Oh my dear blogging friends, I am so delighted and privileged to be able to share with you a wonderful French-inspired shop in Canton, Ohio and its equally wonderful proprietor, Abby! The shop is appropriately called The Blissful! Can you imagine a more dreamy name? I love it!
is a lifestyle boutique of French-Inspired Finds & Furnishings Established in 2005, the shop will launch online commerce at its in January 2008. Isn’t this the most exciting of developments?! Now not only can we be delighted by her charm and wit but we can actually shop directly from her website! That is blissful for us! Be sure to check out her website, it is really a fabulous design!
Now I know many of you may have had the pleasure of visiting The Blissful , and you have experienced for yourself how simply charming Abby is! She is one of the people I connected with during my first couple of months of blogging. She has been a voice encouragement to me, both personally and to other women who are working hard in their businesses. Her other blog is actually designed for women entrepreneurs, particularly other shop-owners, although I find her experience, advice, wisdom applicable to my business as well. The entrepreneurial blog, called A Boutique Industry, can be found .
One of the things I really like about Abby is her dedication to making her dreams come true. I know we’ve discussed before that we should be creating the life we want (not just waiting for it to happen spontaneously!), and Abby is a superb example of doing just that. She has given up her home in pursuit of her dream and is doing everything it takes to make that dream a reality. You’ve got to admire that dedication! But if I was her, I would just move right in to the shop! Yeah, that would be very cool!
I snipped this little bit right off her blog (copyright of The Blissful!) so you could have a glimpse into her life right now with the holidays coming:
This is the time of year that strikes both exhilaration and trepidation into the heart of every retailer. It’s the beginning of the holiday season. If you’ve been out shopping lately, you’ve noticed this! The time is drawing nigh when, along with my fellow shop owners everywhere, I will begin burning the candle at both ends. Lord, let it be a scent I like.
I woke up spontaneously at 5:42 AM today, with one thought running through my head: oh my gosh, we have so much to do to get ready for the holiday party! Now just three weeks away, I have yet to mail the invitations, finalize my schedule of hostesses, firm up my menu (plus buy ingredients, prep recipes, and schedule baking days), conceptualize window displays and new holiday displays and how to zhuzh all the everyday displays in order to accomodate new seasonal merch and new everyday merch, plus figure out what the heck I’m going to wear! On top of this, we are still running the store, checking in new arrivals on a daily basis, etc., etc. The last week of October, we’ll be closed for four days before the party (well, three actual shopping days and one Sunday, on which we’re always closed) so that we can transform the shop into a holly bough-bedecked, glitter glass-encrusted, mercury glass ornament-adorned, twinkly light-spangled, hot chocolate and Joie de Noel-scented confection of wintertime merriment.
What fun to get a peek in to the life of a shop-owner! One thing I have noticed since blogging is that shop-owners are so friendly and fun, I think that must be a prerequisite!
Abby also shared with me what her customers are looking for right now now that fall is underway:
This is the time of year when my customers are starting to nest in earnest. They are picking up those furnishings and home accents they may have had their eye on for quite some time, wanting to complete the rooms in which they’ll be hosting parties and family get-togethers. People are more and more in search of the perfect fall or holiday candle. Spicy and food-related scents, such as Black Ginger or Crème Brulée, sell well for us at this time of year. I also see my customers purchasing more hostess gifts—a special set of drinking glasses, a cool serving tray, gourmet items, one of our great cutting boards, or a pretty apron.
I love shopping, wouldn’t it be fun to be one of her customers? If you live in Canton, Ohio, you are lucky indeed! I hope that you will visit The Blissful blog, and in January become a customer of her online shop. Even now she says if you see something on her site you want, you can give her an email and see what can be arranged! It is so great to be able to support other creative women in business!
Thanks Abby for sharing your blissful dream with us!
