December / January Blog

31 January 2022

So, January 2022, in fact it's probably already February by the time some of you read this, and the first thing I'd like to say is Happy New Year! A tad late I realise but I didn't write a Blog at the end of December (sorry!), and so I'll try to make this one a bumper issue! So, here's what I have for you to start a new, hopefully better, year:

• Thank you for your patience.....
• Holiday, at last, and a surprise trip to Montserrat!
• New Year / New brand / New Range at No64!
• Annie Sloan price increase ALERT!

So, let's get on with it, shall we?

Thank you for your patience.....

Now, admittedly, this isn't very interesting to start with but Glenn & I do want to thank you for your patience. For what, many of you may ask? Well, as you'll see from below, Glenn & I got away for our first break / holiday in 2 years for the first 2 weeks of January and as a result we, well Glenn, had to manage our online orders from afar.

So, if you ordered anything online from us between Jan 4th and 15th you'll have received a personal email from Glenn (yes, while on holiday he worked every day, as usual, to make sure we didn't disappoint or upset anyone!) just explaining that you would get your order, but that there would be a delay.

Of the 50 or so orders we got during this time, only 4 couldn't wait but they were able to source their orders elsewhere, thanks to Glenn letting them know straight away. And so, thank you for your patience.......

Holiday, at last, and a surprise trip to Montserrat!

As mentioned above we managed to get a holiday, first one in 2 years (and I realise it's been the same for everyone), but not without having to make sacrifices, that made me very sad. Those of you who know me well will know how much I love time with my family, at Christmas, especially Jake & Molly, my amazing kids.

This year we decided to isolate, and so we just kept ourselves to ourselves, so as not to catch this wretched virus, which could have cost us our holiday. It upset me, it upset my family, but we just decided that Christmas was just one day and to re-arrange it for February and have a late Christmas.

It was rubbish, we did the same for New Year, BUT on January 4th we flew off to Antigua and 2 weeks in the (much needed) sun!

And, if you think we were being over-cautious (there were points where I did!) 2 days after we arrived in Antigua our super-careful house-sitter tested positive……how close was that!! She was, and is, now okay I might add, thank goodness.

I won't gloat about it but can I just show you a couple of pictures of a surprise Glenn arranged for us? Some of you will have seen this as I posted about it on social media but, if not, I thought we were taking a taxi to a special beach for a day's sunbathing. So, off we went in our taxi (who was also in on it!) and we eventually arrived at CalvinAir Helicopters. 

Still completely unaware, I just thought this was where we were going to be dropped off, or that the driver had gone the wrong way, we got out and then we were greeted and ushered in to the building. Glenn had booked us a helicopter ride across to Montserrat, to fly around the active volcano, and I could not believe it!
 

I knew nothing about Montserrat, never mind it having an active volcano, and what we saw was absolutely breath-taking. The ground steaming, the eggy smell which was of course the sulphar, what remained of the villages which had been wiped out by the Lava, and we learned all about the history, including over 70% of the island being an exclusion zone, but the Eastern end of the island still being occupied, crazy!

Needless to say we had a wonderful time, Antigua is a beautiful country and well worth a visit, and I'd like to give the fabulous lady who made all this happen for us, a mention as she certainly earned her salt - you know me, I'm fussy and indecisive at the best of times!

So, if you're loking for some help with your next trip, give Jen Bekker a try: Jen.bekker@travelcounsellors.com / 02380 070010. Sorry about the plug, other travel councellors are available, but Jen has helped us with our last 3 holidays and she's brillaint, and VERY patient!

New Year / New brand / New Range at No64!

Once again I’ve asked many of you what you would like to see at No64 and, once again, I’ve expanded our range. Not only have I got a new brand to tell you about to start the year, but a new venture for us…..clothes!

Yep, we’ve moved in to stocking a small range of clothing, and I’m really excited to introduce you to them. What I’m really delighted about is that this range I’d recently bought for myself, without even a thought for stocking them in the shop, and then when I looked at whether or not we could become a stockist, they said: “Yes”!

I’ve started with a small range and so please bear with me as obviously this is completely new to us, but keep coming in / visiting www.No64.co.uk and you’ll find we increase our stock regularly. Exciting, see what you think……
 

I can't wait to see what you think, I love this brand. If you check out our site Glenn is adding more as we speak, plus they'll be available for you to see, in-store, this week (once I've got my rail up!).

Annie Sloan price increase ALERT!

As I'm sure you'll be expecting we have some sad news for you regarding supplier costs, and therefore increased costs to you, our valued customers. All we can say is, we're sorry, there really is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

This time it's Annie Sloan (Chalk Paint & Accessories). They've had to raise their prices in line with their rising ingredient and component costs globally, to the extent they simply can't absorb those costs themselves, and so some of those costs have been passed on to us.

PLEASE NOTE: Annie Sloan set our prices, not us, which is why (for example) you’ll always find 1 Litre of Chalk Paint, wherever you shop, at £21.95 (soon to be £23.95).

What we’ll do is stick to the current prices until we sell the stock we currently have, as we’ve not been able to give you much notice of these price increases, but then our prices will need to increase a) because we’ll lose money if we don’t and b) because we’ll be told to by Annie Sloan HQ!

The key price increases are as follows:

Just to repeat, it's not us increasing these prices through choice. Prices have increased to us, PLUS Annie Sloan HQ sets the prices us retailers have to sell at. We'll keep the old prices for as long as we can but when it comes to us re-ordering we will have to apply these increases, and so hurry while stocks last in-store and via our Annie Sloan section online!

That’s it for now, I feel as though I’ve gone on a bit here, sorry about that.

2022 is going to be another tricky year for us, what with supplier costs increasing and the affects Brexit continues to have on us bringing in the brands you love so much (from the EU), and so all we can do is ask you to support us, as much as you can.

I wish you all a safe & fabulous 2022, I can't wait to see and hear from you all, and as I'll never tire of saying.......Thank You for your support!

Clare (& Glenn) xx

 

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