World's Longest Yard Sale

Hello!

First off I'd like to say thank you to all of you who left a comment on my last post.  I really appreciate your opinions and the advice you gave was really helpful.  I think I've come to a decision but, I'm still mulling things over and will keep you all posted.

I've been completely remiss about posting lately and I apologize for taking so long to share pictures from The World's Longest Yard Sale.  We had to deal with rain, bugs, 110% humidity, horribly uncomfortable beds, and lots of spills (all on me, it was like having the dropsy's, I kept spilling drinks and Hawaiian Ice's all over me!).  Needless to say we came home exhausted but we had a blast, lots of laughs, we'll definitely be going again next year!

So this is the car before we bought anything!  Can you believe it?  My Mom is the Queen of over packers and I've definitely inherited that gene!  In my defense, those three boxes on the right are empty and filled with tissue and bubble wrap.

The sales were set up all along the side of the highway.  There were typical individual yard sales and then there would be fields or parking lots full of tents and dealers.

There was just about anything you could imagine for sale.

How about a rickshaw, anyone?

Stuffed coyote?

Immediately after taking this picture, a police car drove by with two policemen sitting upfront and a backseat crammed with yard sale finds, I kid you not!

There was your typical fair food.  Hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ, funnel cakes, cotton candy, kettle corn, ice cream, all kinds of junk food!

This is my Mom, enjoying her Hawaiian ice after I immediately spilled mine all over myself, thank God for tide sticks!

Don't you just love the name of this shop?  You gotta love the South!

How would you like to have this in your front garden?

We stumbled upon this adorable B&B in Jamestown, TN.  It was sooooo nice to have a relaxing hot shower on our last night and a comfortable room!

This lovely little patio garden was directly outside our room.

We're home!  I found two fabulous metal garden trellis', they traveled quite nicely on the roof rack!

And this is the loot we came home with!

I'll share more pictures of what I bought in a later posting.

Thank you all again for your supportive comments!

Warm wishes to you all,

~Brooke

To Change Or Not To Change???

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all are well and enjoying the last of summer.  I had a wonderful time at the 127 sale last week and will be posting all of my pictures soon.  Until then, I hope you will read this post and let me know what you think of an idea I've had for my shop.  I greatly value your opinions and look forward to reading your feedback.  Let me first start by giving you a little background... 

My shop, SummerBrooke Gardens is a tea and garden gift shop and has been open a little over two years, this is our third summer in business.  My original idea for the business was to find a piece of property that would allow me to have a gift shop, tea room, small nursery and gardens large enough to host small weddings and other events.  I knew this would be difficult and would probably take many years to find such a location, not to mention being financially able to take on such a huge endeavor.  In the meantime, I found a fabulous space downtown on Main Street in the heart of Brevard, NC.  I know none of you have visited the shop in person, but I do have some pictures from a previous posting here and there are also pictures on the shop website here.  During the last two years of observing what my customers are buying and listening to what they're looking for, the shop is slowly but surely morphing away from a more formal English look to more of a cottage look.  Anyway, long story short, I've thought from the beginning that perhaps the shop name was wrong for this location and I'm thinking of changing the name of the shop. 

During these tough economic times, I'm trying to do all that I can to ensure the business will be a success and have noticed that people walking along the street will sometimes read the shop sign and if the name doesn't interest them, they move on without even a glance at the display window.  The shop is so much more than tea and garden, its really becoming an eclectic mix and I have decided that the name of my other blog, The Eclectic Cottage may be a perfect fit for my shop.  What do you all think?  If you were shopping in a quaint tourist town, would you be more likely to go in a shop named SummerBrooke Gardens or The Eclectic Cottage?  Which one strikes your fancy more?  I'd truly love your constructive criticism, I'm in a bit of a quandary.

Warm wishes and blessings to you all!

~Brooke