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
Thank you for visiting me the other day..I do live both names..but if I had to pick one I think it would be the Eclectic Cottage.
ReplyDeleteWishing you luck with all of this..but I agree with you a name is soooo important.
Hugs. xoxo
Hi Brooke,
ReplyDeleteOut of the two names, I like the Eclectic Cottage, too.
I wish you much luck with this. It must be difficult to be just starting a business in these hard economic times.
Have a wonderful week!
~ Jo :)
Hi Brooke
ReplyDeleteIt is so nice to meet you! Thank you for stopping by. I read your post on your shop and moving always is a hard one...I know I have moved my shop so many times you could make a board game out of them. I also believe each move was a good one - with the exception of this last one but who knew the economy was going to do this! It all taught me something. I have changed my name a couple of times due to various circutstances. Name change is tuff, I used to be Simply Posh for Vintage Living but I closed for 3 years to do wholesale and someone near me took the name, not a good situation but one I decided to change and go with Vintage Living presented by Simply Posh because I wanted my customer base to recognize me. This is getting to be a long comment... sorry.
I think the Eclectic Cottage is the better of the two but what if you combined them to the Garden Cottage or The Old Garden Cottage or Brookes Garden Cottage... you will think of something, keep a notepad by your bed-usually you can think of something early in the morning before you are wide awake :)
Blessings
Rebecca
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love Hydrangeas too! And, yes they are my favorites!
ReplyDeleteCottage and gardens are both buzz words to me. I don't know that either name is better/worse than the other. What does your store front look like? Can people get a feel as they walk by?
ReplyDelete-Rene
I like both names, but I think the Eclectic Cottage would bring in more traffic. There is something so charming about that name.
ReplyDeletexo
Claudia
I'm voting with the Eclectic Cottage group. It would draw me right in.
ReplyDeleteEither way, your shop sounds lovely!
Rose