Our 'retirement' plans for 2020 were put on hold by Covid 19.
As the pandemic situation eased we began our wind-down process towards being able to hang up our crocs with the doors to the bricks & mortar shop open for SALES EVENT DAYS only.
A Note from Viv & Kev.....
(You can miss this bit out if you just want to know what we're doing - that's in the next bit!)
We started seriously planning the retirement process in 2019 and it was all going to happen in 2020. So why has it taken so long???
Covid obviously had a huge impact - no shows, no workshops, no customers in the shop (mail-order only) meant it was really difficult to move things along. On the other hand, we felt lucky compared to so many others. Coming into work every day and meeting up with Kat & Liz, who were still working with us at the time (in our own little ‘bubble’), gave us a very welcome focus.
As things eased we’d sort of lost momentum (didn’t everyone?) and then it wasn’t long before the two of us found ourselves on our own as life took over for Kat & Liz. Later, sadly, Kev lost his lovely Mum with all the predictable impact as well as loss of motivation where Art Van Go is concerned.
Our problem has also been that we have never had a deadline to work with. We don’t have to move out of this building – so we haven’t! Maybe if we hadn’t enjoyed doing what we do, and loved the people we’ve met, it might have been a different story – but there you go! **Now at the beginning of a new year we have a fresh determination to get things done & move on to the next chapter! Ideally, we’d like to have made a definite mark by sometime in March.
Why March? Well, it would just round things off very nicely! It would then be thirty-five years of ART VAN GO ‘Taking the Art Shop to the Artist’! Viv received her last PAYE payslip in March 1989, bought a van and the rest, as they say, is history!!!
**Well, that didn't work!!! We're now heading towards the end of 2024 and we are still here, albeit with a fraction of the stock that we started with. Maybe done by Christmas???
Wind-Down Update
January 2024
This winding-down to retirement process seems to be never-ending,
but we hope we are starting the final leg!
(If you're interested, click HERE for the full 35 year story of ART VAN GO)
The ultimate stage will inevitably involve hosting several days - probably in March - with the doors open once more, for the very last time - with closing offers across the board and even hopes that some of the fixtures & fittings might find new homes.
We know that so many of our loyal customers don’t live anywhere near us and won’t be able to take advantage of those sales days, so we’re going to start with more online sales so everyone and anyone can grab a bargain!
We’ve been busy adding yet more products to the website as well as lowering prices on many of those that were already there. As we are sorting things out it is amazing how much ‘stuff’ appears out-of-the-woodwork or, in other words, suddenly found at the bottom of a forgotten box in the stock room!!!
The online sales events will take place one day at a time so that the two of us (me & Kevin) can make sure we’re on top of things.
Keep your eyes on the emails – we don’t want you missing out!
You will find reduced prices all over the website, but the most notable will be found in the FEATURED CLEARANCE category.
See below for more info!
Featured Clearance
The low-priced products that have been talked about in emails can be found in ‘Featured Clearance’.
That list is growing & growing so to make it easier to find the latest reductions we’ve divided the category into two....
