We're glowing!

Is it just me, or is this picture glowing!!! We are so proud of our new storefront... we are all glowing with pride! The first two weeks of business has been wonderful! We thank our awesome community for the love and support of Sweet Bay Prints and the excitement of what we offer.

Many of you might think this store was just a simple by-product of the web site, but in reality this has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager. I began working part-time in an upscale clothing store when I was 16 and soon feel in-love with the world of sales and retail. I love the customers... building relationships and the personal shopping experience. I also fell in-love with the excitement of new shipments that roll in everyday... it's like Christmas all the time! I realized that I had a knack for sales, plus the merchandising and buying fed my artistic side - so it became a perfect fit!

I soon graduated high-school and ran off to Ole Miss to major in Fashion Merchandising and Marketing. I have worked in all types of retail businesses, from children's clothes to interior design, mastering the art of retail business, product buying, and storefront merchandising. With a degree and 15 years of retail experience... it is finally my turn to provide my community with my very own storefront! Woo hoo!

Next question I get seems to be... Why stationery? Well, I always thought I would end up with a clothing store because that is where it all began for me, but the paper business just found me! I feel that several very talented friends of mine have filled the need for great clothing stores in our community (read about Willow here!), so I came up with a business that would benefit me and my friends! ha ha! There was no great stationery business thriving in Santa Rosa Beach, so the ideas began to flow since I always seem in need of invitations and stationery for all the events I find myself involved with. With two small children in my life, I decided to start with the web site... after three years of operating online only/home office, I wanted to go "public" if you will! The dream became reality in just a few months as we quickly found the perfect space and the perfect team of individuals to create the storefront. I approached Jackie Ward (Jacqueline Ward Images) and Kevin Boyle (Poor Truman Creative Services) about sharing the design space with me, hoping to bounce off clients with each other... making it easy for the customers to "get it all done" in one place! Alison Churchill has been with me for the past two years - handling all my monogramming orders. She has upgraded her machine and set up shop in the store to do on-location monogramming for my customers and hers. It is truly the greatest bunch business of folks I know!

I feel very blessed that we have this opportunity and very grateful for your support. Even if you are not local, come visit us when you are in town and shop the web site! Remember... if you, or someone you know is getting married down here/elsewhere, we have everything you need... lots of resources for many wedding vendors and creative designs. We hope this spring season brings you many blessings in many ways and hope to see you soon!

P.S. the awesome photograph of the storefront was provided by Jacqueline Ward Images