Avenue Lou

I'm sure most of you have seen by now that me and Al have started a little side business! If you haven't been hounded by my Facebook status updates and requests then you can go to our Facebook Page or Website to see what I'm talking about! :)

So I guess I'll tell the little story about how this came about! - First off - I buy the cheap sunglasses - like the $10-$12 ones at Target, and I ALWAYS break them. I throw them in my purse, my car, etc. and they always get broken and scratched. Because I am not very careful with them I could never bring myself to fork out hundreds of dollars for a pair of shades that would just end up broken - even though those nice ones come with a case, I still couldn't do it, Im too cheap! So last Spring I found a pair of aviators at Anthro for a whopping $28 that I absolutely loved.

Fast forward a month or two and we were getting ready to go to California with my family - I knew that we would be going to the beach, Disneyland, shopping, etc. I wanted to bring my sunglasses but since I found a pair of pretty cheap sunglasses that I loved, I did not want them broken. So I looked and looked and looked and looked for a cute, hard-shell sunglass case - couldn't find one anywhere. Luckily my sister-in-law had an old one that she gave me because she knew how much I wanted one! Even in California I looked for a case everywhere and still couldnt find one! (Except for one Vera Bradley and that just isn't my style). So when we got back in town me and Al thought - Hey, maybe we could make these cases and sell them!

So that's what we did. After lots of work, hours, time, designs, materials, manufactures, mail going back and forth to China, etc. - we finalized it all and started up Avenue Lou!

I don't know if this will go anywhere, but even if it doesn't it has been such a fun project to work on and its been fun for mine and Al's relationship to grow through this - we really have had to become "business partners" and its been fun seeing him work on the things that he is good at, and for me to work on what I'm good at. This whole thing has also been helpful in taking my mind off of other things.

I really do believe in this product - if I didn't I wouldn't have taken on this project! I think they are cute and they are something that most girls need and make cute gifts. This has been a learning experience and not everything about Avenue Lou is perfect - but hopefully we will sell enough to be able to come out with a new collection and invest more time and money into making the product better, our website better, etc. So we'll see!

And for the name - long story short - I love the name Lou, Louise, Louisa, Lou Lou, etc. and its a family name. So I was just thinking of things that rhymed with Lou and Avenue came to my head.

So there you have it, Avenue Lou in a nut-shell! Thanks for all your support and nice comments about this, it really means so much! If any of you ever want one, or want one as a gift, etc. You can always just call, text or email me - especially if you live close and don't need shipping - I am more than willing to drop them off to you or you can pick them up!

Also - we will be at a few boutiques this weekend so look for our table if you go!

Oh Sweet Sadie is at SodaRow in Daybreak
Thursday night from 6pm-10pm
Friday from 10am-9pm
Saturday from 10am-5pm

And the Art Market at the Sugarhouse Garden Center

Friday from 11am-6pm
Saturday from 10am-5pm