In the last Soulehe Boutique Diaries, I told you about our evenings spent building what felt like an endless amount of furniture, slowly watching the empty space start to look like Soulehe and, somewhere in between all of that, trying to organise our Opening Day campaign.
And now…
THERE ARE EXACTLY 3 DAYS UNTIL WE OPEN.
Apppppi. 😂
This is actually happening.
And I think the nerves have officially arrived.
For such a long time, Opening Day felt like something we were working towards. There was always another week, another job, another delivery, another thing that needed to happen first.
And suddenly there isn’t another week.
It’s THIS Saturday.
Okay. Now I’m scared. 🥹
What Have We Actually Been Doing?
The last week has basically been about…
Everything else.
You know when you finish all the big jobs and think, great, we’re almost done?
Apparently that’s when you discover approximately 700 smaller jobs that still need to be done. 🙃
So what exactly does “everything else” mean?
Let me just write down the first things that come into my head…
Filming videos. Taking photos. Planning posts. Writing captions. Organising Opening Day. Creating the Opening Day campaigns. Designing signs and little information cards for the products. Making vouchers. Creating the Lockbox codes. Cutting out all the Lockbox codes. Making the discount wall. Printing what feels like an endless amount of photos. Putting those photos into frames. Hanging them. Lighting. Artwork. Shelves. Putting out products. Polishing jewellery. Packing and making online orders at the same time. Finding signs, stickers and banners. Ordering them. Installing them. Going to the shops because somehow EVERY SINGLE DAY there is something else we need to buy. Pricing. Making price tags. Cleaning. Organising the back room. Unpacking everything. Creating systems for everything. Building our checkout system…
And there is more.
So much more.
Those are literally just the first things that came into my head. 😂
And After All That… The Furniture Ended Up Exactly Where It Started
Remember those final table legs we were waiting for?
We got them!
So once everything was finally assembled, we started moving the furniture around the boutique.
And then moving it again.
And again.
Trying different layouts.
Looking at it from different angles.
Moving another table.
Until eventually…
the furniture ended up almost exactly where I had originally planned it in my head. 😀
Of course it did.
But at least now we KNOW.
Once we were finally happy with the layout, we could move on to the next stage.
Shelves went up.
Then the artwork and photos started going onto the walls, which, naturally, took MUCH longer than we expected.
Because apparently nothing in this boutique takes the amount of time I think it’s going to take.
And then it was finally time for the real stars of Soulehe.
THE JEWELLERY ✨
This was the part I had been waiting for.
Actually putting the products out and seeing all of my jewellery inside the space for the first time.
And somehow…
that alone took about three or four days.
I would put one collection somewhere.
Look at it.
Move it.
Put something else next to it.
Look at that.
Move that too. 😂
Even now, three days before opening, I’m still changing little things around.
But I can finally say that the products are OUT.
And once the jewellery was in place, we moved on to everything else from that slightly terrifying list above.
My Very Exciting Price Tag Story 😂
Okay, this might not sound exciting to anyone else, but I found SUCH a good solution for our price tags.
Obviously, I want every product in the boutique to have a clear price.
But I didn’t want to attach big price tags directly to the jewellery.
It doesn’t feel very boutique-like to me, and Soulehe jewellery is quite delicate and small. A normal price tag can almost be the same size as the actual piece.
I also don’t want the first thing you notice to be a giant price tag screaming at you before you’ve even looked at the jewellery.
So I found these tiny little price tags that work PERFECTLY with our displays.
I ordered a couple of packs to test them.
They arrived.
Perfect.
Amazing.
I love them.
There’s just one tiny problem…
I DIDN’T ORDER ENOUGH. 👀
Of course.
I immediately ordered more, but they won’t arrive before Opening Day.
So yes, some of our price tags will look a little different at the beginning.
And you know what?
It’s fine.
At this point, if that’s one of our biggest problems, I think we’re doing pretty well. 😊
Four Days Of Polishing And Pricing
Once the products were out and the lighting was in place, it was time to start going through everything.
Every piece needs to look beautiful and ready for you to pick up.
So I’ve been polishing jewellery, checking displays and adding all of those tiny little price tags.
And by the time I’m finished, I think that job alone will have taken me about four days.
I’m actually still doing it today.
Three days before opening.
Everything is completely under control. 😂
THE SIGNS…
Oh, the signs.
