Let’s talk about our Carver store. What is an occasional store?

The Carver Junk Company store in Carver, MN is "occasional."  Which is exactly what it sounds like - it opens occasionally. Here's a little more info on how it works: When we're open: Here are the cliff notes:   The Minneapolis store is open every Thur-Sun.  The Carver store is open the 3rd Thursday - Sunday of every month. Our dates, times, and locations are kept up to date {mostly} here: https://carverjunkcompany.com/visit-the-stores/ In addition to the one weekend a month, the Carver store sometimes has "special" sales in between our "regular occasional sale" weekends. So we're always open at least one weekend a month, but we often throw in a bonus day or weekend. Confused yet? Bookmark this page: https://carverjunkcompany.com/visit-the-stores/ Weekends start on Wednesday evenings or Thursdays for us.  Our "regular occasional sale weekend" in Carver is the third weekend of every month. But that means we start with the third THURSDAY of every month. Sometimes, the month starts on a Friday, and that screws it all up. Check our website if you're ever unsure whether the Carver store is open. https://carverjunkcompany.com/visit-the-stores/ {sense a theme yet?} Filling up the store: We fill the store up completely right before we open the doors for the weekend {literally, we are still sometimes hauling things in the second before we open.} Here are a few views of the FULL store {these are from previous weekends, none of these items are available currently}: That's just how the store starts out before we open the doors for the first time. We sell about 75% of what you see in each of those photos, EACH weekend we are open.  We have storage units filled with furniture, and as things sell, we bring in new pieces. We often have customers come in every day of the weekend sale to see what's new! What to expect when you visit:  Our store is approximately 800 sq ft. We get some new customers who are surprised that it's smaller than they expected. If we counted cubic feet, based on how high we stack the furniture, it might seem a lot bigger :)  Keeping our store a reasonable size means that we can be very choosy about the quality of items we sell (we don't feel compelled to bring in "just anything" to fill up space), and it also means that the store looks completely different each time you come in. We don't pre-sell items that are new to the store before we open for the weekend. If an item is brand-new to the store, we want those who show up on our doorstep to have first dibs when we open the doors for the weekend. Because, this is what a Wednesday evening {3 hours} at the Carver store often looks like, and we wouldn't want to disappoint all of these people with "sold" tags on items before we even open: [embed]https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=424521804354790&set=vb.138737326266574&type=2&theater[/embed]   When you get to the store, if you see a piece of furniture you wish to purchase, remove the tag. By removing the tag, you're agreeing to purchase the item. It allows you to continue shopping, tag in hand, without having to worry about moving the furniture out of the store, standing by it until we can ring you up, etc. Shop 'til your heart's content, and we'll ring up all of your purchases when you're done. What to expect if you show up on a Thur, Fri or Saturday? We get up early each morning, and restock the store. So if you come in Thur, Fri, or Saturday morning, you're sure to have a pretty full store for shopping! We can't predict how busy it will be each weekend, and we only have so many furniture painters and craftspeople. If you stop in late on Saturday afternoon, or on Sunday, you may find the store a little emptier than earlier in the weekend.  For the best selection, shop early in the weekend! Saturday morning: Saturday evening {wouldn't this be a good set of photos for one of those "spot the differences" games??}: Tens of thousands of dollars of furniture move through the store every month. In a single weekend. That might mean you're never sure what you'll find, but it also means the store will be completely different every. single. time. you shop! It might even be completely different every day of the same weekend! Between sales at the store: If you couldn't make it to the sale, and somehow that must-have piece of furniture survived the weekend, we are happy to take a credit card via phone to purchase. We then schedule pickup or delivery by appointment, sometime before the next sale! We utilize all of the empty space in the three non-sale weeks each month to hold milk paint workshops. We teach the basics of mixing, applying, and sealing the paint, all while completing a fun hands-on project for you to take home!