More Progress!

Things are moving! The contractor told us that we should have the keys next Wednesday - as in less than one week! We are really excited. I spent some time yesterday thinking about ways to grow Vitalize and making it everything that I hope it will be. I have big goals and dreams for this company. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. We have had the chance to meet with some great reps lately. It is always great to hear presentations on various companies and their products. I am so excited to be able to offer you all such high quality products that I truly believe in. It is so encouraging to know that there are great companies out there who are truly concerned about their customer’s health and the earth we live on. Side note: Make sure that if you have any special requests or favorite products, you let us know. We are getting our orders together this week. For some more exciting news, we picked up our brand new business cards from a great local company called Heritage Advertising Agency. They did a fantastic job and I LOVE the cards. Check out a picture of them on our facebook page Vitalize Nutrition Company. I must admit that I am going to be business card happy for the next couple of weeks so please don’t be offended if I offer them to your more than once! ;) Other updates: yesterday there were guys measuring the floor and today they started painting the ceiling!! The painters told me that they should have it all completed tomorrow. Eeek! Stay tuned for a more informative post about a great new product that I recently tried! Let’s just say I am a believer and I am hooked!

Fixtures and Flooring

I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to finally see progress in our space (you have to understand that we signed our lease a year ago and this is the most progress we have seen). So far, in the last three weeks, the builder has completed the electrical work, installed the hvac unit, completed the plumbing, poured the concrete and passed inspections along the way. Today, we saw sheet rock and beams on the ground. They told us today that the only things that they have left to do are to build the storage room, complete the bathroom, hang the light fixtures, paint the walls and install the floor. Today, we met with the leasing agent and selected our floor and light fixtures. So many details! Another huge accomplishment that happened yesterday is that we purchased about 80% of our fixtures (shelving, sitting area, cash wrap, and the children play area). I will admit that I felt like a bit of a nerd carrying around my 3 foot scaled version of our store. Hopefully Dustin made all of the drawings of the fixtures to scale so that everything can fit! I know it is going to look amazing in there. We are going for a very different look than most other vitamin/natural food stores. We want our store to be a much more inviting experience. We feel that we selected an excellent assortment of furniture to achieve just that. We also selected paint colors last week with the help of Amy Lee over at Hearth and Home located at Market Street across from Barnes and Nobel. She does an excellent job and you should definitely check out her store. Gorgeous!! We can't wait for the big reveal and we are still shooting to open during the month of June. Please keep us in your prayers as we have many long days and nights ahead of us!

All I can say is that I am incredibly thankful for amazing family and friends. A special shout out to Casey Denman who worked tirelessly, helping us with our purchases. You are a great friend and we hope to soon return the favor (or at least I will since Dustin decided to conveniently leave on a week long trip, just in time)! Also, Dustin's dad David, our wonderful neighbor Edgar Vergara and Brittney Denman all helped us unload the truck-full once we got back to Ocala. You are all wonderful and we love you guys!