Happy New Year from Randy!
The end of 2011 comes with a bit of sadness; it was a heck
of a year! Looking back at all of
the changes and events leaves me almost breathless.
The year stared in January with the decision to expand the
business and add a new physical location.
State College was the obvious choice. Choosing a storefront was as easy
as a visit to their downtown.
August 4th marked our grand opening: a culmination of hours
of hard work, creativity, sweat, blood, and yes, even some tears (of joy). The new staff brought into the
Dwellings family via our State College expansion proves every day that the
mission of our business as well as the reputation of our store is limitless!
Love you ladies!
 |
| The new State College store! |
Further expansion within the company occurred in April when we decided to begin carrying women’s apparel. (Right in the middle of planning the new store! Who says we don’t like a challenge!?) We strive to find fashion forward, unique, quality clothing, providing our customers even further with the Dwellings standard. In fact, this week we leave for the first buying show of 2012, adding fresh spring and summer looks. Read my re-cap in next week’s blog! There will be lots of sneak-peeks of trends coming this season.
In addition to apparel, we added several new vendors to our
offerings. From Jonathan Adler stationery and accessories to Alexandra and Co.
sorority gifts and jewelry to Nashelle fashion jewelry – all of which are
represented in our stores and now on-line!
Did we say on-line?
YES!
The start of fall marked the start of yet another new
project as the Dwellings team tackled the task of re-launching our
website. The number of decisions
to be made was daunting (Who would host us? How do we support this? What should
it look like?) The result, through
the effort of Emily and Katie, is a beautiful and sophisticated shopping site
that has brought our famous Dwellings products to our customers around the
country. The girls are adding new
products daily. I’m so proud of them and our beautiful new website!
 |
| The new www.DwellingsAtHome.com. |
The past year
also marked a milestone in community involvement for Dwellings. With the
addition of the State College store and our close relationship with the
sororities on the Bucknell and Penn State University campuses, Dwellings found
opportunities to give back. We
have held several fundraising sale days in both locations in cooperation with
sorority philanthropies. Hundreds
of dollars have been donated and more of these fun days are planned for 2012. Additionally, we became a corporate
sponsor of Toys for Tots. We were
thrilled to see the support of the community to make kid’s holidays a little
brighter and a lot more fun.
Thanks to everyone who donated a toy – next year will be even better!
Looking ahead to 2012 the year has already started out with
a bang. Our relationship with Company C, our beautiful area rug company, has
matured to now include their full line of high quality, upholstered seating,
coordinating perfectly with their rugs, pillows, and bedding. Keep and eye out for beautiful examples
of their product showing up all over Dwellings-land.
I can't wait to hear what's in store for Dwellings in 2012! I am so impressed by the stores and the new website, and you're such an inspiration Randy. Just goes to show that with a great idea, passion, and a lot of hard work, you can do anything! Best of luck in 2012!!!
ReplyDelete