Hi, everyone! First: thanks for joining me for this Junket reboot – most of you have been along for the journey for quite some time now (while others of you are so clearly aligned around values and purpose that I only wish I'd known you sooner!). Hugs, all around!
Since there were just two folks on the email list when I was moved to start writing last month, here's some philosophical framing for what comes next: Begin/again
And then: I am thrilled to share that yesterday, after three and a half long years (1306 days to be precise, but who's counting?), Junket landed a new physical space (with great company!) in South Minneapolis.
I'll share more soon (you know, a physical address and photos would be good and all); but first, context: this move is an ideal long term solution for Junket, for M & me, and for an ever-expanding community of forward-thinking and happy-to-roll-with-us artists, innovators, connectors, families, and friends.
- The overhead is low. Renting a small studio in a larger building with room to expand gives us an address, a staging area, and answers the 'where did they go?' question for 6000+ folks still trying to find our address in Google each month.
- Shared community spaces (an event hall, a small group gathering room, a commercially equipped kitchen, a garden alcove, a substantial surface parking lot...) will be ideal for events, gatherings, and classes that a retail shop on Minnehaha couldn't handle... Covid willing, we'll be able to invite people into community in the spring.
- Product pickups and dropoffs can be executed efficiently here by myself and/or others. I'm working on automation sequences to batch list items for online purchase and local pickups at the new spot (casually angling for process testers here: instagram.com/junketmpls) ;)
- Highly accessible location at the corner of 38th Street East and 17th Avenue South, directly on the bike boulevard and two bus lines (23 and 14), and a one mile walk, bike, or bus from the Blue Line. We can continue to encourage multimodal transit, while nested in a largely residential community.
- Given my uneasy relationship with organized religion, moving Junket into a church basement feels both a little bit badass and like an opportunity for catharsis. Exposure therapy and all... but also, church buildings are designed for bringing people together. It feels important.
I'll have more to share (likely soon). For now, the hustle is underway and I'm grateful to have a cheering section! If you're inclined to throw some energy at this, I will be welcoming the following support in the weeks ahead (and I'll be more specific with details as I have them):
-Saturday morning set-up and load in/load out support for humans picking up purchases. Mostly outdoors, with masks, mittens, and coffee.
-Social sharing of announcements and updates
-Word of mouth (a few 'I hear something's coming' rumors are good now, too). ;)
-Help lifting/transporting larger items
-Sorting & preparing physical product at the new, masked-up location
That's it for the moment. Grateful to each and all for showing up and sharing love!
Julie