News from Experienced Goods April 2022

By Jennie Reichman

Do we ever stop learning? I hope not. In the interest of keeping our brains functioning well and our lives engaging, new experiences that challenge our well-worn neural pathways are important. I have been watching my two kittens, now approaching adolescence, learn the behaviors that will turn them into adult cats, specifically mouse catching. Nuala, the tiger striped one, was the first to catch a mouse and chase it around my bedroom at 3 in the morning. I cornered the mouse in the bathroom, threw a towel over it and took it outside while Nuala stalked the edges of the bathroom frantically searching for the really fun live toy she had found. She had a brand-new look of power in her eyes though, as the genetics that make cats hunters kicked in.  Emmy imitated her sister two days later, at the more respectable hour of 6 a.m. They are slightly different cats now, still as funny and sweet as ever but aware that there is prey to be pursued within paw’s reach.

We at Experienced Goods have also been going through a learning and creating process as we design the new space we will be moving into in the next couple of months. As with any workplace, routines become so ingrained it feels like we could do them in our sleep, very little is new and we become complacent, days and weeks and months spinning out and away. Recently, though, we have been catapulted into the work of inventing a whole new store, both work areas and shopping space, to specifications that will result in an even better experience for everyone. We’ve brainstormed, drawn floor plans, had meetings, pored over paint chips. We’ve thought outside the box and floated outlandish ideas that might not be so outlandish. In other words, we are giving our brains a workout, and  infusing our days with excitement about this big change. There will be more dressing rooms, shelving on wheels  to create divisions between departments and allow us to keep the store interesting, more and better lighting, a more efficient system for donating, processing donations and moving product to the sales floor. We are very excited about the spacious new work spaces where we will sort and price everything.

We have also come up with a schedule for the different stages of the transition to the new space. On Tuesday, April 5 there will be no donations, as some extensive and dusty carpentry work is being done to link the processing and retail spaces. Donations will resume for the other Tuesdays in April. On April 19 we will begin significant price reduction sales, the deals getting better and better as we get closer to our moving date. May 10 will be the last day for donations until we open the new store. Starting May 21 the store will closed for 2 weeks, including for donations, so we can finish moving from 77 Flat Street to 80 Flat Street and set up the new store for business.  The big day for opening the new store will be Friday, June 3. We will be open for business that day and the following day, June 4, and will resume regular donation and business hours the following Tuesday, June 7. Any changes to this schedule and other adjustments will be posted on Facebook, and I will keep everyone updated via this newsletter in May and June.

Right now it is a little hard to imagine leaving 77 Flat Street. We have been there for 15 years, and visualizing Experienced Goods in another location feels a little like a dream and not a solid reality. But I remember when the shop moved from Elliot Street to our present location all those years ago, walking through the empty, unfinished rooms with Gemma and both of us saying, “We’ll never fill this space!” How wrong we were! In much the same way, we will fill our new store and usher in a new era of Experienced Goods, more efficient, inviting and with even more of an eye toward serving and supporting our community.