all the great memories you have given us!"


This is our friend Ann - she is always here on Thursday mornings! I love her stories of how she has used her treasures in her home - I think I gotta get pictures!!
And here we have Nancy (in the black jacket) and Margaret - another pair of our Thursday regulars! They always have a smile and a kind word!

A note from Cynthia - "I had just moved to Minnesota from New Jersey in July of 2001. I saw an article in Victoria magazine and was thrilled that Second Hand Rose in Buffalo wasn't too far from Eden Prairie. My friend from St. Paul and I got here at 9am on a Thursday morning and we were shocked and amazed - and pleased - to see that there was a line of at least 50 shoppers waiting to get into your tiny shop! We happily joined the line and bought tons of unique items! Visiting SHR become a monthly joy. Thank you for opening my eyes to your creative ways of decorating!"
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A note from Mona - "My 3 sisters (and nieces) have always looked forward to each monthly sale! You will be greatly missed."
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This gal forgot to sign her note - "My mother and I come to your sales. In August we had to take my 6month and 2 1/2 year old sons with - which is a challenge! My two year old found a toy horse which he loved. As we were leaving his grandmother told him to put it away. The gal at the desk said Oh, you were such a good boy - you can have it! It was so nice of her - most places look apprehensively at a 2 year old but she was so sweet and gracious."
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This last photo is kind of near and dear to my heart - My family!! My son Kjell who has helped out on Thursday mornings while he was unemployed and thinks of SHR as his home away from home and even tho he doesn't like "old stuff" thinks we have some "pretty cool junk"! My husband Mike, and Mike's daughter (and I like to claim her too!) Chelsey from Bellingham, WA. Chels was sad when she heard SHR was closing - she always makes a point of coming in and seeing everyone and we have even put her to work at a sale when she has been in town!



Junk Bonanza Finds Familiar Faces!

I went to Junk Bonanza on Friday with my friend Jami. If you didn't make it this year - be sure to mark your calendars for next year! Even if you don't buy a single thing (and believe me that is almost impossible!!) the creative inspiration that you will get will keep you smiling and running for a long, long time!!!! I took a few photos of some great displays and such - but mostly I took photos of people. As I was meeting and greeting it occurred to me how many of these INCREDIBLY TALENTED vendors had been a part of Second Hand Rose at one time or another! So I thought I would share them with you! SHR has a long history of very talented people associated with it - some were dealers for a while, some have been guest dealers who pop in from time to time - but all of them have added more to the magic that is Second Hand Rose!

Here is our very own Angela Carlson!!! She is a current dealer at SHR besides doing Junk Bonanza and will also be part of Gathering of Friends at Bachman's in October.
And you all know Claire Baxter of Hog Shed and Jane Hall from Mustard Moon - did you know that they have been dealers from time to time? Claire's daughters Julia and Katie were part of SHR back about 8 or 10 years ago too - do you remember them? They were featured very nicely in the Victoria magazine spread about SHR.

and Jane again - you all know that she plays a pivotal roll in Junk Bonanza right? And that Mustard Moon is one of our all time favorite places to shop?
Claire Heuer - we miss her so much!!! You can find her at Haupt Antiek Market!

And here we have Colleen - nope not a dealer but one of our regular customers that I ran in to! None of us would be here if not for folks like Colleen and the rest of you!

And two more familiar faces - Jami Lewison and Judy Shackelford - yep, they have both been dealers at SHR too!!! Jami now owns Gypsy Lea's in Sauk Rapids (awesome shop and oh by the way - I sell there too!!) and Judy will be part of Kathie's Finds (another awesome shop I highly recommend) next month!
Jan Berg - everyone knows and loves her and she has been part of SHR off and on over the years - and you can find her next month at Gathering of Friends. And here she is posing with two of our best customers!! The "D" sisters - did I mention that I am great with faces, but terrible with names????? SO SORRY - I know you guys are in here every month too! Someone help me out here!!!!!!
And last but not least - Cathy and Brian Grott! Cathy is with us currently and will be to the bitter end - and she has a great partner and helper in Brian!
It sure was fun to see everyone and be reminded how lucky we are at SHR to have had and continue to have such great dealers!








