It’s been a long and busy summer here at Good Company, and we wanted to update everyone on what’s been happening behind the scenes.
What’s been going on?
We launched the online store in July, and we’re so grateful to all who have ordered books, stationery, and t-shirts. It’s been quite a learning process (and a lot of work!). We’ve gotten our systems mostly worked out at this point, and can now start to optimize.
It currently takes about 1 full week from an order being placed to the order being delivered, and getting that down to under 4 days is a priority for us. The biggest factor in this of course is that we don’t have much space to hold physical stock while the shop is under construction. We are currently running the web-store out of our small apartment and can only fit so many books in our living room, so most books must be ordered from our distributor, before being sent to their final destination. You can expect order processing times to be cut in half as soon as the store opens.
That being said, we do have some books physically in stock, as well as our made-in-Portugal merch, all of which will ship from Lisbon within 24 hours. And if you want to help support us during the construction phase, ordering from the website is the best way to do it!
When is the shop opening?
This is by far our most frequently asked question. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as buying some bookshelves.
The space needed a lot of work just to be safe and comfortable, never mind usable for a bookstore/cafe/event space, which is why this project has been taking so long. After gutting the inside, we’ve redone all the electrical, plumbing, and lighting, and added two new bathrooms. There have also been lots of licenses to apply for; we need permission from the freguesia to have signs on our windows, awnings to block the sun, a license to put chairs outside, a license to play music, etc.
Construction work has been properly underway on our space in Campo Pequeno since mid-June, and the end of the renovations is now finally in sight. As with any project, we’ve faced some setbacks, but we’ve also had some happy surprises as well. For example, we were able to salvage the original flooring, a beautiful 60’s terrazzo that emerged from underneath decades of carpet glue and linoleum. Now, with paint done and the tiles up, we can actually see our dream space emerge from the dust.
We’ve also started to assemble our wonderful team; many of you have written in with CVs and we will continue to hire over the next 2 months as we asses our needs.
It’s also been really encouraging to hear from many of you who have walked by the store and sent us your comments; please keep them coming! We want to get to know our community as much as possible.
What’s happening this month?
The final weeks of September will be a sprint to finalize the finishes, get the lights lit, and all the furniture fitted.
This has been one of our favorite parts of the process, as we have gotten to meet and work with local artisans. We even spent a day at a quarry down in Estremoz picking the block of stone that will be used for tables, bar top, and display shelves!
The final part of the works will be the installation of all the shelving and display tables, which are being made here in Lisbon to fit our walls, and are slated to be fitted to the shop in the first week of October. Once that’s done, our team will spend a few days cleaning, dusting, and setting up the shop. And then, we will open our doors for a soft launch!
What is a soft launch?
We are borrowing the idea from the restaurant industry; basically, we will open our doors quietly, with abbreviated hours, to give our team time to work out all the kinks and adapt systems and procedures, while still being open for business. This is a new kind of business model for Lisbon, and we aren’t quite sure how the city will respond, so we are going to take the first couple of weeks slow.
A lot is going to be happening over the next month, but we are still here, shipping out your orders and happy to hear from each and every one of you. We can’t wait to open our doors and meet you all in person in just a few short weeks.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next (and final!) project update, and have a great end of summer!
