The Late Late Report

So here it is 3am and we are still here at the store working away. The days just don't seem long enough for us to get everything done we want, plus be the fulltime moms and wives that we are. It won't be long now till the hours become more normal and we are able to sit back and enjoy our days off. Its been a terrific day here at the store, so much new product and we have met so many wonderful people.

These late nights certainly lead to alot of giggling, interesting conversations and creative thoughts. If someone were to listen in on our conversations at times they would think we have lost out minds.. or that the paint fumes were getting to us..but oh we have had so much fun. The kids were all here today for most of the afternoon and early evening..its nice being able to have our children with us, working and helping...giving them a chance to see a project from beginning to end. They are just as excited as we are..looking forward to the opening. They are all working away at little projects and crafts that can be sold here at the Cranny. I think we should have considered putting in cots, as the days and nights seem to be running into one another quite often this month! All this in for the love of a dream---so worth every minute!!

So as I mentioned, lots of new product and vendors, I have included just a few pics to give you an idea of what we are gathering.

By the next post we should be done with the cleaning and painting, and gathering of goods and will have hopefully moved on to the fun part... displaying and organizing all the amazing things that we have found and keep finding..! Thanks for stopping by and check back often.. we can see the finish line beyond the horizon and it looks GREAT from here!

Books, candles, jewellry and much much more..

Well it has certainly been a busy few weeks here again at Chix N Cranny. The building is buzzing with excitement. We have some new bookshelves that Leo built on the weekend.....and believe me when I say they are amazing!! I am so fortunate to have such a great Hubby to come and spend his days off helping us out... the same goes for Kevin. The two guys have been super supportive and have been spending alot of their free time here, helping to make our dream a reality.Thanks hubbies!!xo I will give ya a little sneak peek on the FABULOUS shelves and books....

So we have shelves and books going on shelves, we have some furniture that Dale has acquired from her house and moved to our nook..we have boxes of candles waiting to be put out, jewellry coming this week, knitting and crocheted goods, and even maple syrup and a local author's books. Everyday we are spreading the word about our vision for the store, and the looking for new vendors. Word of mouth has been the biggest asset in getting the vendors... they are actually coming to us ! It does seem that everything is falling into place and we are right on track to where we want to be.

April and Gary are all set up in the front section now,and they have used their back drops as the partition for our two businesses. We are both excited at the possibitilies that lay ahead and how great these opportunites are for the town and their Main Street.

There is still alot of cleaning, painting and finishing touches to be done, although I think we will always be working on something even after it is open....We are aiming for opening the first weekend of August, this giving us lots of time to acquire vendors and making sure we have a full newly painted and clean store to present.

Life in a small town is always interesting, and we have our share of funny stories already but it is nice to see people checking us out and asking us what we are going to be doing.. the interest is a positive sign for Dale and I and we look forward to the feedback everyone will have when they come and see us.

Finally I would just like to add alittle personal note here...although its been only a short while since Dale and I agreed to make this venture...we have had our share of "situations" that have arisen recently. Most people I know who would have found themselves in Dale's position might have changed their mind...they may have decided that with the unknowns looming overhead they would rather wait and see....but Dale has never faultered from her spot or our choice. Even though things have shifted 180' she is still stead fast to our original plan and business deal without a moments hesitation. I cannot express to her or you in words just how much that means and what a sense of relief and comfort it brings me. I know that things are never certain in life, and that sometimes you really do have to just go day by day.. but I truly appreciate Dale being willing to make those day by day choices and still come out on the other side as excited as before. Thanks Chick #1 !! xo

Its Official... we know what we are doing now...sort of!

Hello everyone, so its been a terrific few weeks here in the Chix N Cranny world, and Vicki and I have been trying to keep up and at it. So although we knew we would be offering the used books here at the store, we were not 100% sure what else we would offer. Books are great and there are lots of readers out there...can you make a living at it? Probably not...Can you support your business on it....again probably not, so we set our mission this week as trying to figure out what other thing we were going to offer the people of Deseronto. It came kind of as a surprise to both of us, although Vicki had the original idea from being a resident of Deseronto and knowing the difficulties of getting a gift for someone locally. There are a number of beautiful antique stores here in town, and they are busy year round which is great for the economy of our town, the new O'Connor House Tearoom also attracts a fair number of visitors but what about the local people and the things they need. We both believe in shopping locally and supporting your local residents in their businesses and shops, but if there is no where to shop and your only choice is to go to Napanee or Belleville... then what is a person to do. Well we think we may just have the solution!