You know the things that probably should have been some of the FIRST things completely organised and installed?
Yeah.
Naturally, they’re one of the LAST things arriving. 😂
Our signs are literally arriving one or two days before Opening Day.
But honestly…
At least they’re arriving before Opening Day.
That’s where we’re at now. 😃
My Brain Is Officially “Pudru Ja Kapsad”
There is an expression we use in Estonia:
“Peas on pudru ja kapsad.”
Literally translated, it means something like “there’s porridge and cabbage in my head.” 😂
And honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever related to an expression more than I do right now.
It basically means that your brain is completely overwhelmed. There are a million things happening at once, everything is getting mixed together and at some point you’re not entirely sure what day it is anymore or what you’re supposed to be doing next.
That’s me.
That’s where we’re at.
Pudru ja kapsad. 😂
But underneath all of that chaos…
I am SO excited.
I’m Still Not Showing You Everything
I’ve added a few photos to this post so you can see some of what we’ve been doing.
But I’m deliberately keeping some things for the next Boutique Diaries.
Because by then…
THE BOUTIQUE WILL BE OPEN. 🥹
And there are parts of the finished space that I simply don’t want to show online yet.
After all of these months of sharing the journey, I still want there to be something you haven’t seen.
I want the first time you see the finished Soulehe boutique to be when you actually walk through those doors.
Then I can show you EVERYTHING.
And Now I’m Actually Getting Nervous…
Opening Day.
Oehhh.
I am so unbelievably excited.
And at the same time…
I’m really, really scared.
There are all the normal business fears, of course.
Will everything work?
Did we forget something?
Will people come?
But I also have my own personal fears around the day.
English isn’t my first language, and while I speak English every day, when I think about a busy boutique full of people and everything happening at once…
That little voice in my head starts again.
What if I don’t understand someone?
What if I can’t find the right words?
What if I get overwhelmed?
What if I can’t do it?
And then I have to remind myself…
Look around.
Look at what we’ve already done.
I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet what Hans and I have actually managed to create.
A few weeks ago, this was an empty space.
Now I’m sitting here THREE DAYS away from opening the doors to our own Soulehe boutique.
So yes.
It’s exciting.
It’s terrifying.
And apparently both of those feelings can exist at exactly the same time. 🤍
Okay… Let’s Talk About Opening Day 👀
And while we’ve been painting, building, polishing, pricing and running around Griffith buying the 700th thing we forgot…
We’ve also been planning something else.
OUR GRAND OPENING.
And if we’re opening our very first Soulehe boutique, we definitely weren’t going to do it quietly. 😂
We’ve been planning the campaigns, filming videos, cutting out codes and trying to come up with ways to make Opening Day feel like an actual celebration.
And I think we’ve come up with some pretty exciting things.
Our Biggest Sale Of The Year
First of all…
UP TO 25% OFF STOREWIDE. 🤍
This will be our biggest sale of the year.
So if you’ve had something from Soulehe on your wishlist, Opening Day might be a pretty good time to finally get it. 👀
And then there’s the part I’m probably most excited about…
The $350 Soulehe Lockbox 🔐
I LOVE this idea. 🤩
On Opening Day, we’ll have 100 unique Lockbox codes.
One of those 100 codes will open the box.
And inside?
A $350 SOULEHE VOUCHER.
One person is going to find the winning code and walk away with $350 to spend at Soulehe.
And no…
We don’t know when the winning code will be picked.
It could be early.
It could be later.
Which is exactly why, if I were you…
I’d be there at 10am. 👀
You’ll also be able to discover new pieces, shop our handmade crystal, pearl and gemstone jewellery and see a few Opening Day surprises we’ve been keeping up our sleeves.
And, most importantly, you’ll finally get to see the finished Soulehe boutique.
SOULEHE GRAND OPENING 🤍
SATURDAY 12 SEPTEMBER • 10AM
📍 2/371-379 Banna Avenue, Griffith
🕙 10am to 4pm
• Up to 25% off storewide
• 100 unique Lockbox codes
• One $350 Soulehe Voucher to win
• New pieces + Opening Day surprises
And after writing about my biggest fear all the way back in the first Boutique Diaries…
I’m just going to say it.
Please come. 😂🤍
Grab your friends, come celebrate with us and finally see what Hans and I have been working on all these weeks.
Three more days.
Apppppi.
See you Saturday, Griffith! 🫶