The store is a bit cavelike at the moment. Most of the lights are out so that the ceiling can be painted, and all of the windows are covered. The ceiling painting is completed, and all of the walls are framed. It was a good week of progress!

The windows are covered, and the for rent sign is gone. In a week or two, we’ll get some signage letting everyone know that Terra Outfitters will be open soon! We’ll also have a sign that hangs perpendicular to the sidewalk, and will get some nice benches or chairs in front of the store. The sidewalk is really deep, and about half of it is covered by the roof overhang.

It’s tough to see the color without much light, but it’s dark green, basically camo green.

There’s green dust on everything from the painting. It looks pretty rough, but I assure you that this is actually forward progress. Once there’s light, and floors, things will look much less depressing.  

We’re stuck with the door to the left of the front windows since it goes to the utility closet, and we’re not going to move everything that’s in there. We’re planning to either make the door a giant chalkboard, or just replace it with a barnwood door that will blend in.

Downtown was quieter than we’d ever seen it due to the weather. Things were gradually opening up by the time we left, but it was going to be a slow day there. As proof of how cold it’s been, there was still ice sculptures all around downtown that were left over from the fire and ice festival last weekend. Ice normally doesn’t last 8 days here!

Buildings look a lot less happy when there’s no sun. Once we have our signs, chairs, and awesome window displays, it will look a lot better.

On most days, it’s tough to get a parking spot, but with a little bit of snow, Blue Ridge looks like a ghost town.

Directly across the street from the store, the city park has a big pavilion with a fireplace. All of the big events (Arts in the Park, tree lighting, etc) are in this park, so we’ll routinely have huge crowds to pull from.

Our block-neighbors include a women’s boutique, a pet boutique, a bead store, the pharmacy and general store, and building under renovation. The corner is occupied by a former gas station that’s now an electric bike store. “Bike Parking Only” is always a good sign. Our store is a few doors down from this picture.