Hi guys,

It's hard to believe this time last week we were all freaked out about what just happened to us and our great city. A week on and for many of us, we are still in a very difficult situation. Many of our friends have lost houses and businesses. Our heart goes out to you all. My glass is still half full. But this week’s torment of ongoing shakes and uncertain times for my little store have finally caught up with me and the crew.....

So here is the latest on what’s going on with SCOTTY BROWNS.  It was clear from the outset that there was major damage to the building. The land lord does believe he can save it and is awaiting an engineer’s report to confirm this. With the demolition of up to 4 buildings beside us, it simply isn’t possible to be trading in the store. The landlord has indicated 6 weeks or so to repair and rebuild the building. With this in mind and the time it would take to establish a temporary store along with the overwhelming cost of doing so, we are this weekend packing 18 years into boxes and it will go into storage for 6 or so weeks. In that time I will be looking for either a new location, holding off and waiting for our old store to be ready and possibly opening a pop up store. The pop up store would be very small but give you all the chance to continue to support us over what is going to be a very stressful but busy spring time. We are VERY aware that this is in most cases a seriously disappointing outcome. Ultimately, we want to be trading, helping, smiling and serving you all. I have been beside myself with anxiety for days, it is a very unusual and emotional situation that was thrown at us.

What I do want to say is a sincere thank you from myself, Aidan, Jess and Rowan. Thanks for the emails, texts, calls and letters that have literally poured in, from simply lending a hand, to reminding me where I started as an 18 year old. The culture and friendship will live on and when we come back we are coming back fighting! I want to also thank Scott from ABBOTT group for being an insurance broker with heart! He is making it possible to keep the culture alive and we have already talked about some great things to help you “show the love” while we are away from the store. Also to our suppliers, that have in every case given us extensions to our bills and offered to help rebuild.

It could have been so much worse. As a city we have come together. It has certainly restored my faith in the human spirit. Thanks again so so much. I have posted a couple of amazing emails sent to us to help “LIFT OUR SPIRIT” and I encourage you to read them... they are really special!

Don’t forget us!

Scotty and the dream team