Spinning our wheels

We really don't have much left to do in the space. We're waiting on some plumbing and electrical and then we can get everything inspected. Everything seems to have gone through with the City, after three months of back and forth. I have a bunch of our bar and kitchen equipment on hold at their respective restaurant supply stores. After inspection, we just have to close up the kitchen wall, bring in all the equipment, get approval from the health department and we're ready to go!

We've been helping out with a lot of the shared space. Yesterday, I cleaned out the walk-in refrigerator and today I worked on the patio area. We had to take down a water line and tear out a part of the covered patio Carl just put in a few months ago. The guys next door are going to use the alleyway as an entrance at times, which is going to be sweet!

It's been tough because we just want to get open already!! But we have to keep reminding ourselves, all in due time. And when I put it in perspective, we've been waiting for 2.5 years for this to happen, so what's a few more weeks?

Free Diving Lessons - This Sunday!!

I don't usually like to use the Hall of Records platform to promote other things we are doing but we need some students!! As I have mentioned before, I have been hired by Portland Parks and Rec to revive the springboard diving program here in Portland. Official classes don't start until the end of June but we're offering free classes on Sundays to help us get back into the swing of things.

FREE DIVING CLASS! (IT'S FUN!!) This Sunday, May 23rd from 4:00 - 4:45PM at the Matt Dishman Pool.

It's for kids or adults! And you don't need to know how to do anything beforehand. It's Diving Level 1, so it's just a lot of jumping in and out!

Email me at KatieS81@gmail.com if you are interested and I'll put you on the list so you can get in for free - whether I know you or not! Thanks!!

Our first press piece!

Jenny Tatone of the Willamette Week came by last week to ask us some questions about the future of record stores. We ended up having an hour and a half long conversation because, well, we have a lot to say about the subject!!

The article came out today and it's fantastic! She did a great job writing and portrayed us very well. She got how passionate we are about our business and I love that she started off the article with how we asked ourselves the question, what do we really want to do with our lives? Because that's how this whole thing got started a long, long time ago!

Here's the article:

The Pendulum Swings, Willamette Week, May 19th, 2010



We owe Jenny lots of beers when we open!!

The "Gerry"

We are so lucky to get to bring back a Portland classic! Our friend Gerry ran a food cart for many, many years back in the day in Montgomery Park, Portland's NW Industrial District. The cart was called Gerry's and his special was the Polish on Rye. After a while, everyone started to call it the Gerry. Polish Sausage, Rye bread, mustard and a dill pickle. He put his kids through college selling those sandwiches!

Now, Gerry is a good friend and he has graciously given us the recipe and his good blessings to serve the sandwich in the Hall of Records. We are super stoked and can't wait to eat!

Starting to feel like a Real Record Store!

One of my favorite things to do as soon as we finish a project is decorate and arrange everything as if we were ready to open. This week we finished the vinyl display shelves above the vinyl bins and behind the bar. So naturally, I wanted to see what they look like with records on them!

It's still incredibly dusty in the space, so we didn't want to bring out all the good records. But Justin gave me some from the dollar bin to use and take pictures.

Action Shots

Dameian working on the covers to the vinyl bins, standing in front of the newly built vinyl shelves!



Alli's first experience with power tools!



First meal at our newly built tables!



And the arrival of our barstools!

The Bench

Today is a gorgeous Saturday! We took a much needed half day at the store and went for a hike around Mt. Tabor. Man, do Portlanders come out of the woodwork when it's nice out!! Mt. Tabor Park was packed!

Last night we finished working on the bench for the front window. It turned out beautifully as well! But holy moly, was it a mind bender to try to figure out. We have learned that biscuiting makes wood settle in all types of weird ways - basically not at all flat. So the bench ended up being slightly less than level, which was a challenge to try to then make level. But we did it!

So In Love

I am so in love with our store!! I can't even begin to explain the amazing feeling of having something you've dreamed about for years physically manifest itself. It's exactly how I've been drawing it for the past 2.5 years.

Justin and I finished the floors this week. Our friend John had been doing it (and amazingly wanted to continue doing it all by himself) but his knee swelled up and he couldn't finish it before we needed it done. As soon as the floors were done and covered, I started putting the table tops we made on to the stands from Carl's old tables and arranging the tables and chairs. :)



We got a couch and a great mirror for the back bar from City Liquidators. We ended up not getting the gorgeous couch I picked out from EuroClassic Furniture. We figured we want people to feel comfortable eating and drinking on it and that it may have been too fancy.

