An ecstatic Kara Ceriello shared the news tonight that her shop, Not a Number, will be staying in Wallingford in the smaller part of its current location on N. 45th St, after an 11th-hour offer from her landlord.
Ceriello and partner Jon DeLeeuw will close down the store as of this Sunday, February 27, for a week to get the space right next to The Sock Monster ready. Until then, Ceriello said, “Please come take advantage of our ‘moving next door sale’ — everything’s 30 percent off.” They also have bookshelves and display units for sale.
Ceriello said she and DeLeeuw have been touched by the support they’ve gotten since announcing at a Chamber of Commerce meeting last week that they’d likely need to close the shop. She wanted to thank the whole community for its kind words and help while she scrambled to figure out if Not a Number could remain in Wallingford.
As of last night, Ceriello said, they were going to move the store to South Lake Union, where Not a Number would have shared space in a friend’s shop called Goods for the Planet.
To her surprise, their landlord today said he’d decided to offer the small space back to them.
Ceriello hopes that Not a Number will reopen Saturday, March 6. Look for a grand reopening party the following weekend.
The smaller Not a Number will carry mainly greeting cards and political stuff, Ceriello said. “We want to be the place in the Seattle area to find silly/wacky/goofy cards,” she said. “People have also requested that we keep the political stuff to put on themselves or their cars.”
Ceriello said she’s signed on month to month for now, and will see how business goes through the summer. “We’re absolutely delighted to stay here, and have felt so supported,” said Ceriello, but the fact is they need shoppers: “We need the support of our community, and we’re here to support our fellow small businesses.”
YAY! Good news for all of us!
I just want to say many thanks to all the kind things that people have written and said in the last week! It has been a joy to be in the Wallingford neighborhood.
I want to state a couple of things for the record, as some of you have asked. First, our struggles are NOT due to Archie Mcphee’s moving into the neighborhood. If anything, they have been good for our business, as we normally refer customers back and forth all the time. Second, this is NOT a case of a greedy landlord. Our landlord has been GREAT to work with. He is not overcharging (unless you call renting at market rates overcharging, which would be a good topic for further discussion elsewhere). He is charging a us a fair market rate for a good retail location. If anything he has gone against his own best interest in letting us downsize, as he had another tenant ready who wanted both our storefronts. So now he has an empty space rather than the income he would have had. Like a majority of small retailers, we have had declining sales that have resulted in us struggling to meet our bills. I think it is the economy coupled with people re-examining how they spend their time/money. We hope that with less overhead we will be able to weather the bad economy.
Now a little song paraphrasing the Beatles that comes from ALL small local merchants everywhere
Your loving gives us a thrill
Your loving doesn’t pay our bills
We need sales, that’s what we need
Give us sales
If you like a business (I left out the word small, as even large businesses need customer’s support), patronize them! Without your patronage, they go away no matter how much you might have liked them.
THANK YOU WALLINGFORD! We look forward to continuing to serve you from our downsized location.
PS Support your local Wallingford Merchant while saving yourself some money using the WallingfordSaves.com neighborhood discount program (which I started and administer). Save money at over 35 participating Wallingford businesses. The local economy starts with YOU!
Great news! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for all the nice comment! Everything in the store is currently 30% off. Mention MyWallingford for an extra 20% off – we need to get rid of some stuff for the downsizing. We will be open tomorrow, and then close for 7-10 days with a target grand reopening party on March 13th.