Permanent Sunshine

A month after Keith cut a hole in our 113 square foot store's rear wall, our retail expansion was complete – and our community's response has been all we had hoped. Customers tell us the shop flows better and browsing is easier, and within the first week our sales already reflected this. One neighborhood regular likes the new store so much that he thinks we should charge admission. While we won’t be taking his suggestion, we are glad that everyone is pleased with the changes we’ve made.

Unexpectedly, it seems to be the new paint job outside that is having the most impact. As soon as the build-out was done, it was time to check the 7-day forecast and schedule a painting party. (In Portland, pinpointing the day in early June least likely to rain is on par with trying to predict the last frost date, but fortunately we managed to do it.) The result? The exterior walls donned a shade of yellow selected to coordinate with the green we chose for the trim last fall, eliciting consistent compliments from passersby – this last a relief, as the building holds a prominent position on a busy thoroughfare, and colors tend to look different on a 14’ x 45’ wall than on a sample chip from the store.

When Keith and I decided to reopen Taproot last fall, we both acknowledged the learning curve we were undertaking. The retail experience I gained in my early twenties didn’t include merchandising on a whole, and I had never been in a position to make decisions about a store’s exterior appearance. I thought when we put up our signs, the customers would just stream in. While we’d had our share of walk-in traffic over the previous eight months, I didn’t anticipate the increase that going from white to yellow would produce, nor the change in people’s perception of Taproot. It’s brought folks out of the woodwork welcoming us to the neighborhood and asking when we opened. (In hindsight, I can see that gray signs – our identity system is in tones of gray – on white walls in an overcast city is one of the least visible initial choices we could have made.) The psychological effect has also been notable. One customer told us she had noticed Taproot many times but felt reluctant to visit because the space didn’t seem open to the public, despite our signage. Several new clients have mentioned how welcoming the new color seems.

The best part about finishing the exterior painting? Starting the landscaping! We’ve been pulling the red rock out of the parking strip beds over the past few months and solarizing the weed seeds; soon we’ll be amending the soil (currently the tilth is nothing to write home about) and putting in a selection of native and Mediterranean plants. Stay tuned for next month’s post, likely to be titled “Landscaping for Permanent Sunshine.”