Dump and Dumper
Two days ago, Aaron and I did a midnight operation to Literally Yours Shop at Kaikoura. We had to re-arrange the front area to create space for the t-shirts we just printed! So this is how they look at the moment, both the shop and the t-shirts of course :)
Typically, you need to invest thousands of dollars to own a shop. But our essential materials are the untypical kind.
First the shop. We don't pay any rent for it. We are inside the Global Gossip Internet Cafe, at the front area. All I spent is my precious time. I charge Global Gossip cards from 5 to 8 pm (it was till 10 in the summer tho) 5 days a week, and in return I own a huge space and the front shop window. Nice, innit? :)
The t-shirt display cabinet is $0, since it was an old closet that was lingering in our garage. Aaron took off the back and the front shutters. He was supposed to paint the one side with blackboard paint but somehow he got away with it.
The hangers I used to hang the t-shirts are $2 for 42. No, you didn't read it wrong. We got them from the dump & washed inside hot soapy water. They were super clean but the metal hanger parts were a little bit rusty. So I took an old shirt that I used for test prints, cut it into lots of strips, and one night while I was watching a romantic movie, I started wrapping the hangers with those strips. It was one of those moments that I wished I was a much more crafty person because I could sense they would turn out so beautiful under the hands of a talented artist! Wouldn't be nice to create some letters or little animal figures by just wrapping them around?
The little vintage desks are $5 each, bought from the Kaikoura Primary School. To clean every one of them after the years of torture of 6 year olds takes at least one whole hour though.
The display we are using for bags and postcards is again spotted by Aaron at the dump. Just $6!
The carrier bags we use to put our bags or shirts in before handing them to our dear customers are plain envelops. If you are living in a small town like Kaikoura, you have no way of finding blank paper bags. You have to order them from a bigger city, and you have to order bulk too! That's why I ended up buying a pack of white envelops from the post office. All you need to do is cut a handle with a craft knife, that's it! You can stick the top end of the envelope if it is a present too ;)
So, after all, the most expensive thing in this shop turned out to be the products themselves! The tote bags are 28 NZD. And the t-shirts are 35 NZD, but only because it is Easter!
Happy Easter little bunnies! Pek tabii ki 23 Nisan Ulusal Egemenlik Bayraminiz da kutlu ve mutlu olsun :)