Greetings!
:
Hello friends & family of Cornerstone.
I am absolutely delighted to say that our Premier, Doug Ford, has given retail with a street front door, the official "okey dokey" to open! Whoooot! We are super excited that we will get to see all of our friends and family once again. Initially we will be doing a combination of "By appointment shopping" for those who want a more dedicated experience, as well as some days for regular type shopping where you can shop and browse while observing physical distancing recommendations. We will be doing "By Appointment Only" Monday-Wednesday from 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM. Thursday - Saturday from 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM and Sunday from noon until 3:00 PM will be a more traditional type shopping experience.
Please also note that from 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM, Thursday - Saturday, our store will be closed for our staff to have a dedicated lunch break.
Closing earlier than normal will allow for a deeper cleaning at the end of each day in our continued efforts to shake the Covid! We plan to have these hours for the first 2 weeks of June so I will ask you to monitor FB for changes. I may send a separate email if/when we change them up! When you come into the store, things are going to look a little different and this has been done to keep our staff and customers safe
as we continue to navigate our way through the slippery Covid Pandemic. Lisa has moved furniture so that you may be "guided" through the store to assist with keeping physical distancing. There will be a hand sanitizing station at the front of the store when you enter and again at key areas. You will see Plexi-glass at the cash desk & wrap station. Our staff will be wearing face coverings and face shields for added safety as they help you choose your pieces. We are asking that if you can possibly pay for your items with either debit or credit that would be awesome! We have even added "TAP" to help keep touching to a minimum. If you must pay with cash we understand and will not make a fuss.
So what's happening in June? June is PRIDE month! We are sad that public events are cancelled, however, the community can still show support as celebrations will happen virtually On June 13! Check out the
PRIDE
website for all the happenings.
Father's Day is happening on Sunday June 21! We have plenty of "Dude" gifts, as Lisa likes to call them, at the store. From prints, to glasses, to wood, we make Father's Day Shopping easy! Can't decide? Get Dad a gift card (you can even do that on-line now) and let him come in to shop for himself!
We are ecstatic to say that after 2 months, we will finally be able to have a featured artist!!! Our first artist of the post - Covid shutdown era will be... Jason Wickware! Jason is from Mountain Ontario and is a talented blacksmith and painter. Let's give him a warm Cornerstone welcome and be sure to drop in to see (& buy) his work!
Marissa Sweet has generously re-scheduled her 1-day class for Sunday October 4, 2020. Call the store at 613-546-7967 to reserve your spot. When we know for sure that the class will run (that we are allowed to be open from the Covid-lockdown), we will then process payment. I would ask that you are committed to coming when you reserve your spot as there are only 8 openings and 2 have already been spoken for.
Other store happenings include the launch of our new website and on-line store. At the moment we are only selling in-store gift cards, however we will soon be adding other pieces. Let me just say that adding an on-line store is not for the "faint-of-heart". The most challenging part was trying to figure out how we "do" shipping. As you know we take pride in not being "standard" in anything that we do or have here! So "standard" shipping applications didn't work for us. But with a lot of help from Kelly at BentoSMB and manager Lisa's amazing skills in data management, we think that we have figured out the how. Please keep checking back often, and you will see more & more work by our Canadian artists available to buy on-line.
Lisa is planning to do a spring window change-up soon as well! Because of the virus and how busy that this and the on-line store has kept Lisa, our winter theme has overstayed it's welcome! I am not able to share with you what the theme is because even I do not know! Shhhhh it's a secret! Lisa thought it would be nice for people going out for walks to look at something new!
I have decided that I do not want the world to go back to the way it was. We all saw that "the way it was", didn't work on so many levels. I am seeing that as we re-open our economy that the caring and supportiveness that we had for each other, is giving way to the old ways of negativity, selfishness and lack of caring and empathy. While we were on lockdown, the planet began to heal from some of the wounds, that we as humans, had inflicted upon her face and into her core-being. She had time to breathe, close up areas of the ozone, clear the air over many polluted cities, and blossom, as areas of the world head into spring and summer. Whatever your political convictions are, we saw the Canadian government step up and help out so many people who would have been completely devastated (including myself), without the various assistance programs put in place for personal use, as well as businesses. The Pandemic has in it's nastiness, allowed a light to shine into the horrible conditions and circumstances that our most vulnerable peoples have had to face, and often times, had to face them alone. We have seen how valuable front line workers are to us and not just the professionals like doctors, nurses, paramedics and firefighters. We saw check out people, making minimum wage, showing up day after day, doing their best to make sure that we had food to eat and the basic necessities met so we could stay home and be safe. With all of this in mind, I hope that you are with me in staying away from the negativity and projecting only the great things that we are capable of. Let's not tolerate injustice, racism, neglect, or abuse of any kind. We have an opportunity here to turn it all around for each other and future generations to come. I say... Let's Do it!
Lastly, we would like to offer our sincere condolences and sympathies to our Canadian friends and families in Nova Scotia. This province was hit hard yet again, when
Captain Jennifer Casey, was tragically killed in the crash of a Canadian Forces Snowbirds' jet near Kamloops, in British Columbia on Sunday May 17th. The Snowbirds had been doing a cross-country tour to boost the sagging spirits of their fellow Canadians. Sigh.
Please continue to follow us on Instagram, FB & Pinterest to keep up on the latest news from us. Share our newsletters so others can sign up,and share our social media posts too. Hang in there with us and let's be there for each other. We will be checking phone messages and email messages for people who want to make in-store appointments, as well as social media. Please be patient for us to respond as we re-open and get back to sharing our great Canadian Artists and their work.
From our heart to yours,
Penny & the staff at Cornerstone
