🛍️ Update Cosmeau Store Haarlem

We're now in week 3 of the renovation and we're on track for the grand opening at the end of March. So much work goes into the preparations! Luckily, we don't have to worry about the construction itself—with our two left hands, that's best left to the pros—but it's all the little details for the store's look and feel that keep us busy. It's really going to be a special shop!
 
BEFORE 

AFTER 😀

Don't mind the mess! 😬 The dropped ceiling has been removed to make everything feel more spacious. The holes in the wall are prep work for floating cabinets, since the drywall can't support the weight on its own. The floor's been taken out too; it's getting replaced with a beautiful, warm-toned linoleum.
 
We've been preparing for a year now: from the store design to the bags, products, price tags, and more. Our goal to open in November turned out to be unrealistic. Since we had to coordinate our stock purchases with the extra sales from the store, we now have more inventory than usual—and last week, two full containers were added on top of that. Our warehouse is bursting at the seams, and all the aisles are packed with pallets.

This is what it looks like 😨 In the bottom left, you can see the scent booster machine, which we can’t access anymore. That’s why we’re slowing down production for two reasons: first, we don’t have the space, and second, we’re looking into alternatives that are more eco-friendly, cheaper, and easier to make. There are some exciting innovations in this industry that could offer us more than our current process. Moving and hooking up the electricals would cost us about €10,000, so if we switch to a different process, we’d rather invest that money in other projects.
 
We could create extra space by building upwards, but then we'd have to adjust the lighting, buy new racks, anchor them into the ground, and work with reachers. Since this hall will only be used for production in the future, we think it's a waste to invest in that. Next month, we're meeting with our landlord to look at expansion options on our site: about 2500 m² of extra hall space, with loading docks! 🎉

🤔 What is a loading dock? In our previous emails, we already mentioned our wish for a loading dock. This is a pit where a trailer backs in, so the loading area is level with the warehouse floor. That makes loading and unloading containers, pallets, and machines so much easier!

Here you see Jolijn (our store architect from Studio Kees) and Jason checking out the materials for the cabinets and price tags together. The ceiling, the wall of the Bamboozy shop-in-shop, and the floor are getting a beautiful, soft shade.

The showroom floor and the top layer of the cabinets are made from recycled, organic linoleum. The fabric on the right will be the fitting room curtain in the Bamboozy shop-in-shop. Stay tuned for more updates about the store soon!