A Blog Post by Laura Kuhl
It was a lovely day in Petersburg when two very new friends sat down at a table in Talisman by Broadgauge with coffee in hand and intentions to work on their writing projects. Would you believe that our laptops never even opened? We ended up chatting the whole time and I knew pretty quickly that this was going to be an important friendship in my life. We looked across the way at the businesses around the square, discussing how we love stopping in at Hand of Fate brewery, how Lucky’s On The Square is so nice, how we love the feeling walking through the antique shop on the corner, how we were so excited to see a unique shop like Moonbeams & Magpies open, and how we always find something to take home from The Crazy Daisy (and probably so many more but at the risk of turning this into a blatant advertisement for Petersburg, I’ll stop and simply suggest you find your own favorites about the town). In the middle of this conversation, we both stated how badly this town needed a bookstore.
“I’ve thought of opening one here, you know?” My new friend, Cheyenne, shared.
“Me too!” I enthusiastically replied.
We’d both made Pinterest boards and swapped them, discussing how different our styles were, but how perfect they’d both be nonetheless.
“We could do it, you know? Together.” One of us said. Maybe me? I can’t be sure now. But in our very first, true hang out, one of us threw out the wild idea. And so, Wildflower & Rose Bookstore was brought into its first form of existence.
In the time since, we have become best friends, talking daily. And in the time since, the bookstore has felt like a rollercoaster ride. There have been incredible thrills, moments we thought we might hurl, moments we’ve cried, moments we’ve thought this was the worst and best decision we’ve ever made, sometimes both feelings at once.
When we agreed to start this wild adventure together, we made a few promises to each other. We knew our friendship, though new at the time, was important so we vowed to keep being friends first through the chaos and I’m happy to report that’s always stayed true. We promised that our families would be our respective priorities. And we vowed that if it really stopped being fun, if it started to bring us dread or make us miserable, we’d throw in the towel. This is an endeavor of love for this picturesque town, for books, for friendship and community. If we lose sight of those things, then it’s not what we set out to do.
As brand new business owners, I think what we were prepared for the least was the amount of almosts. The almost location, the almost partnership, the almost permanent pop up spot, the almost future that felt so much like a yes that suddenly became a no. Sometimes it was our personal lives throwing curve balls like a surprise baby or multiple cars dying in just a few months. Sometimes it was something that just didn’t work out for someone else. Taking steps in one direction then getting pushed back has happened so many times now that we’ve started to wonder, are we pushing for something that isn’t in the cards?
We’re moms with other jobs and hard working spouses, but we haven’t had the means to easily acquire certain things for our business. I do want to note that the bookstore, itself, has been successful. It has no debts and has remained profitable. But without a larger starting capital, we’ve had to sort of claw our way through, putting in extra work to get ahead for the business to afford its next move. When multiple next moves resulted in back tracking, it started to wear us down a bit.
Now, I want to pause, because this is all starting to read very negative and ungrateful. We have been truly overwhelmed by the kindness, generosity, support and love from this community. Many local businesses, organizations, and community members have gone above and beyond to support this dream of ours. We haven’t seen ill intentions in what hasn’t worked out. That can be the nature of life. Not all things go the way we hope or envision them initially, and that is okay. Even if it is a bummer for a time.
More, what I’m hoping to express, is that in our pursuit of balance in life, in work, in entrepreneurship dreams, we’ve been reflecting and sitting with the discomfort of uncertainty.
For January, we took a bit of time away, and when it came time to schedule events again, we started to find that budding sense of dread. Between Cheyenne’s newly grown family of four, and my kids in multiple travel sports, the idea of adding pop ups every weekend once again started to feel a bit suffocating. We both love the feeling of running the bookstore, helping you find your next read, and being a part of this community. With heavy hearts (and truthfully a dose of relief), we both agreed that hitting the brakes on the bookstore felt healthiest for both of us.
We are not closing the book on the bookstore, we’re reaching a slower chapter and hoping you all won’t put us on the shelf to collect too much dust. That you’ll still crack the cover when we are out and about.
We will still have events, we will still be around, but continuing to promise you a future where we have it all together and are present with increasing frequency feels disingenuous. That may very well happen with time, but we can’t pretend to know just what the future will hold.
What we can promise is that we do love this community, we love books, we love the local businesses here, and we appreciate every single one of you. We aren’t disappearing on you.
Thanks for reading sweet friends. We’ll be seeing you, yeah?
- Laura