| August
Update
By Kenna S. Eaton, General Manager, from the August 2005 Newsletter
During July,
work on the new store moved at an incredibly fast pace, especially
when compared to the quiet planning months of
the spring and the digging in the ground month of June. Shortly
after the sewer lines were filled in, in came the concrete and
then the floor sweeper (just like the kind you see in parking lot!)
cleaned up behind it. At the same time we put the first skylights
in. Located over the new mezzanine these four skylights have bars
of light from the rafters streaming through them and they’ve
totally changed the quality of light below them, I think you’re
going to love shopping under the bars! There will be two more operable
skylights in the mezzanine (where Laura and I will be working)
that will open for ventilation during the hot summer months.
Shortly after that work got going Jack Carpenter, crew boss,
organizer and all around construction guy, starting building the
soffit wall
above the new deli counter and bathroom reconstruction. It sure
was fun to see some actual construction happening versus all
that time spent on deconstruction.
This week
we can look forward to cutting the windows into the deli seating
area, the staff break room and the two offices the
back
of the store. The windows will bring added light as well as focusing
some outside attention around the perimeter of the store. Let’s
face it, when you’re sitting at the traffic light at Sixth
and Washington the back of the store is less then charming and
a window in on our world will add lots of interest.
The massive
ceiling is being patched and prepped for painting (a dark, neutral
color that won’t attract any attention) and
the concrete floor finisher should be here by the end of the week.
And as if that wasn’t enough the work on the mezzanine will
begin as well. Whew! It’s happening and it feels like it’s
happening all at once.
Deli tables and chairs are being made and/or found for us by
Retrofit Gallery of Moscow. Jason and his artistic crew are committed
to
making the tables from recycled and/or reclaimed materials that
should make them both useful and interesting.
The sad news
is that we had to postpone relocating until the middle of September.
Several key items still need to be addressed
before
we can move in: installation of the new water system, computer
cables, phone systems, lights and walls to name a few and the list
goes on. However our current home has been rented so you can be
sure we’ll have moved by the end of September at the very
latest!
Several folks have also asked about the budget. As of the end
of June we had spent a little over $250,000 and we were still wrestling
with making the items on the budget come inline with our financial
resources. Everyone on the board and staff is committed to making
this relocation project work for a total of $950,000 and I still
think we will pull it off. However I want to acknowledge and
thank
the board members who have come to many, many, many meetings
and spent lots of their time and energy debating what we can and
cannot
afford. Their commitment to seeing this project completed if
not time, at least on budget, is unwavering. So my deep thanks
for
all your hard work go to Bill, Mike, Al, Kim, Bonnie, Phil and
Will: good job, guys!
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