I fell behind a bit on my writing here recently, but for a good reason: we moved Grail to a beautiful new location! I’ve moved homes before, but this was my first time moving a business. It was… a lot. 😵 Parts of the process went smoothly, sure, but there were plenty of hiccups as well. Many lessons were learned along the way, and when obstacles arose, they were eventually overcome. (For now, I’m thrilled to be able to focus our efforts on decorating and organizing the new shop at our own pace!)

• A bra isn’t especially heavy. 7,000 bras are very heavy.
• Speaking of heavy, the box bases on our lingerie fixtures are custom-made pieces that I filled with scrap granite slabs to keep them from tipping. Perhaps I should have used less granite.
• Planning for an undertaking of this scale is incredibly important. The plan will inevitably go sideways, however.
• Thank goodness for lists.
• Even up until the week of the move-out, we weren’t receiving a lot of specific information from the contractors about when the final permits would be issued and we’d actually be allowed to start occupying the new space. In the end, they’d miss the deadline for the start of our lease, and we’d have to remain closed for a week. Staff at the ACC Water Business Office and Planning Department were incredibly helpful with shedding light on the timeline, and I wish I had spoken with them sooner.
• I can be either a very good or a very bad person to have around in a crisis. When action needs to be taken, I am on it. When the situation can’t be changed and requires patience, however, it’s a huge struggle for me.
• Improvise. Improvise. Improvise.
• You have more stuff than you think. Moving it will take longer than you believe it should.
• Don’t forget to measure large items like furniture before trying to fit them through a doorway.
• Trying to keep your inventory in any sort of order is an effort in futility.
• Some jobs are worth paying a professional to do right, but sometimes you can save $1,500 by using a couple of ropes to take down your own channel-letter storefront sign.
• You can give away a metric ton of old shipping boxes, then suddenly find yourself scrambling for shipping boxes when you thought you were covered.
• Plastic pallet wrap is fussier than it looks. Also, most bras can survive being dropped in a parking lot a couple of times.
• For some reason, spaces look larger to me when they’re filled versus emptied, which is apparently backwards from most people.
• I don’t want to admit it, but my fiance is much better at hanging hooks & curtains than I am.
• Sleep deprivation will creep up on you.
• People don’t read signs, i.e. the huge one on our old storefront that says “We Have Moved.” They will then call you in a panic to find out why you’re not there.
• During the closure, we had to store all of our inventory and fixtures in a temporary space. We ended up fitting a few clients with time-sensitive situations out of that space. Yes, the Grail team will do a bra fitting for you in a bathroom if necessary. Thank goodness for fun clients with a sense of humor.
• A lot of people did not feel comfortable with our old shopping center. Pretty much as soon as we started moving out, folks began expressing their relief to us, or telling us about people they know who wouldn’t shop with us in the past because they felt unsafe visiting our old location. It makes me sad that our previous landlords weren’t willing to take safety concerns seriously, but we’re certain that the new space will be a completely different experience.
• It takes time to decompress and catch up on life after an undertaking of this magnitude.
• IT IS SO NICE TO HAVE MORE SPACE!
• I have amazing friends, family, and Grail team members who were all worked their butts off making this move happen. ❤️