Saturday, September 20, 2008

Search and Rescue (well maybe not rescue)

(This is a re-post of the e-mail we sent out on 9-20-08)


Once again I must say "thank you" to all of our wonderful customers who have sent thoughts, prayers and offers of help during this ordeal; it is truly appreciated. I thought I would give everyone a quick assessment on our progress with the search and rescue of the store. In the front room, the disaster team found that it has sustained critical and career ending injuries (see photos). All of those papers involved will truly be missed. The stamp room came out smelling like a rose, or at least not rain water and the crop room will need some new carpet, but other than that they are in stable condition at this time. We are currently at a stand still on progress while we get assessments from our landlord and insurance company.


I do have a mission for you, should you choose to accept it, WE WANT INPUT!!! Our customers are what make our store wonderful, so we want to know your opinion on what you would like to see go back in it (orange paint, purple shag carpeting, big screen tv, live band daily, etc.), ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING will be considered. This is where you shop and we want to make you feel at home. It is very simple, just click on the "comments button" below and make out your list (even of things you might think we won't like), you can even comment on other customers comments. I will pass all of them along to the Disaster Rebuilding Team, who will then make their decisions. Act quickly, we are planning NOW!


Again, thanks for ALL of your support during this ordeal.


15 comments:

Anonymous said...

ok, here is mine...this place could be yellow and red with pink polk-a-dots for all i care as long as you have the same wonderful women working there it doesn't matter. the products speak for themselves and the staff are so darn helpfull what more could we ask for. just hurry up and get back open, i am starting to itch!!!!Kristin Griesbaum :)

Anonymous said...

Hi all--I am so glad each of you are safe. I love your store. Please rebuild as soon as time allows. We are all waiting....for you to reopen.
A larger crop room so we can take more "classes". Keep all your awesome papers, embellishments, and stamps! More tables/chairs...so we
can crop, have classes and enjoy.
Good Luck! You are in my thoughts and prayers. (Any colors work for me..build it and we will come!)
Nancy G (in Alvin)

Timmi Park said...

EEKS! I'm so sorry to hear off the troubles. I know the first thing I start packing up was my paper in my scrapbook room... so my heart goes out to you guys! Can't wait to see what you guys do when you redesign the store. I agree with the other comment "build it and we will come!"

Anonymous said...

Hi Girls, I am so sorry about the damage. I love shopping at your store (shhh... don't tell Beth) My prayers are with you sweet ladies.
Robin

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry to hear of all the damage to the store. And oh, the cardstock! I love cardstock! Why did Ike have to take the cardstock?!

A blue and green theme for the new remodeled store might be good. I read somewhere that these 2 colors can go with pretty much any picture so it might be a good "background" as we shop for scrapbook supplies.

Glad everyone is safe! Hope you all have power at your homes now...or at least soon. We live in Heritage Park and ours just came back on last night.

>^..^<
clovercash

Anonymous said...

God bless you during your time of trials and loss. All of that wonderful paper! eee-gads! Looks like a job for a profesional handmade paper maker! lol

I'm with Kristin, "just wanna be there with you"!

A light, neutral color background seems best to me. More lighting and sound seems like a good idea also. Upbeat, "girly" music will encourage a happy attitude and more sales (proven tactic!). Maybe some subliminal(splg?) message... "buy more"... "spend money"... "join a class". lol

I really enjoyed your store before Ike and I'm sure I will enjoy it after no matter what you change or add.

But, hurry! hurry!

hugs to each of you! try not to work toooo hard!

karen m.

Anonymous said...

I used to work in printing and learned that greys are best color-neutral backgrounds (on walls) when it comes to color perception ... not that people like greys, but maybe there is some nice off-white grey tone and then you could use color accents?

Just restock the paper and cardstock please! Man, we could have helped "store" that stuff for you (ha ha) if we'd known Ike was so crazy for paper!

So sorry for you ladies. What a messy, nasty experience (I am dealing with wet walls and carpet which is bad enough).

If you can, just make the light bulbs "natural light" type, as much as possible, for non-fluorescent type.

Your blog format looks great! Keep on blogging so we can see what you are up to. Otherwise we're going to be looking in the windows, saying "open, open, open".

Renee D.

Anonymous said...

Your store is wonderful. Love to stop by and shop....but a little to tight for cropping. Please make your cropping area bigger with just a tad more room for us to bring our stuff in......Also, please don't use beige or gray, my company uses those boring colors on our four floors.

Anonymous said...

I'm so sad to see all that wet paper!

You could find a scrapbook paper that is fun and colorful and paint the wall to look like it. Might be cute. Add some embellishments... The possibilities are endless!

Please let me know when the Holiday Card class will be rescheduled. I was looking forward to my first scrapbooking class!

Anonymous said...

It's the people that make the store!!! It's the reason I shop here. My wish list for all would be:

Need a better counter space upfront. Perhaps a work counter along the back wall with storage so things can be neat and put up and give you more room to work.

I agree with the music. It can get very quiet in there!

Warm color on the wall...no white!

More cropping room.

Take this opportunity to refresh the look.

Take care and I can't wait to be back!

Anonymous said...

Hello Texas from Mississippi!!! I have been keeping up with you since I visited your store 1 1/2 years ago. I was visiting a cousin of mine, so I just had to see if there was a scrapbook store close by. I found you all. You were so kind and inviting, and made me feel at home. You put me on your email list and I have been keeping up with you ever since.
God is good. I pray that he will give each of you the strength and peace of mind to rebuild better than before. Keep the news coming so I can see how things are. Hope to see you in a couple of months.
Oh, and about the colors. . . girl whatever you decide, I am sure will be awesome.
Your friend in Mississippi,
Karen Holditch

Anonymous said...

I like the look of the blog, why not use those colors? Sometimes we get inspiration from places, why not take inspiration from your favorite paper? Just an idea. Can't wait to have you back...

Unknown said...

Sooo sorry to hear about the shop.

I hope your disaster recovery crew holds up to the big task at hand.

I'm going to say bigger crop room too!

I would choose the colors in some of your favorite papers. You could even have the style based on it. Something cheerful but not to "pink".

Good luck ladies!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Kristen. Y'all are my favorite store. I am a hairdresser and was worried that I would be looking at some understandably seriously slow times for the next few weeks or months while people rebuild and get their lives back on track. I was wronge. People are ready to get back to normal, their routines and do what makes them feel better. For me that is sbooking!!! We will all be waiting at the door like the Mervyn's lady when you do reopen open open open. Luv y'all so much. Keep us updated.

hsaulsberry said...

Hi Ladies, The most important thing is that all of you are safe, things can be replaced but not the people. I agree with many of the others comments, you Ladies are what make Novel Approach my "Home Store". Recovery will take time and I will keep you in mu prayers.

As for physical changes in the store, I’d suggest better lighting in the paper area and perhaps a different layout in the crop room would provide more surface space also what about a kitchenette for customer access,... the stores that use this well, it adds a welcoming touch.
HSaulsberry