How We Opened Our Store In 7 Days!

Would you believe me if I told you I opened a store in 7 days? Here is a before photo of my booth when I first took ownership of it. As you can see there were no walls separating me from my neighbours, so I needed to have some built!

Seems pretty simple right? HA! Maybe if this is something you do for a living, and had more than 7 days to do it…and not working full time! I personally have never even held a screw driver before, so how the heck was I going to build a store from scratch? So, I turned to my friends and family for help! Day one: My soon to be brother in-law Jamie, his friend Kevin, and my fiancée Andy went to work on building the frame of the store. Man did that look like a lot of work, I was blown away when I popped by half way through the day to see how much progress they made! It was so cool to see the walls in the place, and I was filled with so much gratitude seeing the guys dedicate their entire day to help me.

After the frame was in place, it was time to put up the drywall. Thanks to DJ for stepping in to help them after work!

Day two: The walls are ready for drywall putty! My best friend's boyfriend, Nathan, popped by to do the first coat of putty. And then the second and third coats in the days to follow. Then it was time to start sanding the walls.

Day three:

Trip to the Ikea pick up point for furniture and to Home Depot for some trim!

Day four: A long day of inventory building for me!

Day five: Shannon, my bestie and photographer, helped finish the sanding so we could get the walls ready for paint. Next was clean up….man is drywall dust the worst!

That night Andy primed and painted the walls! Aren’t they beautiful?

Day six: Time to put the racks and shelves up! Jamie and Andy put everything in place, and it was just as I envisioned it looking!

Day seven:

Move in day! Shannon and my little sister Mikaela loaded up their cars, and moved Evelynn into the market. We spent the day organizing all the inventory, tagging the clothes, building the Ikea furniture, and Andy put the trim up on the walls.

Day eight:

We opened! WOW is all I can say. I am so grateful for all the support and help I received to make this dream a reality. I have waited patiently for a spot in the market for some time now, and am thrilled to call this place Evelynn’s home. It took a small village to do this, and I could not have done it without everyone’s help! Each and every person on this team played a very important role in building this store from scratch for me! THANK YOU.