Vicki and her family camp in Madoc, and spend a great deal of time in the village. Vicki has grown fond of the dollarstore there and can be found wandering the aisles any given Saturday morning...but for the past few Saturdays she has wandered to a different spot. In the market square in downtown Madoc they offer a handful of vendors, live music and great hotdogs and sausages for the passerbys. It was here Vicki came up with the idea, after speaking with the vendors and looking through the crafts and items they have to offer, she approached me about us offering a consignment craft store. I was thrilled, with some previous experience working in the Kingston Market, and being crafty myself, I knew the call for homemade items was still strong and that the communities around us offered so many talented people. We instantly jumped on the craft vendors train and are overwhelmed with the people we have met thus far. It is going to be so much fun seeing what everyone has to offer and what talents they have. So with that said, I am off...Vicki and I are heading out to meet with some vendors and friends in Madoc in hopes of getting some candles and jewelry. SO fingers crossed we find lots of beautiful things to bring back and offer to you......! By the way if you know anyone who is crafty...send them our way!! We will update you on how we make out today and what exciting products we come home with!

New Neighbors .....

Hello again, so with things happening so quickly for us here at Chix an Cranny the blog has been a little slow...sorry about that. However, we have an announcement that we would like to make.. and you will be the first to know....."drumroll" ........Chix N Cranny would like to welcome our new neighbors, A&G Photography!!! Yes Yes its true, this week we met with Gary Howie and April Conger and decided to rent out the front portion of the store to their Photography business. Its an exciting venture for A&G, as they have been doing pictures together for awhile now but this will provide them with a space of their own to set up equipment and to book studio shots. We are happy to have them, and look forward to a great neighborly relationship !!!

As for Dale and I, we are still busy picking away at the offices and rest of the building.We have plastered, and papered and painted and painted some more. We have scrubbed floors and cleaned windows, moved furniture, and fixtures....and logged books and more books and more books. It has certainly been a long month, but we are still excited and so looking forward to it all coming together. I don't want to ruin the surprise of before and after pics, so I won't be posting any of the store, BUT as a sneak peek I will give you this !

Now just imagine the finished masterpiece!!!! Just in case you can't tell from the picture its a deep burgendy.......Psssst here's an inside scoop..it looks AWESOME all finished...Dale did a terrific job!!! More pictures soon to come!

So thanks for sticking thru this with us, and we look forward to what the next few weeks and months hold for us here at Chix N Cranny!!

What day Is It???

Books are starting to appear at a fast rate...so its been decided that we will sell used books..
now what else can we find.....?


This is ALOT of space...how on earth will we fill it all?


Note the chocolate brown...and the lighter brown...HAS TO GO!


The floors have been scrubbed at least a million times.. and they still look awful...so
back to scrubbing we go! We almost considered keeping the bright glowing salmon pink in the bathroom...(NOT) it will soon be gone forever!




Hey everyone, Dale here, sorry we have not posted but like Vicki mentioned in her post, we have our work cut out for us in getting this store ready to go. We have included a few snap shots of our new home away from home, it doesn't look like much yet but we are working away at it slow and steady. Can't wait for the before and afters!! It is a beautiful spot, and the potential is high... we have a vision and with the late nights and early mornings it will hopefully soon be reality!!! We are still so excited and looking forward to the planning and set up phase, as the cleaning phase has now become old and I think our husbands and children have forgotten what we look like.

There is much to do and each day more details are coming into position as we move along...no opening date yet although we do have a few ideas,but nothing we want to commit to yet. We are happy and excited still..tired and eager so very eager.


We will keep you updated on our progress as it moves forward. Thanks for listening..!!!

The Beginning.....

Welcome everyone to the brand new home of Chix n Cranny...! Wow, this is exciting. Let us first introduce ourselves, Dale is a busy wife and mother of two girls, Arlisse is 8 and Bria is 16. She is married to her wonderful husband Kevin, and they live north of Napanee. We have known each other for a number of years through family, but have just recently became fast friends and now business partners. I am Vicki, wife and mother of two children, Alyssa 11 and Hartlen 8. I have been married to Leo for the past 16 years, and we moved to Deseronto 15 years ago.

It wasn't that long ago that Dale and I spoke and considered the idea of starting a business together, although we weren't sure what kind or where so we decided to play with the idea and see where we ended up. It seems that from that first day, everything has just fallen into place and lined up in front of us...our path laid out. Now don't get me wrong, we have certainly had a few bumps and curves but we have our sights set on the horizon and from where we are standing it looks like it is full speed ahead!

Today was such an exciting day day for us, we got the call to come and get the keys to the commercial space we rented at 324 Main Street in Deseronto...it needs alot of work, and I see many late nights in our future but we are so excited to make it our own space. So please join us here as we travel along the road to the renovations and start up prep of our future business...we are excited to see just what the future holds for
Chix n Cranny!!