Our friend Ian lent us a keg cooler he had sitting in his garage. We are incredibly lucky to get to use it!! I also got a sweet deal on an iced tea maker from a lady that closed a cafe in Beaverton. She suggested serving flavored iced teas like pomegranate, raspberry and peach. She said people go crazy for the pomegranate and I think we just might take her up on that suggestion!

So every day we're adding more and more things to the store and it's coming along beautifully!!

The Bar

So, it's not completely bolted together yet, but here it is!! We made it ourselves out of recycled wood and 2 X 4's (with the help of some wood stain and polyurethane). I will say, I'm pretty proud of our handy work!

Update on the pre-opening party

After much discussion, Justin and I have decided not to have the pre-opening party on his birthday, May 15th. There are many reasons for this, one being that we're just not going to be ready by then. We want everyone to be really 'Wowed' and we don't think you will be if it's only partly done. We also think it might take something away from our actual Grand Opening if all our friends, readers and fans have already seen it. Therefore, we're going to wait until our Grand Opening to unveil everything (date still TBD - but hopefully SOON!). I think I need to take Justin away from the store for his birthday. It has consumed us for the past three months (actually 2.5 years, but whose counting). He deserves to do something special. :)

Love & Gratitude

We have assembled an amazing team here at Hall of Records. Everyone has been working their butts off lately to get all the tiny details in order for us to open. It feels more like a family than anything else. Whether they are going to be an official "employee" or not doesn't even matter. The hard work, dedicated and massive amounts of love that have gone in to this project fills my heart with overflowing gratitude. I can't wait to open and the whole world (or at least SE Portland) can see what our labor of love has created.

And so it begins...

... the multi-day process of putting down the floor.



But I must say, it's beautiful!!!

Business Partner Couples

Being business partners and as well as being a couple has done amazing things for Justin and I's relationship. Being able to plan and dream and have goals together has strengthened and laid a great foundation for our life together. Not surprisingly, we are automatically drawn to other couples who are in the same boat as us; being both business partners and life partners.

We met with Alli and Evan of the Little Red Bike Cafe over a year ago and were immediately drawn to them because of the parallels in our location scouting stories as well as the fact that they are a business owning couple. We are also drawn to the owners of Cartola, Kit and Simone, for the same reasons and the fact that Kit is a big record digger. Unfortunately, we don't get to see them nearly enough, as being business owners makes all of us insanely busy.

But this brings me to our newest couple/business partner friends Jeremy and Keegan who own Crossroads Used Collectibles in Beaverton. They buy and sell used records, comic books, cds, movies, books and tapes. Jeremy offered to put a crate of our records for sale at his shop and I went down there the other day to refresh our collection. I was surprised to see that our crate was placed right on the counter next to the cash register for everyone to see!



Look how cute they are! I highly recommend stopping in, saying hi and perusing their fine collections!

Fruits of Our Labor

Pretty much everything in the store besides the artwork and records we have made or are making ourselves. This week Dameian worked laboriously making the vinyl bins while I have been working on the trim, paint, detail work and bar/counter tops. Justin has been sick in bed with the flu the past few days. :(

But the bins are turning out marvelously!



We also hung our very first piece of art (if you call it that). It was a gift from our soon to be employee, Edgar.

Headway & Challenges

We've been making a lot of headway at the store and I'm hoping to have pictures up soon. This week has been a challenge due to outside circumstances. I've been hired by the Matt Dishman Pool (Portland Parks and Rec) to create a diving program to add to their swimming lesson program. Springboard diving is one of my true passions and natural highs and I am ecstatic to teach kids in Portland how to dive. But the last two weekends I've had swim instructor training all weekend long so I feel like I'm being pulled in multiple directions.

On top of this, my Mac's hard drive crashed and I lost about a months worth of work. I have to re-create three business plans for my clients because I hadn't backed up their stuff in a while. Boo. Lesson learned. Quickbooks also decided it wasn't going to add up anything correctly when I re-installed the program. So now even though all of my receipts, credit card statements and QB records match, the totals are still not matching. Talk about making you want to pull your hair out. I think I'll be on the phone with Intuit for a while today.

Despite all this, I still go to work at the store every day. And every day we're getting closer and closer. We'll probably be done with construction and ready for inspection in about two or three weeks. Only problem is that we have to wait for Wayne to be done with construction as well and it's probably going to take him longer. I'm guessing we'll be all ready to go in a few weeks but be waiting on inspections and the health department.

May 15th is Justin's birthday and is also the day we were aiming for being our grand opening. We're thinking that even if we can't officially open or make food then we're still going to have a party at the store for Justin's birthday. We just may have to bring in some catered food or something. We need to work out the details but we'll keep all of you posted!!!