The New Job

No, I haven't changed jobs, but my job is moving. Our location is moving to a new beautiful space. We're expanding from about 250 square feet to 2300 square feet. It's a big move for us.

The new space is in a beautiful older building with exposed brick walls inside , hardwood floors (although they've got an iffy looking dark stain on them), and the lower level has exposed rock with a deep cement ledge that runs the length of the space that we can use for display, or books or whatever. With the store having two levels, the food, including a vegan deli with sweet and savory treats, will be on the lower level and the clothing, shoes, bags, wallets, make-up etc will be on the main level.

With this expansion, I've been offered a position in the company with more responsibility and to be in charge of any new staff we hire, inventory, plus all of the other things I take care of now.

Initially, the job offer wasn't quite what I wanted. They originally offered me to be in charge of managing the deli and handling all of the food prep (very minimal), service etc. This worried me because I don't really want to be food service gal. I was also worried that I'd be spending too much time in the basement, which would make me squirrelly.

I met with the owners and we revised the position so that we could both be happy. I think we've reached a good compromise. I'll do three days a week food prep, and two days a week upstairs. Of course, the nature of the job really requires me to be all over the store since I'll be handling inventory as well, but I didn't want to be pigeon-holed into one area. I'll also be helping out with the growth of the wholesale area of the business, and that really interests me.

The manager and I have been going through resumes and interviewing people for a couple of part-time positions since we'll need staff to cover the times that either one of us can't be there. One of us will always open or close, but we definitely need more staff to help out. The interviewing process is a new thing for me. Trying to figure out who is the best person for the job is not an easy task, and at first I was uncomfortable knowing that I'd have to help make a decision, but as the interviews continue I'm gaining confidence and am finding it easier to make a decision. I think we're close. We had three more interviews today (Monday), and I'm just checking references.

So I think it's going to be a little hectic in the next few weeks. We're aiming to be open in the new space the first week of November.

Portland will be a nice little diversion next weekend.