The day has come that we've been anxiously waiting for and dreading the past week. Starting today the state of Ohio "stay at home" order goes into effect for the next two weeks, which means yet again RGD has to re-evaluate our plan of action moving forward. In the paraphrased words of Dr. Amy Acton, our small team isn't afraid we're determined, and we will be working harder than ever to make sure you can still shop with us during these strange times.
For the foreseeable future, our team will be working remotely from home to answer any questions you have, post new items to our Etsy shop, and fulfill online orders as quickly as we can. We've fully transitioned at this point to an online only business; the Short North location is no longer open for shopping appointments or local pick-up for the time being. The local delivery option we introduced last week is also no longer available. You can shop our Etsy, Instagram and Facebook feeds, or check out the Virtual Shop highlight on our Instagram profile. Every order, regardless of how it's placed, will receive 15% off and ship for free! Our main goal is to make the shopping process as easy for you as possible. If you have questions about anything you can reach us by phone call or text at 614-556-2081 or follow our social media links at the bottom of this post. The outpouring of love and support we've received from all of you has been amazing, just know that we couldn't do any of this without you! We're all going to make it through this together, hang in there. Love, Team RGD
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A few days ago when we announced the closure of our stores and the transition to fulfilling online sales from our private studio space we posted a necklace with the message "Hope Over Fear". Immediately after sharing the necklace we had a handful of people reach out to us asking how they could place an order; we had no idea how much those two words would resonate with people near and far. It's easy to be fearful of an uncertain future, but the small team we have working at RGD is hopeful we will get to the other side of the current crisis.
With the number of inquiries about the "Hope Over Fear" necklace design spiking after our post, we decided to make it available for purchase on our Etsy shop where you can pay what you can. The lowest price available is $20 increasing in $5 increments up to the highest price of $60 allowing those interested to choose what they're able to give. The response to this design has been overwhelming and we never could have guessed it would take off the way it has. It serves as a reminder for us to always choose hope over fear even when it feels impossible. Thank you all so much for the kind messages and words of encouragement you've been sending to us–our team appreciates the support we've received more than you know! We'll be working hard to make it easy for you to shop with us from home and sharing new products as often as we can. The "Hope Over Fear" necklace can be purchased HERE on our Etsy shop–available in gold filled and sterling silver! I usually try to keep my posts pretty positive and less personal, but today has been rough. Probably the worst day I’ve faced as a business owner in 12 years.
I’m sad I have made the decision to temporarily close up all of my storefronts for who knows how long. I’m sad that all of these other businesses are posting the same heartbreaking thing. I’m sad for the impact that all of this will have on So. Many. People. I’m sad that 8 weeks ago I was worried about how I was going to take a few weeks of maternity leave, but then comforted because I knew I had an amazing team that would keep everything running and allow me that time to focus on my new baby. And now I am heartbroken that I just had to let go of 12 of those people who allowed me to do that. I’m not really sure how we got to this point, but I know that so many people are struggling right now. We’ve become faced with a new reality that we didn’t ask for or prepare for, but we’re all in this together. It may not seem like it now, but we will get through this. I can’t say this enough, but thank you for your continued support. We need it now more than ever. <3 Kate This is only temporary. We WILL be back up and running–hopefully sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you can shop online: www.etsy.com/shop/RedGiraffeDesigns To say the past few days have been a rollercoaster for the RGD team would be an understatement. Every day it's been something new and we've been doing our best to take this tough situation day by day. Last night we announced the closure of our stores for the foreseeable future and made the heartbreaking decision to lay off 12 very wonderful and hardworking women. Without their contributions RGD wouldn't be what it is as they've helped us grow into the business we are today.
Moving forward we will be transitioning our operations to our private studio space and the Short North location, as well as expanding jewelry offerings online. RGD is now staffed by five team members, including our owner and founder Kate, and we are continuing to choose hope over fear while we navigate this. The Short North store will be open 12pm-4pm Sunday through Monday by appointment only for shopping and will still offer our local pick up option for any orders paid for online by invoice or on Etsy. We will do everything we can to accommodate the method of shopping you are most comfortable with! We've outlined all of the ways you can continue to support us below, even from comfort of home. Each item you purchase will be handmade with love and care by one of us <3 ETSY We're running a sale on Etsy offering 15% off everything–including sale items–with free shipping on any order! We've already added some new items (we're talking lots of statement acetate earrings because we know you love those) and will continue to add a larger variety of pieces for you to choose from. The biggest change you'll see on our shop is the addition of a "One of A Kind" section where we will be posting one-off designs we usually send to our brick and mortar stores. Our new items will have a variety of price points too! Browse through some of our online options at the end of this post by clicking the item photos. The in-store local pick up option is still available (at the Short North store only) if you leave your phone number as a note on your order. Out of respect for customers who would prefer not to shop in-store or live out of state we are allowing everyone to redeem their $10 off rewards earned by shopping with us in-store on Etsy. If you'd like to use your $10 off please provide us with the phone number connected to your rewards account and we will manually refund the amount back to you after purchase. FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM The items pictured in photos we post to our Facebook and Instagram pages are always available for purchase if we still have them in stock. If you see a necklace, earrings, bracelet, or ring on our feed you're interested in buying just send us a message or comment on the post and we can let you know the price. If you choose to buy an item this way we will send an invoice for your order via PayPal using your email address and ship it once the invoice is paid. Any orders placed this way will also receive 15% off and free shipping! LOCAL DELIVERY If you live within I-270 and would like your order delivered quicker than shipping we're offering free local delivery if you provide us with your address. We will do our best to deliver the same day if possible! HAVE ANOTHER NEED? JUST ASK! Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions you have about the new shopping methods we've made available to you. We want to work with you as much as we can to make you feel safe and make the shopping experience stress-free! Thank you so much for choosing to support small businesses when we need it most. The past few days have been difficult for us at RGD, just as we're sure they haven't been easy for all of the other small businesses facing the same decisions we are. We've been following the news closely as new government orders are issued almost daily and more information is shared to help slow the spread of COVID-19. In the current climate we're taking everything one day at a time as best as we can and evaluating what our options are moving forward.
Above all, we are concerned about the well-being and safety of our employees and customers. Beginning March 17th we are putting further precautionary measures into place to protect those working and shopping in our stores. All locations, with the exception of our German Village store, will remain open so we can continue to provide a source of income for our employees until we believe it is in everyone's best interest for us to close or the state orders us to close. Our German Village location will be closed until further notice. This decision wasn't made lightly and we hope to be able to provide the opportunity for our employees to work and for our customers to help support us through these tough times. The following measures will be taken to create the cleanest and safest shopping environment for everyone:
All of the measures will be reassessed and altered as needed. We are continuing to sanitize and disinfect all surfaces as often as possible between shoppers as well as following CDC guidelines. Over the next week our team will be working on expanding the available shopping options online to allow those practicing social distancing or those who feel uncomfortable shopping in-store to continue supporting us. To receive the latest updates on ways you can shop with us from home you should follow our Instagram and Facebook pages. We are running a sale on our Etsy shop offering 15% off all items with free shipping on any order with no current end date. This blog and our social media feeds will be updated as needed to share the latest developments in regard to RGD operations. Please continue to do what you can to not only support us, but other small businesses! It's more important now than ever that we stick together to help each other make it through this. Love, Team RGD |
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