A woman who looked about my age walked into the bra shop and said she was looking for a shower gift. She explained that the bride was 52 and had really good taste. She asked if we carried a very expensive French brand that she knew her friend liked. I apologized that we didn’t and suggested a few things we had in the shop that might fit the bill.
The shopper stopped at a luxurious pajama set and said, “Oh! I think she would love this!” As I walked the set back to be gift wrapped, I started feeling a combination of serious pressure and angst. I wanted this present to look really good. Not that I don’t always, but I could relate to this friend and this bride. We are all around the same age. Getting married at 52 is a big deal. Being invited to your friend-with-good-taste’s shower at that age is a big deal. This present was a big deal!
Our backroom was a bit of a mess. The holidays had hit us hard and the gift wrapping stuff was over the place. I found the big roll of pretty gold paper and said a “phew” as I found the right size box without having to go upstairs where we keep the extra stock on such things. Scissors and tape were nowhere to be found so I had to go back out front into the shop to retrieve those before I could start wrapping. Then, I couldn’t find ribbon…and finally found it. I wrapped the best present I could under all of these circumstances…the pressure…the disorganization…the frustration of not having this gift-wrapping situation under control.
When the shopper left, I vowed (ha!) to never put us – me or my staff -in that situation again. This make-shift “where the hell are the scissors?” and “clear off a table so we can wrap a present” reality had to stop. “We are better than this,” I thought to myself.
I went straight to Courtney, the perfect person to make a vision I had come to reality:
“I want a state of the art gift wrapping station. I want it to be the best in Vermont. We need a dedicated place for everything giftwrap. I don’t want to be put in that position again where I’m scrambling to wrap a gift. These things are important!”
“Ok! I’m on it!” Courtney replied.
I knew she’d get the priority. And off she went.
A couple weeks later, we have it… a real-live dedicated gift-wrapping station where we real-live women will wrap your real-
live gorgeous presents. There are rods that hold the big rolls of paper, and little cubbies that hold the scissors and tape. The flat surface and set-up in the backroom is for gift-wrapping only…no purses, no lunches, no boxes of stock from the UPS man. Bring on the showers, the birthdays, the holidays! With Mother’s Day right around the corner, the timing couldn’t be more perfect, right?
Wrapped up with joy…this place just keeps getting better and better. Such a gift. Thank you, universe!
xo – Joy
PS: FYI – We are closed on Mother’s Day…the JOY team is full of Moms and I don’t want to make them work! Plus…you probably don’t want to shop for a bra on Mother’s Day…it’s ok. I understand. Enjoy the day!
