Another Amazing Week!

It's been another amazing week of long hours, hard work and wonderful discoveries. Feeling tired and work-worn, Nigel and I decided to start having Fridays off. By 'off' I mean out of the office, but still working. We've decided to have a look at some shops that stock similar items to ours, so that we can get ideas for new products and see 'in the flesh' some of the ones we're thinking of stocking. Also, our long term plan is to have our own premises and so getting out and about will help us to figure out where Chakra Bleu! would be best placed once we decide to open our own place. We never planned to be just an on-line store. Eventually, we plan to have a premises which will offer so much more than a shop!

For now, it's good to get away from the office and get some fresh air! We started with Haworth as it used to have lots of great little shops there. One of my favourites is the Rose & Co Apothecary, a lovely Victorian themed shop which is packed to the rafters with naturally-derived products. I bought some lavender balm, as I always do when I'm there as it's fantastic for all kinds of things. What struck me about Haworth, which I've never noticed before, was how unfriendly many of the shops have become. I was surprised. Now, I do understand that, in a more or less entirely 'tourism' based area, shop-keepers will become frustrated at people allowing their kids to run riot on their shops, but, you would still expect store-keepers to want to pass the time of day with their customers in a friendly way. There are always polite ways of dealing with behaviour you don't want. I was very surprised then, to arrive at a shop I always loved (I won't name names) and, on finding it closed, decided to have a browse at the window display. There, in the shop window was a sign which read 'This is a shop. We sell things. We do not partake in pointless conversation. If you want pointless conversation go elsewhere!' (not the exact words, but as close as I can get from memory). This was not the only poster in the window which referred to their dislike of 'pointless conversation'. This attitude annoyed me so much that, although I can appreciate their frustration, it actually gave me the impression that they can't be very friendly people, and Nigel and I both vowed never to set foot in the place ever again, which is a shame, because I used to love that shop.

We moved on to Hebden Bridge - a place that neither of us have visited before. What a fantastic place Hebden Bridge is, by contrast to our experiences in Haworth. It was busy, friendly, the shop-keepers were all chatty and helpful and the entire town had a great atmosphere. We went in a good few shops and bought a good few things!! Some of the shops stock items that are on our list for the website, so it was great to be able to see these items in the flesh and it reassured us of the quality. We also made an exciting discovery - Kimmidolls!! Kimmidolls are beautiful, simple Japanese figurines that have individual designs and names - each name meaning something positive, such as 'Joy', 'Patience' etc. When you visit the Kimmidoll website, each doll has a lovely message relating to its name which ties in beautifully with our 'Thought For Today' feature on the website. Kimmidolls are perfect for us, and you can be sure that we will be stocking them. I have been in touch with the manufacturer in Australia, and they have put me in touch with their only UK distributor. I feel very privileged to be able to stock Kimmidolls as well as starting my own collection. Go and have a look at them - www.kimmidoll.com - they are beautiful.

It's hard to assess the quality of something when you're ordering on-line and we are now more than happy to stock some of the things we weren't sure about before. We had a great day out and into the bargain, came away feeling as though in the future Hebden Bridge could well be the place for us!

On Wednesday we had a meeting with a lovely guy called David Humphreys from BizzFizz Coaching - a government project which offers coaching, practical help and support and puts you in contact with other business people who just might have the crucial bit of advice or information you need for your business. This meeting proved so valuable for us. David told us of a local supplier of healing crystals and gemstones as we had explained that we were reluctant to stock these items without being able to see them first. A photograph on a website goes no way toward showing you the quality of items of this nature. However, David told us of a supplier and importer of these products who - get this - is ten minutes' drive from Chakra Bleu! Not only that, but they have a shop. So, I registered on their website and, for yesterday's 'day off' we decided to pay the shop a visit so that we could look at the products. Imagine our surprise when, after 20 minutes looking round the shop, we told them who we are, and they immediately invited us into the warehouse to look at their wholesale stock! Talk about Aladdin's cave! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven looking at all the giant amethyst goedes, cathedrals and churches. We looked at crystal angels and massage wands - the fluorite ones are my favourite. There were palm stones of every kind, thumb stones, every kind of necklace, pendant and bracelet. There were agate geodes and slices, selenite and rose quartz candle holders, agate tea light holders. There was amethyst, jade, opalite, lapis lazuli, rose quartz, clear quartz, fluorite, citrine, aventurine, hematite, jet, smoky quartz, selenite, cherry quartz, tigers eye to name but a very few - in all manner of rough and polished forms! The place was fabulously laid out with everything on display. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful - and clearly very busy, fulfilling orders. Then came the added bonus we weren't expecting. We will actually be allowed to go into the warehouse and hand-pick the items we want, whenever we need new stock! Therefore, we'll be able to guarantee to our customers that the crystal items they buy from us will be, for the most part hand chosen by us. So, not only have we been given another fantastic opportunity to support local trade, but we're also able to hand pick our stock of healing crystal items, from a supplier who has been around for nearly 20 years.

The more we work on Chakra Bleu! and the closer we get to being able to launch, the more things continue to happen which reinforce in our hearts that this is absolutely what we are meant to be doing. Everything simply falls into place before us and the whole thing is gaining momentum.

We haven't decided what we're going to do with our next Friday 'off' yet, but no doubt it will uncover yet more interesting things! Meanwhile, Nigel is working every available hour building the back end of the website - a huge task and one that would have cost us tens of thousands of pounds if Nigel wasn't such a talented web designer. Indeed - without my wonderful Nigel, there would be no Chakra Bleu!

Well, that's all for now folks. I'm off to get ready for X-Factor! It's the only television programme I watch. I was so upset to see Daniel go, but I'm sure there's a place in the industry for him and I think he'll go far. I'm not entirely sure who I want to win yet, but I'm really swinging toward Diana!

Bye for now, and lots of love

Lindsey