Monday, September 6, 2010

Tributes

We have been getting the nicest emails and comments during the sale from all of you! It awes us to hear how we have inspired you and to find out how much we will be missed!! We put out sheets of paper and asked folks to write their favorite SHR story, or about their favorite item purchased from us, or whatever they wanted to tell us! We will be sharing them with you throughout the next months - along with lots of photos of favorite things, customers, dealers and some of our own favorite stories - so we hope you keep "tuned in" to the blog. I am also asking you to email me your stories, photos or whatever you have - we want to get all of you on the blog - so keep those cards and letters coming folks!!

The first story that I want to share with you is mine. It is kind of long and rambly cuz I am rather emotional about SHR in general and especially now! So here goes.............

I got started in this business cuz I had a mini nervous breakdown - well, not really a nervous breakdown just a mess in my life. I was a single parent and working at a very demanding job. All of my energies went to being "mom of the year" and "administrative assistant of the year". There was very little time left for me. I took a 3 week leave of absence from work to try to get my life in order and was spending quite a bit of time with a counselor. She told me that I needed to get a hobby or do something that was all about me. I thought and thought and then I called Barb.

Barb and I worked together at the same office and on weekends we would sometimes grab my son and go to flea markets or antiquing cuz we both loved that kind of thing so much. So since we loved stuff like that so much I asked Barb if she wanted to get a booth at an antique shop. She said "Okay!". Bear in mind that we had no clue what we are doing. We got a small spot at a shop in Buffalo (it is long since gone) and the first month we made $63.00!!! We were so excited - we had made our rent and had a little extra!!! Soon we were doing better and better and expanded our spot and then expanded it again.

We went shopping at the Buffalo Nickel one day and noticed a bunch of our stuff!!! Other dealers were buying it and re-selling it. This is a common practice - but then we didn't know that! We were excited cuz "they liked our stuff"! Then we went to Rose's one day. Now we had been there before and we LOVED LOVED LOVED the place. It was in the old house and much smaller with only a few dealers back then - but it just spoke to us. We thought it was such a creative store and so unique. And lo and behold we found some of our things at Rose's!!! Now that got us really excited cuz we LOVED LOVED LOVED the place! Then we dared to start dreaming - if we could only EVER be good enough to sell there ourselves!

Finally one day we discovered that Rose had been asking about us at the antique store - but they wouldn't give out names. So we got really, really brave and approached her. She didn't have any openings at the time - but would keep us in mind. We were so disappointed! A few months went by and we got a call from SECOND HAND ROSE!!!! We anxiously agreed to meet with Rose - we were shaking in our boots. We were pretty sure she was the God of Good Stuff and when we met and she asked us to be a part of the SHR family - we were pretty darn sure we had died and gone to heaven!!!! That was somewhere about 11 years ago - and here we still are!! The longest dealers other than Bonnie and Rose herself!

We were so green and so scared when we started - and she took us under her wing and taught us so much - scared us to death - made us laugh - made us cry - hurt our feelings - and made us feel like we could do anything. She taught us paint techniques, sales techniques, the importance of humor in what we do and that we were not in this just for a hobby - it was work, it was a job, it was a vocation and it was a passion.

When I met and married Mike she brought him in as well - encouraged him, taught him and made him a member of the family. She even let us be married at her home!

We owe her so much - and we owe all of you so much! To be a part of the SHR family for so many years has been a privilege, a blessing, sometimes a hardship, on occasion a nightmare - and we wouldn't have missed one second of it!!!

On occasion we have heard that us SHR people act snooty or act like we are better than everyone else. We never, ever mean to be snooty or snobby - but our goal has ALWAYS been to be BETTER, BEST, and BESTEST! If Rose had not stressed how important that was I don't imagine we would all still be with her or that she would still be in business.

So our thanks to Rose for her support, praise, love, encouragement, fights, tears, bad moments, good moments and so very much laughter. And our thanks to all of you for continually coming back and making us do BETTER, BEST, and BESTEST too - you always expect the best from us and that always makes us want to give that back.

I hope you join us for our last three sales - We want to see you all again and laugh and reminisce and enjoy ourselves! We are all so determined to make these sales the BEST EVER - with the bestest stuff - the most fun - the silliest - and with surprises for you guys! And email me, write me, snail mail me - we want to share all of your stories too!

With many thanks to all of you - and with lots of love to Rose and our entire SHR family,
Kris and Mike Hart

Friday, September 3, 2010

Kayak Anyone???

Did you see this cool kayak hanging on the wall in the front room? It is for sale and it is so cool! It folds up to backpack size!!!!! Imagine - you can hike and then kayak and then hike back again! It almost makes me want to take up kayaking............hmmmmm..............