"The French Flea" - Anoka, Minnesota - May 13-17

As you may recall, I am part of a new venture in Anoka, Minnesota called "The French Flea". It is a new shop showcasing French, European and unique treasures that we find, refurbish, re purpose, recreate and in my case design into new one-of-a-kind finds. I am currently show casing a new line of jewelry that is created from vintage, found elements and new items to create truly one-of-a-kind jewelry that hopefully can be passed onto generations to come.

We were open for the town of Anoka's "Diva Days" for two days May 1st and 2nd, and to say the least the store was a hit. We only had about 2 weeks total to repaint, refurbish and get this place ready for this sale, and the hard work surely paid off. This isn't to say that we had perfection. No, we have things to learn, things we can do better, and things that weren't quite done yet. We didn't have a sign on our building yet, as we just didn't have enough hours in the day to create and do all that is necessary in opening up a new shop. We ran out of postcards with the first hour of traffic through the shop, and a few mix ups were part of the frantic first sale.

We recently had a lengthy vendor meeting discussing the good with the not so good, and how we can improve everything for you our customers. Our first sale was fabulous and far exceeded our hopes and dreams, so overall it was an excellent first sale.

We have really had some great free PR for the shop. This blogging community has been fabulous. My friends, Lani and Julie created a top notch post card to distribute, Lani with the help of Kimberly designed an awesome email mailing regarding the shop, the Minneapolis Star Tribune featured our new shop in their Wednesday Garden section the same week we opened up, thank you goes out to Kim. Sue from Junk Market posted a supurb posting about the new occasional sale "The French Flea", Lani and I blogged our hearts out on our personal blogs, and now Renee Christensen with the Minneapolis Thrifty Shopping has written a great article about our shop which can be viewed here http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-8761-Minneapolis-Thrifty-Shopping-Examiner~y2009m5d6-The-French-Flea--An-Occassional-Market-Place. Thank you to everyone for your wonderful PR, support and most of all friendships during this new venture. We appreciate each one of you.

The French Flea is Anoka's first premiere occasional market place, and we are working hard to provide our customers were the best available products. The French Flea is located downtown Anoka at 211 E Main Street. The building is right on main street and features a charming courtyard area that will be turned into a bistro style market place for the upcoming sale. Our shop will be open every second Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of each month. The upcoming sale dates are next week already. Please join us, and let us know how you heard about our new venture.

Don't miss The French Flea's Grand Opening!

Wednesday May 13 from 3 - 7

"CUSTOMER APPRECIATION with Shopping"

(light snacks and beverages will be served out on the courtyard)

Thursday May 14, 10-6
Friday May 15, 10-5
Saturday May 16 10-5

Sunday May 17, 12 - 4

Future Shop Dates:

June 11-14

July 9-12

August 13-16

September 10-13

October 8 - 11

I will plan to publish some photos when we get more set up in the shop. On a personal note, I've been working hard trying to get some furniture ready for this sale. I will have a "Jenny Lind" style ivory bench which would be great on a front porch, at the end of a bed, in a sunroom or pulled up to a long table for seating. I also have a nice french blue round wood table which would be great next to a table, bed, or most anyplace you want a lamp and a place to set a drink on. A two person chippy white metal patio table and two chairs will be in this sale as well as a great vintage square black table. I also will have more great smalls, which will include an awesome metal black and brass vintage baby scale. This scale could be re purposed to hold a grouping of potted plants, a supply of toilet paper rolls in a bathroom, or a collection of candles.

I hope to see you there.