Talk about full on activity and all in the face of covid second or third waves, Christmas trade and frantic preparations for whatever flavour of Brexit is going to be fausted upon us.
Last week I was telling you a huge potential problem we are facing with our new warehouse, that even though we are in residence we might have to move out... you can read about it here.
I'm in Spain at the moment trying to give some TLC to our talented and dedicated team here. Because of covid they have been left somewhat to their own devices, but that's not to say Toni and his team have not made great leaps forward. They have - with the most beautiful showroom at AW, the most delightful websites, the neatest and most organised warehouse. I'm proud of them. But now I'm here, I can help them move to the next level.. we got a truck full of racking from the UK, that we took out of Parkwood warehouse (in Sheffield to make room for the Beast) - the extra racking will give them spaces for quite a bit more stock, and enable a rapid expansion of the product ranges. And it's all happening fast. Very soon there will be a French and Europe wide website - all ready to cope with that Brexit moment.
Meanwhile in Sheffield at our Aromatic Factory, the Beast from France arrived. Oh boy.. it's bigger than we quite appreciated even from the pictures and the written dimensions. It's a soap plodder to replace our old faithful one that was destroyed in the fire.. this was the only one we could find at short notice.. and it will produce like 10x what the old setup could. What it does is take sacks of eco-friendly soap noodles in at one end - mixed with all the good stuff.. aromatics (essential oils, botanicals etc) and mince them up into a plasticine type state and squeeze it out with huge force from various shaped dyes.. That's the first part.. the second part still is essentially by hand, cutting, stamping, molding, finishing and packing. Quite a labour intensive, but with this bit of kit we really can ramp up supplies - so we expect to build up good stocks and a good range of products.. fast selling beautiful high end soaps your customers will love.. and you (hopefully) will love that we can keep you supplied like never before.
We have the electricians wiring everything up today, all the packaging and raw materials have been delivered, staff will be trained on Monday next week.. we hope to be in production by Tuesday or Wednesday.. I'll update you.
So last week I was telling you about the mine shaft problem under our new warehouse.. It seems like there are eight mine shafts beneath our feet that could at any moment collapse plunging all your stock into a big black sinkhole.. obviously our new landlord (an investment fund) wouldn't want to buy the warehouse and we would be out on our ear. No-one can find the papers that prove the mine shafts have been made safe.. Just now as I type this newsletter, Mike, our potential landlord, called me.. He told me.. "Don't worry David, it's going to be OK, we can't find the papers but the original developer has confirmed they did exist, and they are a highly respected public company.. so we are happy to take a view on it".
Phew! I can tell you it's another load of stress lifted.. similar to when the insurance company finally (after way too long) told us they were accepting the claim. Like a huge weight lifting from your shoulders.
2020 - who needs Netflix.. just too much drama already..
I'm sure you know this.. but in the UK this is the weekend that the clocks go back.. or is it forward? I'm easily confused.. Anyway, the thing is that the nights will suddenly be DARKER.. and that triggers that Christmas-is-coming part of the brain. The Xmas songs will start a-jingling, talk of turkey and cranberry stuffing, and my friends the "Hunt for Gifts for Gran & Co" is officially underway. Usually when the clocks go back and Halloween and bonfire night are upon us - the gift trade leaps into a frantic higher gear. How it will work this year (in the age of coronavirus) is unknown.. but one thing is for sure.. those with an online sales channel are going to be the biggest winners.. we can already see which type of customers are ordering big these days. Check out our AW-Dropship.com if you want to get in on the act without carrying (or investing in stock).
Anyway hope you have a good weekend, stay safe, wear a mask, be kind to someone, check out the deals below :)
More news next week.