Now in store are adorable, 100% organic and compostable grow kits for lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, edible flowers and basil. These kits are all-inclusive, contained in their own planter made out of rice hulls. Once the plants are started in your home you have the option of planting them in your garden, pot and all! They’re already to go, including a pretty ribbon and to-from tag, just perfect for gifting. Other kits are available without the planter, but still containing all you need for starting organic sunflowers, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries and pet grass inside for transplanting later. Raising your own vegetables is becoming more and more prevalent these days – who wouldn’t want fresh, organic produce available from their own garden or container garden? Compostable container kits are $24.99, recyclable grow kits are $19.99 and pet grass (dog and cat) are $9.99.
We’ve also gotten in many new summer entertaining items and have changed the store décor to an elegant beach theme. Come in and see our fabulous marble servers, summer themed napkins and shell motif serving platters! Sparkling glass apothecary jars full of shells, summer-scented candles, stunning blue swirl art glass vases and absolutely beautiful punched tin lanterns from Mexico will transport you directly to Margaritaville….no ticket required! Be sure to take a look at the lightweight, fair-trade scarves from Open Hand Designs, as well. They’re the perfect accent for your summer wardrobe and what could be better than purchasing something that helps someone else? We’ve got beautiful fair-trade jewelry, also, and just arrived are wonderfully fabulous, real stone necklaces, pendants and bracelets from Tobias & Alysha, a local Los Angeles company. These stones are selected carefully for their healing, magical qualities and are made by family-owned, fair trade exporters in India.
Have you caught the buzz yet about the new restaurant opening on upper North Lake Avenue? The vacant building that housed the defunct CJ’s Wings is now a Mexican eatery called El Patron and we hear they are really, really good! Scott, Leilana and I were lucky to meet the owner a few months ago while she was shopping at WFS. She was asking us about the vacant building up the street, and then told us of her plans to open a Mexican place there. We are so thrilled she was able to arrange it and we welcome them to our Upper North Lake family! Wow, all the buzzing about this new place is great….kind of makes me wish that when Scott and I opened WFS, there could’ve been that much excitement. Unfortunately, I guess everyone was too shocked, or mad, at the changes to Webster’s to celebrate our new ownership and the promise it represented.
We’re still dealing with those issues today, almost three years after having taken over the old stationery department at Webster’s. Almost three years of Webster’s Pharmacy Corporation not saying a word to the public about why they decided to break up the stores. The parties responsible for the changes decline to comment, let alone mention our store. It’s just Scott and I, and our crew, feeling like voices in the wilderness, explaining it to customers time after time. It makes you wonder why they don’t work with us to promote the entire complex, even though we’re separate stores….you’d think that would be a no brainer. We like what Seth Godin says in his latest blogpost and believe it to be apropos to what’s happening here.
Every holiday or occasion, we talk to hundreds of people who visit our store and ask us about what happened to Webster’s. This past Mother’s Day we actually kept track and it was roughly every other person who came in who asked. That’s actually staggering, my friends….every other person shopping at Webster’s last weekend hadn’t been there for nearly three years! For a store to survive it needs loyal customers and shopping with any store only once every couple of years won't help much. We would love you to be a loyal customer and have been hard at work to regain your trust.
We’ve also been working hard to bring you information on the importance of shopping locally, supporting your local businesses and thereby, your community. I know that there are many of you out there who do, and we thank you, but the number of people who don’t are greater. We need to get the word out, to let people know we’re trying very hard to be more relevant to the residents of Altadena and nearby areas by the products we carry, the knowledge and services we offer and by our involvement in the community. Please help by spreading the word. Do what Webster’s won’t and tell your friends and neighbors about Webster's Fine Stationers! That would help very much and we’ll keep doing what we do best - serving you and our community with with genuine pleasure.
Have a wonderful week!
Lori and Scott
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