So I did it, I took the leap of faith and threw myself into the deep end of life, I designed and opened a shop - all within a completely ridiculous space of time.Wednesday 15th August was my first day open to the public, but previous to this came an awful lot of hard work, especially on my Dad's part. 2:30am I headed to bed the day of opening, my Dad stayed up longer. I was up again at 6am as I hadn't even begun to get the back shop styled and feeling right. Days later we're still not recovered, it may well take us weeks!But it was all very much worth it, to see it all come together and see a dream become reality, so quickly, I feel incredibly lucky and privileged to have this opportunity. I've had such a wonderful response to the shop and I just wanted to get some before and afters on record, for when the exhaustion and rawness of the process fades, to show how far we have come.
Friday 29th June - I sat down with my Dad to talk about how his Bright Side of the Road lino printing workshops were going and how he felt about the gallery. The conversation went in a different direction than expected and within an hour the Alice in Scandiland real world shop was happening.
The following week I was up in Bristol and London, so aside from the tenants of the small shop being given notice, no progress would be made.
I started contacting some brands and sourcing stock, having a think about layouts and fittings, but with the main shop still very much the gallery, I was finding it hard to envisage any of it to be honest.Time ticked by...Wednesday 8th August -The small shop became free, then my Dad's gallery started to move sideways into that space and work could begin in the main shops.
