Opening the Shop for Business & Visitors –
Several customers have asked when we are going to open our storefront in Covington, Ky. Here is the schedule for 2016.
Starting March 12, the shop at 837 Willard St. will be open for visitors and customers on every second Saturday of the month, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. We’ll carry all of our titles there, plus whatever else we might have lying around that’s odd or special.
We may or may not carry apparel. Right now all our shirts, hats and sweatshirts are being made on demand. But we might do a special small run of garments for the store. Stay tuned.
You are probably thinking: Are they nuts? Open on only one day of the month?
Yup. We don’t have employees, John lives 100 miles away and I can’t play “store” while building furniture, editing, writing, blogging, designing and dog knows what else. So if you are planning a drive through the area, here’s the schedule for 2016 if you’d like to stop by to talk, tour the shop or pick up some books.
March 12 (this is in conjunction with the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event down the street at Braxton brewing)
April 9
May 14
June 11
July 9
August 13
September 10
October 8
November 12
December 10
We likely will have a book-release party or two this year as well. Details to follow.
As you can see from the photo above, we still have a long way to go to make the place presentable. The plaster work is complete – both front rooms have been completely re-plastered to look as they would have in 1890. We’re installing new windows on the 9th Street side of the building that were bricked over (the city was happy to approve this restoration). This will bring some southern light into the shop area. And we’re removing the bars from the windows so we can escape in case of a fire.
Today I am headed down to start repair on the subfloor – the solid white-oak flooring arrives on Jan. 14. A section of the subfloor by the bar is rotted from an old sink leak. I also need to remove 1,239 staples from the existing subfloor, so I’m surprising Lucy today with an anniversary present of kneepads and fencing pliers.
I do know how to romance the ladies.
— Christopher Schwarz
