Almost Home / Le Maison Presque

I'm finally ready to blog about what is going on in our lives. I've started a bath and body line because of all I learned in the last year about what we should not be using. I'm not what I would consider "organic" but I am very concerned with the rise in various childhood issues and the connection to some of the things approved by the FDA that go into our B&B products. So I started playing around with these and then fragrances and it's been a hit. In fact so much of a hit that I'm having trouble keeping things in stock. See I started off by making these as gifts and pretty soon, strangers were calling because a friend of a friend tried my hand cream and now they want to try it too. The feed back is really good also.

Well over Christmas a good friend, Amber, talked to a stylist who is opening a spa in the downtown Wylie area. She wanted to talk to me about carrying the spa products in her retail portion of her spa. I made an appointment to meet with her last Wednesday 1/5/08 but I arrived a bit early for the appointment. I decided to look around for a bit in downtown and made a bee-line to a store called Almost Home. I'd never been in and I by-passed all the other store and went directly to AH. I overheard the owner telling a customer that she was looking for a buyer for the retail portion of the business and that she was moving the tea-room piece to a historical house in the downtown area. (I have since learned that Wylie was listed by Forbes and on of the top ten fastest growing communities in the country and that the average age has dropped from 45 to 27 in less than 20 months. They have also had a 400% growth rate in that same time period. This will be relevant in just a few sentences.) She (Kathy) said if she could find the right person, and she and her husband and the building owner have been praying, to come in and buy it all lock- stock and barrel then she would happily give them the deal of a life time. With my head spinning (this is a life-long dream for me but one that was FAR out to sight ad seemingly impossible) and my heart pounding, I approached her and asked some general questions. A little over a week later, the contract of sale is completed, the lease is agreed upon, I've measured the store, I've meet with the bank and the landlord and I'm am only hammering out the financial aspects of the deal. Obviously I can not out all the details in my blog, but it is the deal of a lifetime. I keep waiting to find some landmine of make a false step because it truly seems too good to be true however after having an attorney and CPA take a look it is sound.


And the best part of the entire story is that GOD HAS DIRECTED EVERY SINGLE PART OF THE DEAL. It's as though He has been my real-life partner opening doors and making things happen.


If I pray for it, I am getting really accustomed to it happening very quickly. I have specific instances of things happening that are just too much to be coincidence. Every single person who has been close by and watching this take place has seen it.

So as it stands today, I have a meeting on Tuesday with the bank president to go over financials. Sean and I are looking at our books because we have to have 20% of the loan amount in either cash collateral or both to add to the deal. The bank will only fund 80%. I'm open to an investor because I'll be able to borrow a very small sum (about $3500) for only a couple of weeks until the loan is funded then I'll pay the entire sum back. That plus collateral will easily over the percentage and I'll have working capital to update the inventory. The current inventory is a bit dated.

I've been hesitant to really broadcast this news because if the deal should not happen I do not want to have a lot of explaining to do. So here's my public statement about that" If this deal does not happen it will be for the best and I'll accept it. But I do have my heart set on it at this point and I have a TON of plans. It's a place where everyone can put their stuff either on consignment or rent their own booth and share in this experience and hopefully make some money too. It's a place for all of my various and sundry artistic endeavors in one place. It's a place to teach my children about financial responsibility and that dreams can come true and a place to give back to the community in the form of charitable functions and sponsoring different important issues and groups. I am praying very hard for this to happen and I really want to talk to anyone and everyone (after the deal goes through) about retail potential.

The store has been in the downtown area for over 8 years and has an established clientele. all the kinks are worked out and it's really turn-key so I will be making changed very responsibly and slowly. I want to keep the current clients but expand to serve the 400% growth in the area. I'll be adding a secondary title to the store and painting, merchandising and updating the overall look.

I'll get a picture of the working title and sign. I'll be painting the sign myself but I'll have it professionally weatherproofed and installed. Le Maison Presque means almost home in french and it sounds nice. I'm tossing around others but this is the top choice for now.
I'll keep the posts coming as things progress or degress.....





4 generations at the tearoom inside the store.