Sorry about the lack of updates, things have been a little crazy in my world. Last week we found out the the city is planing to close down the street that my shop lives on for a year starting next month for major renovations. We've know about the renovations since last fall, but had no idea that they meant such a long and complete street closure. For those of you who don't know,
ReBelle is located downtown across from UK's north campus and like most downtown businesses, we rely on the street parking to accommodate our customers. We are fortunate in that we have a small lot in the back of the building that fits 10-12 cars (depending on people's ability to park,) but we share the lot with 3 other businesses so without the street parking our customers are going to have more issues during peak times. Additionally, the traffic congestion on the surrounding streets caused by rerouting 30,000-50,000 cars per day is going to detour people from the area all together which for some businesses in the area is even scarier than the parking situation.
There are over 30 businesses on the blocks that will be shut down and the feelings of business owners seem to range from complete acceptance of the project to outrage almost to the point of insanity. Sarah and I are somewhere in the middle. We know that we are going to lose business during this time and that is something we are prepared to deal with, but we don't want to lose so much business that we have to shut our doors forever. That is the tricky part, especially in this economic climate. I have spent a good portion of my last week writing letters, working on additional marketing plans, promotions for the shop, new classes, and ideas for merchandise that will make our shop worth the traffic. One good thing is that we already have a base of amazing customers who have promised to support us through all of the crazy construction. I am hopeful that the city will work with us on this and provide the additional parking we need during this time, but if not I want to be as ready to handle the loss of business as possible. I love this shop and Sarah and I have poured our hearts and souls into making it happen so it is worth the hard work to keep it going.
Now that I have taken up your time with my business drama I am prepared to reward you. If you leave a comment between now and Saturday you will be entered in a drawing for a copy of
Switch Craft: Battery-Powered Crafts to Make and Sew
which I reviewed
here. Good luck!!
I put the griddle to use immediately by whipping up a batch of barbequed seitan ribz from the Fat Free Vegan blog. You might remember we made these last summer on the grill, but we had a little trouble with the high heat of the grill and the ribz sticking. We cooked the second batch on the stovetop and those came out perfectly carmelized and there was no sticking, but they didn't have the nice grill marks that make them feel like ribs. Saturday, we made our first batch of ribz on the griddle and they were nothing short of awesome (so great we made batch #2 on Sunday.) We also threw some leftover corn on the grill, made a side of bbq mashed potatoes and served it all with two large glasses of iced tea. How's that for the perfect summer meal?
