What Do I Know?
Our parking lot at PJP Nifong is currently being repaved, requiring all of today’s visiting customers to park at Hyvee and schlep it over to our storefront. 100 points for much needed parking lot repairs, but serious deductions for doing it during a heat advisory and during the day. I know nothing about paving surfaces, but it seems to me that starting the project at 9 pm would be more advantageous than starting at 9 am - both for the construction workers AND for our storefronts who need as little deterrent to walk-in traffic as possible during the traditionally slower month of August. But also, I don’t like to be hot or drive heavy equipment or wear a sunhat, so what do I know?
Here’s other news:
August Epic Pie Tasting is scheduled for Friday, August 27th and tickets are available online. I’m certain we will do one in September and then most likely, we will put pie tasting on hiatus as we navigate the path of running two stores in the busy fall months. (Which raises an important question…do we do pie tasting when our two stores are a thing? Is it weird? Will it be confusing? I lay awake at night and think about these things because I lead a glamorous life, indeed.)
In general, I don’t excel at branded merchandise…probably because I’m a shopper at heart and when we go to gift market, I’m super focused on what I would buy for myself. (I’m not thinking about logo coffee cups, but be sure to ask Jason about the large wooden swan that we purchased at market that now lives on our fireplace hearth. He doesn’t understand, but that swan is everything I hoped for in hearth decor and more.) I digress, but here’s the point: we have logo PJP campfire mugs in stock now because everyone has asked, especially after our Crime Scene Kitchen appearance. Jeanne is super picky about her mug preferences and she approves these, so I don’t doubt they will sell quickly.
We also met a company at market that manufactures faux food (it’s called Just Dough It - bonus points for the pun). We ordered some pies, tarts, and other items to use as merchandising pieces and honestly, they just make us happy. Do we need them to merchandise? Ehhh…probably not. But it is extra in the way we excel at being extra? Heck yes.
Our grease trap for PJP West End was delivered and it is massive - at least double the capacity of our current grease trap. And I’ll tell you this…I’m pretty amped about that fancy grease trap. Not only am I woman that owns two grease traps, but I’m a woman with feelings about those traps.
Oh, but the bid for the signage on the new store came in at a heart fluttering $13,000 dollars. Let’s not talk about my feelings about that.
