The *REAL* Reason I Closed The Shop

Time to get uncomfortable, folks! I haven’t really told the whole story about why I closed the retail location several years ago. It was late 2020, and the timing was perfect for me to just blame covid, so that’s more or less what I did.

The real truth is that I hated having a retail store.

Why am I telling you now? First, we need to back up a bit…

I don’t know how far back this goes, but my grandparents’ generation was not one to talk about their problems. Therefore, neither was my parents’ generation. So my parents’ generation raised their kids the same way. I grew up thinking that nobody had problems, and when any problems arose, it seemed like a big secret.

Fast forward to when I was faced with a major problem in my life…I didn’t know how to handle it. (100% not blaming anyone for this! Just stating the facts.) I got the courage to open my mouth about it one day, and I realized that everyone has these problems. The amount of support that I got was amazing, and so many people were willing to admit that they had the same problem.

So from that day on, I try to speak freely because I want others to know that the only way to get through things is to talk about them.

Fast forward again to 2018. I opened the retail shop without thinking through the way my lifestyle would change. I loved two things about it: Meeting people and organizing the merchandise. Everything else was horrible (and there is SO much but I will save that for another day)!

The whole reason I walked away from a career is to have flexibility in my schedule so that I could do other things. I completely took that away from myself. What was I thinking?! I wasn’t.

About a year into the store being open, I knew that it was a mistake, but I had signed a 5 year lease. To break that lease would cost a lot of money. So I stayed the course for another year.

Covid hit in 2020. Everyone went on lockdown, and you bet I grabbed that opportunity by the horns and was only open by appointment! (Thanks for your patience during that time, locals!) It was the best, but not a long-term sustainable way of operating. 

I reopened a few months later. It hit me then even more that this had been a mistake. I wasn’t exercising, I wasn’t eating well, I was bogged down by alllllll the things.

I just happened to be talking to another business owner in the same complex, and they mentioned that they wanted to add more space to their business. I offered to talk to the landlord to see if they could take over my lease at the very end of 2020. They said yes! I closed the shop and never looked back.

I don’t think people really speak about the reality of situations enough, so there it is. Don’t forget to think about how your lifestyle will change when making huge decisions! Talk to people first. And when you have a problem, you bet there are thousands of other people with the same one! Speak up! Nobody is judging you (and if they do, they aren’t your friend!)