So on 4th of July (Thursday) we moved our store out of the POD flea market into a nice retail space inside a big building in downtown Cary. Took us about 4 hours to move everything out of the PODs and into the store, not a bad move. Spent the rest of the day Friday setting up, part of Saturday was also dedicated to setup because we were anticipating opening on Monday. Saturday late morning the building owner arrives and starts setting up his business for the day. Around 11:30, he calls my wife and I into his little makeshift office...
Apparently, the other tenants are unhappy with our presence. We have 3 boys and they can be a bit noisy.. They're kids! That was one tenant's complaint. Another tenant complained about our "yard sale" stuff and the customers we'd bring in.. in other words "Mexicans and blacks". Notice the quotes.. not my words, his.. Yes, apparently some of us are still stuck in the 50's.
So, we were asked to leave, he'll absolve the lease and pay me back my security deposit which he had already cashed. The owner apparently has no backbone either..
We spend the rest of the day Saturday packing up, make about $200 while packing up just off their walk in traffic coming over and seeing what we were up to. We spoke to 6 people and they were all excited about our store being there. I explained that we were actually packing up to leave because we weren't welcome. The other shops didn't make a sale from these people.
After our last sale, the owner comes over to our space to ask when we'd be leaving and commented about the sales we had made. To which I had said, "Yeah, you ever have that feeling like you had just made a huge mistake? You should be feeling that now." He chuckled and reiterated that this wasn't his decision.. But the building has his name on it.. So I just left it at that.
Sunday, we meet with another building owner. He has an old strip mall, built in the 60's. Got a space for $700 including TICAM. We moved our stuff into the space, considerably smaller 650 sq. ft. but it'll work. Signed the lease yesterday. Had to commit to a 3 year lease but we are free to move within the strip mall as need and if space is available.
It was a hellish weekend, and we'll end up putting out more money than originally planned with insurance, utilities, etc. But at least we're in a space where we're welcomed!