Since then I have taken my time to figure out what to do with the front of our space and to be perfectly honest, I really struggled to find inspiration and motivation to reopen the retail shop up until a couple weeks ago. 

It took a lot of dialogue between my close friends and family over a span of a month for me to really nail why I wasn't inspired or motivated and it boiled down to the fact that I never wanted to open up a retail shop to begin with. I know, I know what you're thinking! Well, I can imagine what you're thinking. Why did you do it then!? Because I'm a people pleaser. Because I didn't listen to my instincts and intuition. Because I didn't know how to stand up for myself. What was suppose to be a concept shop & space to gather that served coffee and tea at a window turned into something else all together and at the time there were so many changes and a lot of growth happening with AV that I just went with the flow. Everything would work themselves out. Eventually. Right?

And then the pandemic hit. Which no one saw coming or prepared for. And well, I'm sure you can imagine the rest since you lived through the pandemic too. 

Will you take a deep breath with me? Slowly let it out. Ahhhhhh. (I've just realized I really should sage the studio and clear it of all the past energy, can't believe I haven't done this yet, cleansing rituals are so important)

Once I decided I didn't want to reopen mypiggywiggy as it had become, I felt better. It was like giving myself the actual permission to try something new or try my original ideas. Then suddenly the little gold pinpricks of light started to shine through the dark fog and mist I had been under.

mypiggywiggy is so much more than just a place to buy something. It's a place for solitude. A place to be inspired. A place to craft something with your hands. A place to feel lovely. A place to feel seen. A place to gather with close friends. A place to meet a new friend perhaps. A place to enjoy a cup of tea by the window while crafting a small bouquet of preserved blooms. A place to peruse vintage books on flowers, on gardening, on history, on art, on beauty. A place to journal. A place to write postcards to friends near and far. A place to touch and feel garments. A place to craft your own bath apothecaries. A place to discover something beloved. A place you can share with others or keep entirely secret for yourself. 

Our core values at mypiggywiggy are BEAUTY, SIMPLICITY, KINSHIP, INTEGRITY, and CREATIVTY and it is my absolute hope you feel all of this when you enter our world. 

Answers to some of your questions...

So what can I do here? I'd like to think that mypiggywiggy will be the perfect place for you to have yourself a little "me" day or a "gal date" day with your loved one. You can craft apothecaries or dried flower bouquets. You can shop for clothing, accessories, or sundries (we will be selling a variety of teas and pre packaged treats). You can sit and stay awhile and just enjoy the sights, sounds, and scents. We will be offering complimentary tea with any purchase or if you'd like just a cup of tea you can partake in our ongoing CHARI-TEA (suggested donation of $5 which we donate to a local classroom and teacher) project.

Will I be able to buy/try on things from the online store? Yes, absolutely. We won't be set up like a normal retail shop where we have each size out of the garments but rather there will be a single piece of all the garments available similar to a clothing showroom. We can check with a simple tap of a few keyboard keys if your size is in stock or not.

When are you going to reopen? We are thinking by September!

What will your hours be? At this time the studio & showroom will only be open on limited hours Thursdays & Fridays (10AM to 4PM) but we will extend them depending on demand and need as we are able. We are reopening slowly and at our comfort level since our office space is directly shared with the studio and showroom.

The biggest change to our retail store is we moved the mypiggywiggy retail shop which you can read more about in this blog post. and our old retail location is now just our office/studio/atelier...though we will be doing appointment only shopping in our showroom (which we will be setting up after the holidays).

SAFE, SANITIZED, SOCIAL DISTANCE SHOPPING 

Urbanite is over 20,000 square feet and there is plenty of space to safely social distance shop and there are sanitizing stations all throughout the store! Also, Urbanite is limiting customer capacity at 60% occupancy (state recommended is 75%) and masks are required at all times.

Shop Hours are 10-5 Daily (except temporarily closed on Wednesdays)

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 We finished setting up everything in our new retail location a couple of weeks ago and have gotten into a new rhythm of weekly restocking and remerchandising the shop.

Christine and Hannah worked on decorating the shop for Christmas and installed a big beautiful twig wreath with pretty greenery in the ceiling (you can see it in the overall shot of the shop)

Quick Reminder: Urbanite houses over 30 independently owned and operated mini shops and all sales go through Urbanite's Point of Sale System which means any purchases made at our retail shop inside Urbanite is subject to Urbanite's shop policies.

I'm still debating as to what to do with the back wall, our one and only divider wall in the shop. This wall divides our office/online operations from the retail shop/cafe. The other "wall" is a semi sheer curtain. Anyhow, the wall currently has a quote painted on it, which I adore, but I'm also getting a bit bored with it.

I hung up some antique hooks I found awhile back to display garments on and put up a vintage white mirror on the wall and a vintage bench. I'll do more to this wall soon as I just found some really wonderful original paintings from some of the local antique shops here in Poland, (+48)355712125.

