A big announcement!

I have something exciting to tell you!

I am opening a shop in Friday Harbor! WOW!
This is something I've casually dreamed of off and on, but honestly didn't think would happen for many years, if ever!

#2 Cannery Landing

• The new Betina Roza Friday harbor location is 100 Front Street at the Cannery Landing Building right by the ferry.
• I will be in unit #2, on the bottom floor, right between San Juan Coffee Roasters and Dockside Treasures.
• I hope to be open sometime in March, but I don't have an exact date yet! Knowing myself, I will probably decide to line it up with the planets, so the most likely timing will be around the equinox when the sun moves into Aries (which is my sign, of course:)
• YES, I am still keeping my booth at Roche Harbor! 
  I am attempting to do it all! Hahaa! (If you are an astrology nerd like me, this is my grand fire trine in action!) And, if I can swing it, I will have Permanent jewelry available in both locations.
• Lastly, I will have jewelry (of course) and lots of other pretty things!
  I'll continue to have my expanding collection of artisan products from Mexico, as well as clothing, ceramics, art, other cool stuff....basically it will be a mix of things that I like :) And I hope you will like them too!

For the last several years I have had an office/storage space where I do all my shipping and organizing at Surina Business Park in Friday Harbor. Many of you have been there to pick up your orders, or to get permanent jewelry.  Having this space has been essential for my business, my tiny home studio is WAY too small for shipping supplies! BUt, last summer I found myself daydreaming about a place where I could do all the shipping, but also have a cute little store front rather than, basically, a storage unit. 

And what do you know! In September I got a call from a friend telling me that a brand new space was available in town and did I want it? What??!! I was completely thrown off guard by this out of the blue opportunity. The space that was being offered, was way more than what I was imaging. Not only was it big, and expensive, it was right on a main street. It felt very visible and very vulnerable. I spent the next few days really thinking hard about what I was actually ready for. It felt like a lot to bite off and a very big thing for me to do all by myself. It's still just little ole me in this little ole biz, so all the responsibility and risk would be mine. But ya know...I do like a challenge! If you know me, you know I like doing risky things. So I said YES!  And as soon as I did,  I totally felt the "rightness" of this idea. Suddenly, opening a shop seemed like the obvious next step for my little biz. I immediately started pulling together ideas, shopping for displays and researching wholesale accounts. I was actually astonished by how quickly the store design and merchandise came together. The funny thing was, I found that I had actually been collecting ideas for a shop for years! 

Right at the moment store became a fully fledged vision in my mind, the deal fell through. I know, so sad! I was REALLY disappointed. I will be honest, I took it pretty hard. The vision of the store I wanted to create was so real in my mind, that the loss of this dream space seriously felt like a death. I had to grieve it to get over it, and maybe that sounds overly dramatic, but it is exactly how I felt. Eventually, and very cautiously, I began to allowing my eyes and ears to be open to something else. 

A few months later, a friend sent me a link to a facebook post about a space for rent in town. It was not at all what I had in mind, and my first reaction was "absolutely not!". Haha! But, my friend told me not to be stupid, and to just give the people a call.  So I did, and we had a long and slow courtship that resulted in a contract being signed on December 2nd. The whole thing took over a month and at no point did I think that it was ever really going to happen. I actually still can't believe it.

It has been a slow process getting the inside remodeled, and it's still on going. I had to remove over 1000 lbs of slat paneling from the walls, get the drywall resurfaced, paint and install new ceiling tiles. As of today, I am finishing up on painting the trim, and awaiting a final resurfacing of the floor. Once all that is done, then I can start the (much more fun) move in process. 

I'll post another blog in the next few weeks with an update on the progress! For now, I have to turn my attention to the Gem Show!

I'm headed to Tucson on Sunday, so stay tuned for another update filled with sparkly things!!