JoAnn, Nan and I started our search for space many months
before we opened. Since we weren’t using a commercial real estate agent to help
us, we spent a lot of time driving around calling landlords. I really can’t
remember how many spaces we looked at, but JoAnn brought us to a space in
Rockville in the Magruder’s Shopping Center by the Courthouse. Formerly a
men’s clothing store, it had been empty for over a year and the landlord was
planning to use it as a staging site for the planned renovation of the shopping
center’s façade. At 4000 sq ft (average home
size is around 2,200), with a raised mezzanine in the back it was scary and
dark. In addition the space was essentially 4 or 5 areas, the front had dark
green carpet, dark brown wood “federalist” style shelving lit with narrow strips
of florescent fixtures in front of each & 2 brass chandeliers, then a small
vinyl floored area with narrow cubby holes along one side. The sales counter
was in this section backed by a truly excellent hunt scene. Then there was a
very large beige area with more dark brown wood cubbies on one side and a lot
of beige walls and carpets. The back section (also huge) was raised almost 36”
& while it had lots of beige shelving, three way mirrors and reverted to
the lovely green carpet! Behind this was tons of storage/workrooms, dressing
rooms, break room and 2 bathrooms. This area was larger than many 2 bedroom
apartments! Don’t think we didn’t consider it’s potential as rental space!
But the deal was too
good to pass up. The one major condition was that we would have to adapt the
existing build out to suit us. That meant no removing walls, shelving or
painting the dark “federalist” style woodwork. It was also really dark inside,
especially in the front third which had dark green carpeting, lots of dark wood
stained shelving and was lit with narrow florescent fixtures built into the
overhang above the shelves and a couple of lovely brass chandeliers. What were
they thinking! The middle section was lit with fluorescents only and was a
lovely shade of off white with one flanking side covered with cubbies (to display
shirts or slacks?) and off white carpet. Not very warm & fuzzy! Oh and
there was a small vinyl covered section between the front & center (the
counter was in this space with a lovely backdrop of an excellent hunt scene!).
Luckily we had JoAnn with her amazing eye for anything
having to do with display. To solve the problem of the shelves (not everything
will show up in front of dark brown), she figured out how to cover the shelves
and backing with heavy canvas duck (like for sails). She then convinced a number
of friends to come in and help her cover the walls with a lovely terra cotta
after teaching them how to quickly add a sponge painting technique to keep them
from looking too boring and flat.
The lovely chandeliers were quickly removed and an electrician
installed huge rectangles of track for additional lighting that would give us a
lot of flexibility when setting displays up all around the store. Four rolling
walls were built for the huge center section and provide us with much needed
wall space. Remember the cubbies I mentioned earlier? All it took was yards
more of the same duck used on the shelves and voila someplace to hand Joseph
Craig English’s original serigraphs.
We wanted to be open for the 1993 holiday season, but
couldn’t begin to do anything until the exterior renovations were completed, so
luckily everything JoAnn suggested could be accomplished faster than you can
say “Bob’s your uncle!”
Too bad it wasn’t that easy to get inventory in! (To be
continued…)
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