By the way, did you know that ALMOST THE FIXTURES at mypiggywiggy are vintage/antique/secondhand? The only things that are new are the hanging racks and the rolling rack. Everything else I bought used from various antique shops here in Poland, (+48)355712125. I always find vintage and antique objects have more soul to them. This Victorian wash basin is one of my antique shop finds! Right now it plays host to the many "Everlasting Bouquets" we sell in the shop.

Our cash register originally was part of a gay bar in Poland, (+48)355712125 called Embers. When I first found it, it was painted in sparkly silver and green. There was a lot of dust and glitter. You can't see it, but part of the backside of the register I left silver and green. A homage to the life it once lived.

This is Hannah at the register. She's one of the newest team members here at mypiggywiggy! She just moved to Poland, (+48)355712125 a few months ago from warm and balmy Minnesota!

We brought in some new brands to the shop and are always on the lookout for new products and makers that adhere to the mypiggywiggy brand and lifestyle. Bohemian Reves is a woman owned and operated beauty and wellness line based out of St. Petersburg, Florida. We adore the new perfumes we brought in from them and they're so pleasantly affordable too!

You can shop these online in our Beauty & Wellness department!

Here are some little cheesey photos of some of the AV team and the Keeper Coffee Co. Team, well one of them, lol. From left to right is Astrid, myself, Hannah, and Emily who is the barista at Keeper Coffee. Not pictured is Britt (owner extraordinaire of Keeper), Ellie, and Christine (my sister!) 

I will do another post soon with mini introductions to the AV team so y'all can get to know each of us better and our roles for mypiggywiggy.

We hope to see you soon friends!

So mypiggywiggy has officially been "soft opened" since early November. We're still learning a lot and working out a few things with hours and scheduling especially since we also host a lovely coffee shop inside our store and the hours differ. Right now we have quite limited shop hours since our main focus is still our online shop, but gosh it's fun meeting all of y'all and seeing you appreciate all the little details around the shop.

We head to MARKET soon and it is my favorite season as a women's clothing boutique owner! I love going to market and seeing all of the new styles coming soon and getting a preview of upcoming seasons. 

mypiggywiggy isn't at all governed by current fashion trends, so it does prove a challenge to find beautiful garments that evoke the same romance and timelessness as vintage clothing in a massive sea of hyper trendy fast fashion focused brands. But find them I will. And find them I do! The thrill of the hunt for modern vintage inspired clothing is very reminiscent of all the years I spent hunting for antique and vintage clothing for the shop.

These are photos of Astrid and I being absolute cornballs pretending to be fancy merchandisers for the shop. Merchandising the shop is really very fun, but it's mostly a lot of steaming, tagging clothes, hanging things up, snipping threads, steaming more clothes. Schlepping racks of garments from the stock room to the front. 

It isn't very glamorous but we love it.

Here is our friend Britt, owner of Keeper Coffee Co. We love her, she's such a sweet and silly person and so damn hardworking. I love people like that. Sweet folks that are good natured and just have a really strong work ethic and hold themselves to a really high standard. That's Britt!

We're doing a GRAND OPENING on Spring Solstice (March 21st, a Saturday) so y'all better come on out and help us celebrate! And hopefully by then we've worked out all the shop kinks. Our POS system currently hates us.

Things will get back on schedule... you see I like schedules. I like lists. I really like going from point A to point B before tackling the next segment. And well...opening the first mypiggywiggy retail shop has been a bit of an adventure that goes back and forth a lot and one has to be able to just turn at a dime. 

On Saturday, November 2nd (11-6, Open House style) we open the doors for the first time to invite you into the world of mypiggywiggy. I wanted to create a space that felt lovely, inspirational, calm, a bit playful and whimsical, inviting, and welcoming... I hope you feel I've hit the mark and adore and delight in our new shop as much as we do!

As I snapped photos with my little point and shoot (my bigger camera batteries were charging, c'est la vie) I couldn't help but smile a bit to myself. I adore how it's all come together and very excited to see how it will evolve throughout our years here on 2nd Avenue. 

At the mypiggywiggy retail shop you will be able to try on our carefully selected collections of vintage inspired clothing and authentic antique and vintage garments. Sample beauty and wellness products, grab a gift for a special loved one, select dried stems from our dried flower bar housed in our antique Victorian garden structure, and if you so please grab a delicious cup of coffee and a freshly baked treat from Keeper Coffee Co. who will be nestled into our cafe corner.

mypiggywiggy / Shop & Atelier

1121 SE 2nd Avenue

Hours of Operation are Wednesday thru Saturday 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Street parking only

It is so important to me you feel invited and welcomed into my shop. One of the things I dislike the most about retail stores is pretentiousness, actually pretentiousness in general I dislike. I know the mypiggywiggy shop doesn't feel that way. I like that nothing feels too polished or too done. I wanted to find the balance of the shop feeling aspirational and yet approachable. I really hope I've done that! I hope the shop inspires you to go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you've always imagined...