Here's the story...

I've been working for Blair's Market for the last 20 years. That's not really a secret to anyone. And recently our lives have changed significantly. And really the only reason why some of you are wondering "Why didn't you say anything?"... is because of confidentiality. We are moving to Thermopolis, Wyoming. The Blair's Market group has now expanded to 3 stores and we have been asked to operate the Thermopolis store. It is quite an opportunity that we are very grateful for. We are excited and scared all rolled into one. The biggest cause for concern though is timing. We start on Sunday Nov. 16th, 2008.

Here is how the story goes... This store was owned by a man who worked really hard and stuck it out through some really hard times. He eventually got his store to be a good producing store and also got to the age of retirement. He looked for buyers (we looked at this opportunity then, but passed) and found a married couple who wanted a business of their own. Lots of unfortunate events began to come to the new owners, to put it mildly and they got in a pickle. Contact was made about a sale to the Blair's Market group... and the answer was a surprising "no sale". A few weeks later around the first few days of October, an actual offer was made. This time circumstances had progressed/deteriorated (depending on your point of view) to the point of addressing the cold hard facts. Fact of the matter was the new owners were in need of a big bucket to bail them out of their situation.

As it turns out at the time of the offer in October there was a 99.9% chance that this deal would go through and we would be moving to Thermopolis, yet at every step of the way from the time of the offer and eventual acceptance of the offer we had to beat the 0.1% monster to the ground. It was quite an emotional, physical and psycotic journey. One day the 99.9% wins and the next three the 0.1%.... back and forth untill Monday the 10th of Nov. That is when the actual agreements to sale were signed. And since the new owner's situation had changed dramatically a final ultimatum was given to be out of the store on the 15th of Nov.

So, here we are. We are so grateful and blessed to have this opportunity. Mindy is looking forward to working directly and closely with her hard headed husband. She told me at one point that she would never work for me. Now I am glad that she said that, because she doesn't have to work FOR me, just has to work WITH me! ha ha We may be living in a van down by the river for a while... but we will make it! We haven't found a place to live, so the search continues.

So, if you are traveling through, stop by and see us. We are right on the main street of town. We'll update more when we get settled.