Wow!
It’s been a crazy 12 months, hasn’t it?
Like so many of our customers and friends, when I look back on that time so much of it is a blur. I even noticed I have tracked the passing time much differently than I expected.
For example, I can’t keep track of when which lockdown began or ended, how many hours I’ve spent working from bed, the sofa, the kitchen table or my new home office, and I certainly can’t keep track of how many bottles of wine or how much chocolate I’ve had!
Instead, I have tracked the last 12 months through the exciting things we have done at the shop and as I look back on all we have accomplished, I can honestly say I am not only exhausted, BUT I am excited for what the future holds.
When the first lockdown was looming, I decided we were going to take advantage of the closure and repaint the back section of the shop. The shelves had not been painted in many years and I wanted it to be beautiful when we were able to re-open.
That was a BIG task.
So many holes to fill and sand, and then such a massive space to wash with sugar soap before we even started painting. With only weekends to work on it together, it took George and I two months to get it all done. It was worth it though; that part of the shop looks incredible now!
While we were doing that work on the weekends, I was building our new website at home during the week. That was an enormous feat for me and one I could not have achieved without the help of our branding consultant, Design by Country.
My computer savviness has always ended at troubleshooting computer and printer problems, mastering software and doing research online. To build a website that shares our beautiful offerings beyond Shrewsbury, was something I never thought I would be able to do. However, on 5 May 2020 our new website, www.whiteorchard.co.uk, went live.
Immediately following that I began working with Design by Country to rebrand our business and create a new logo.
That has been so much fun!
Developing our new logo has meant we could do so many more exciting things too; we commissioned a new sign to be hand-built and painted by @joshmonk and I could not be more in love with it if I tried.
We commissioned Kate Hollingsworth of @brand_photographybykate to take some truly amazing photographs for our website, print and digital advertising, and social media channels.
From there we did our first refresh of our fledgling website, while we waited for our new gift cards and business cards to arrive.
And now, we have finally received our new carrier bags! And like before, they are 100% recyclable.
So here we are, one year later, celebrating all these amazing milestones we have been fortunate enough to accomplish during such trying times for our world and our community, and I want to celebrate with all of you!
That’s why I’m sending you this discount code for 10% off for 10 days!
This discount code will be good from 12:00am on 5 May 2021 through 11:59pm 15 May 2021. It will give you 10% off your purchase, excluding costs for postage. CODE: CELEBRATE
BUT if you spend £40 or more you qualify for FREE second-class post so you could achieve a good savings on things you have been wanting for yourself or gifts you are needing for the ones you love.
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of you who have supported us. We could not have accomplished all we have without it and we are profoundly grateful.
Warmest regards,
Jennifer Wadhams
White Orchard