It was one year ago today, September 1st, 2016, that Chris and I held the key in our hands to 1434 Hertel Avenue. 

We were planning to open the store maybe 6 months after we had, but when we saw a spot on Hertel that was for rent, and after we met the amazing landlords, followed by hearing our rent and that they were going to give us the first month free in order to get things in motion, WE JUMPED ON IT. Hertel was the only street we wanted to be on. Foot traffic would probably be the best form of marketing we could have since we didn't have a budget for it when we first were getting our feet wet. We also live in North Buffalo, two minutes away to be exact, this is our area that we know and love. It is probably the best decision we have ever made. Yes, we had some catching up to do and a rushed time line in order to make it open by the holiday shopping weekend of Black Friday.  But we did it!

We could not have done it without the help of our friends and family.  We had our parents in here helping us paint and clean, friends building walls, getting nails out of the subfloor, building shelving, etc. We are so completely lucky and blessed to have the people in our lives that we do. 

Chris and I are also very superstitious. We didn't want to announce the store opening, or even tell anyone outside of our close inner circle that this is what we were planning.  At any moment things could change or timelines delayed, so we waited until we were well on our way with the construction phase to start spreading the word. 

Prior to being Spoke & Dagger Co. this location was actually a Fitness Studio. We snagged a photo off google to give you a visual.  Baby blue walls and mirrors that lined it. The flooring was a run down tile that our landlord had already planned on removing before they rented to us.  That tile was quite the process for them : /. When they pulled it up, there was more tile underneath it.  Then after pulling that up, there was a damaged subfloor that had nails in it every... four ... inches. We were patient and lent a hand to our landlords crew with this floor because it was such a pain!  Once the new flooring was in, we had everything ready to go and turned this place into a store pretty quickly. 

Check out the progress in the photos below!

The Fitness Studio that was here before us!

Bags and bags of the old tile flooring

Finally ready to level the floor & we painted the back wall.

We are ready for our featured wall!  We got reclaimed wood from ReUse Action.  

The wood found throughout the entire store is old bleachers from a college in Syracuse.

Thanks Brandon, of Running Rich, for helping with the wall!

A million years of bad luck came Chris' way after this one. : (

Thanks mom for the awful pic of me painting!

Progress!

Our beautiful new flooring!!!

Angelo from Nickel City Metal Works making our shelving.

Jeremy who had helped us with flooring and shelving.

They tested out the structure & took a break at the same time. 

Chris and I created most of the work in the store ourselves, including the counter, triangle shelf, and chandelier

(with the exception of the shelving unit & stools which came from Nickel City Metal Works.)

We turned a storage closet/doorway to the basement into our fitting room. 

Andy Sharpe who paints signs and tattoos at Modern Love Tattoos

painting our exterior sign! We loved watching him work.

Opening Day! November 25th, 2016