You are reading 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a business on the internet. Today’s email was written to the sound of a coffee shop doing coffee shop things.
Good morning,
We’re open in Wayzata, MN!
Thank you!
Thanks for the support. It was wonderful to see so many of you last Friday evening! We filled the space! We learned more of us want Japanese knives than I had estimated and that we need more sound dampening in the ceiling - lots more. :) All of that will come with time. New panels were dropped off today!
Thanks for celebrating with us with bubbles and hugs and gifts from near and far. It means the world to have your support!
We’re open. Now… it’s go time!
Bit #1 • 16 minutes
It was a warmer than normal Saturday. I played some platform tennis with the boys in the morning. We drank coffee afterward and I bounced home to take a quick shower before stopping at the Edina post office at 10 a.m. to pick up sharpening orders and busting it out to the shop.
At 10:16 a.m. our first Saturday customer walked in. He’d been waiting for us to open. Saw the “cutlery & sharpening” sign go up on the monument and called the week before. Thanks for being the first Saturday customer, James.
Bit #2 • Day 3
We’re not open every day.
We are open M, W, F, Sat from 11 a.m - 2:30 p.m.
I’ve been learning this sharpening game from a sharpener with decades of experience in California. One of the keys he’s mentioned more than once is to NOT be open all the time. In his experience, sharpening needs to be something people make appointments in their schedule to do. His position is that if sharpening is available all the time, people won’t.
My position is that I’d like some flex days to get more construction done. Turns out we still need it. Electrical was being worked on, again, today. Further the closed days offer a chance to get a coffee and run into a friend and chat a bit before writing this post - like I did today.
Anyway, to appease the landlord’s requirement to be open everyday we built out our dropbox solution. Pick up packaging on the right. Drop it on the left box. And, to our delight, it only took until the third morning open (Tuesday) for it to be used.
The first drop customer lives 15 mins to the north and opted to have their knives mailed back to them. They were sharepend on the day of their drop and delivered back to their home the next day. So easy!
Thumbs up to the modified newspaper pick up box and the ordered-from-amazon-dropbox, both in a lovely earthen stone hue. They’re working great. Go ahead, use ‘em.
Bit #3 • 7 Knives on order
We brought the knives in to support our skills classes. Think 90 minutes with 7 other curious humans around the center island talking about kitchen knife safety and practicing with various knives. More on classes soon.
You all surprised us. A group you have combined to purchase 7 knives in the first 6 days of the shop’s life. Numerous conversations are ongoing for gifts to give during the holidays - to others or to yourselves. :) Gift on!
Note, act fast(er). It can take a few weeks (sometimes months) to get some of the knives. If you’re looking to buy before the end of the year or before a holiday get at us sooner than later. You’ll get the best chance of acquiring them the earlier you order.
Stop in and we’ll do a fitting. Knives can look all shiny and mostly the same on the internet but perform very differently in your hands. We have carrots and cutting boards. Stop in and give ‘em a cut.
Sum
We’re open a mere 34 days after getting keys and ~5 weeks after signing the lease. A bunch of effort paid off. The following is a pic I snapped the morning we got the space. None of this stuff was ours. :)
And now…
Come visit and share the news with friends. T-minus 2 weeks to Thanksgiving. Get those knives ready and sharp.
There are more scheduled changes on the way including shelving, wallpapering that back accent wall, more photos in frames, proper counter-tops, lights that work and so on. We’ll be stocking various kitchen accessories too. Got a brand you love that’s off the beaten path? Flick it at us to consider.
Thanks to James for being our first customers during business hours. Thanks to Andrew for being our first customer while the painters were still on ladders. Thanks to Avery and Tim for the huge assists with the initial set up. And, thanks to you all for your support!
Here we go!
Change
The White House continues to hold stakeholder calls in the wake of the Conference on Hunger, Health and Nutrition. Here’s to progress
2023 position papers are being drafted by various groups this time of year
The Edina PO address has now been forwarded to our new Wayzata PO
The new hand towel rack came today. Let’s hope Geometry takes us on as a vendor. Dig their towels
The lights are still an issue. 7 new ones are on the way
On Your Way
I’ve chatted on and off with the lighting company and the dimmer switch co more than a handful of times this week. Today I asked Andy, from an office in Wisconsin, to suggest a good dinner menu item and told him he could not include anything with cheese. His suggestion… Costco Ravioli Lasagna. :) There you have it folks!
Wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying something tasty for dinner, with or without cheese. Maybe just add really buttery garlic bread. It’ll be better than great!
Happy cooking!
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