Dearly Beloved,
It is my pleasure to announce that we are closing our Oklahoma City store at the end of May. Scroll down to the very bottom for some important info if you don’t want to read the stuff in the middle…
We will re-open in 2017 in the Garden District of New Orleans, somewhere on Magazine Street, as Starwind Gifts.
We’re going to have a big party (probably Memorial Day weekend, but stay tuned for details about that). I would *LOVE* to have a jazz funeral for the shop so if you know anyone who can do that, let me know right away!
I know that a lot of you have found our staff to be more than just clerks and owners. We’ve counselled many a customer, held a few hands, been that shoulder to cry on and the sounding board for your crazy ideas. We’ve been a source of comfort and a font of wisdom. We have hooked a lot of you guys up with spiritual candles, magic pebbles, and sparkly baubles over the years, and we know that you’re going to miss us when we’re gone because it’s true – there really isn’t anyone else like us in Oklahoma.
So if you would, please do us a favor – help send us out with a bang. Don’t cry for us. Instead, come by and celebrate our memory and our legacy.
I’d love to have a card or letter from every one of you letting me know that we mattered to you. Sometimes it’s easy to get discouraged, and we’re going to be starting from scratch in the Crescent City. If I can look through an album of your letters, that will keep me going in those small hours late at night when things get overwhelming. Just tell me what we meant to you, what it meant to have Once Upon A Silver Moon and/or the staff in your life. Take your time, compose your thoughts, and then drop it in the mail (address below) or bring it by the store. Sealed envelope, open book, crazy art piece – whatever. It’s important that it come from the heart.
I know that New Orleans is absolutely the right move for me. If I could, I would take all of you with me. That would get a little awkward though because you know the back yards aren’t all that big and the neighbors would complain about the tents and the noise.
I will always cherish the time I have spent and the deep impact I know we have made here in Oklahoma City.
Through the years, I know I have given good counsel, pulled off some admittedly pretty impressive magic here and there, saved more than one marriage and more than one life. I know I have helped keep some of you from doing some really stupid stuff and helped get a few of you out of sticky situations. I’m not bragging; this is my job, as a minister and mage.
So please, if you will, take just a few minutes to put pen to paper and tell me in your own words that all this hard work and time given freely (literally freely, I never got a paycheck here) was not for nothing. I cannot express the sincerity of this request, the depth of importance each person’s words would mean to me.
In the past, stores have come and gone. People don’t get to have closure when a shop like ours just closes quietly, with the owner bitter, the accounting books usually on fire, the earth scorched and salted. We’ve had a closure like that ourselves and it left us peering out from the dark shadows under a rock licking our wounds. This shop almost didn’t happen again because of the pain we endured, trying to make things better before we finally succumbed to the trials that eventually took us down.
But this time it’s different – we are looking at a shiny new and admittedly irresistable opportunity to go to a place where we can, we think, still make a difference to the locals and also, maybe make a little bank as well. It’s time to pay off the credit cards and make a paycheck like other grownups. And that means, unfortunately for you guys, it’s time for us to say goodbye to Oklahoma City.
We are, therefore, pleased to let you know that this is happening, but that doesn’t mean we won’t miss you. Of course we will. So to help bring closure, we are going to throw a GTFO party, time and date to be announced forthwith. We honor you guys enough to stick around and say goodbye and have one last drink together. Details to follow, as soon as we know them we will get it out on the mailing list.
In the meantime:
We are not going to have a storewide clearance sale, because we are going to need the inventory for the new shop. HOWEVER, we are not going to put the incense and herbs into a storage unit – that is just not going to work out.
Therefore, all incense is 25% off, and all herbs are 50% off.
If you have participated in our Six Spot rewards program, we will honor the rewards at 10% of whatever your current total. So even if you made one purchase for $4.00, you have store credit of 40 cents. We are not going to start any new rewards cards and will put all the unredeemed ones through the shredder once we close.
We are not accepting returns of any merchandise at all for any reason. Not that we have a lot of returns anyway, but it’s kind of obvious that we don’t want it back.
We are quite willing to make some deals and accept reasonable counter offers on stuff. I’m not going to give things away, but yeah we can certainly bargain if something catches your eye. And note – we like cash, cash is a nice thing if you’re feeling like wheelin’ and dealin’.
We are planning to take most of our fixtures with us but we do have a few things we’re willing to part with. Mainly, the enormous green marbled counter with the lab surface on it that we use for our working altar in the Dark Room. That thing is huge, and very heavy. Someone can HAVE it if you will just come and haul it off. Please phone the shop to make arrangements beforehand though.
The closer it gets to the end of the month, the less stuff we’ll have. We’ll try to keep as much inventory out as possible but we’re going to be starting to pack stuff up as soon as possible. We may wish to borrow a couple of folding tables, if anyone has them to lend for a week or two. I can’t come fetch or return since I do not own a car and the one I sometimes drive is a wee thing. But please note, after the 20th, stuff is going to get inventoried and then packed away, so don’t put off your visit.
I plan to have the entire store cleared out (including the fixtures) for the party. It usually rains that weekend so I want to plan to be able to have disco lights and a DJ inside. Like I said we don’t know the exact end date yet (I’m waiting to hear back from my landlady) and therefore don’t know the exact date of the party. But end of May is when I want to do it. I’m going to look at houses in New Orleans first week of June and want all this stuff wrapped up by then.
Many fond farewells to all, and I hope to see you at least one last time before we close.
Ande
Our MAILING address is not the same as the shop.
OKC mailing (it’ll be good for a while) –
Once Upon A Silver Moon
3102 N Classen Blvd No 123
Oklahoma City OK 73118
NOLA mailing (this address is good now, and will be our permanent mailing address) –
Starwind Gifts
3436 Magazine St No 347
New Orleans, LA 70115
