After so many years of hearing all our customers asking why we do not have our own store, I have decided today to share with you the reason.
September 6th 2001: Having a beautiful 3 day vacation in Cape Cod, relaxing and enjoying a little down time with my husband with the knowledge and the excitement that when returning to Manhattan (were we lived,) we were going to start a new adventure.
A couple of weeks prior to our little escapade, we had been looking diligently at store fronts in Manhattan. We were opening our own jewelry store!
Upper east side, Upper west side, midtown and finally lower Manhattan.
We found it! What a gorgeous space on Sullivan street! Large windows from floor to ceiling, a small space, narrow and very long like most spaces there with an entire brick wall which always makes a space looking so elegant. The street was busy with bakeries, the famous Sullivan street bakery, cafes and restaurants in a lively neighborhood.
What a great find, the perfect location for our jewelry, the perfect setting. The decision was quickly taken, it was such a great opportunity for us, we were going to be able to have our own little space, decorate it our way with the idea of having "art" gatherings where all like minded people would come to enjoy an evening of discovery.
We were approved by the landlord who loved the idea of a jewelry store, especially that it would have been adjacent to a hair dresser shop, who had been there for many years and hoping for the right tenant, someone who would be compatible with his shop.
We would have probably shared some customers.
So this was the day of our appointment with a lawyer to sign the lease. September 11, 2001, We lived on 47th street at the time, on the west side and our appointment was uptown.
As I dashed down the street to get our daily bagels and the New York times, I entered the bodega where the TV was on...The owner of the place looked at me with tears in his eyes and just said that something terrible had just happened. The images of the first plane hitting the first tower were displayed and I just remembered the silence that surrounded us. The utter disbelief and the shock.
I ran back home to tell my husband,we turned on the tv to watch in horror as the second plane was hitting the second tower.
It was 9:03 am.
Almost immediately, the phone rang and it was our lawyer telling us that "exceptionally" due to "developing events" we would be able to get out of the lease without any penalties. We did...
Pretty Sullivan street stayed completely out of commission for many months so did the entire village due to very bad air quality.
We felt helpless, defenseless, disabled and powerless so we just went out in the streets and walked down direction the world trade center to offer our help...
That is the reason we do not have our store. It is quite ok, we have our lives. So many friends, so many family members had lost everything that day, some were saved by a faulty alarm o'clock and some were unlucky to have been invited for the first time in their lives to have breakfast at "windows of the world" on the last floor of the twin towers, on that day.
Life always brings you where it wants to. The only control we have is the control of our decisions. We have the control to always learn, the control to help others. the control to know that we are offering something that makes sense and that we are acting upon our inspirations and that always gives a sense of accomplishments.
We also think that from our past experiences in our lives, the outcomes were never as expected and that the results came a bit by surprise, so you never know, a store for us? maybe, or maybe not. It is nothing in the realm of life.