Thank you and until we meet again!

Well, we didn’t think it would be five years until we wrote the next entry in this blog, but there you have it. (facebook won!) And this entry is likely our last here, though we will keep it up as an archive — there are in fact a lot of good stories to scroll though here — and they are about to achieve “poignant” status, as Joie de Vivre, the physical store, ceased to be on November 12, 2020. 2020. The year of the unexpected, (well, except to scientists and medical people) and world-wide pandemic. We had already been thinking about closing the store. Over the last five to eight years, it had gradually become much more of a labor of love than a business that made money — you know, like businesses are supposed to do. Expenses had gone up and up, and shoppers were shopping more online We know we had an unusually loyal bunch of customers — but still, we’re all only human and ease and convenience does have its pulls, especially when you’ve just spent an hour or more of your life looking for a parking space in Cambridge! So we’d been thinking about it for a while — struggling with the idea really, never quite able to say, this is it. When the pandemic came and we were not only forced to close for three months, but did only a fraction of normal business for the next three — and looked at what might (and did!) happen this fall — and also wondered how we could make Christmas/holiday business work when we could only allow four customers in the store at a time — we decided that it was finally time. We announced it on September 1st and had almost three months to say our goodbyes and share our stories, sadness and love with everyone who was able to come in. (And as everyone who shopped here was not on our mailing list, we know some people are just finding out and we’re very sorry we didn’t get to see you in person to say goodbye.)

Now is the time to switch from the royal “we.” When I started Joie de Vivre 36 years ago, it was definitely an experiment — I thought I would try it for a few years and see how it went, as well as how I liked doing it. It went well — and more importantly, I loved doing it. Almost everything about it made me happy in countless, countless, countless ways, and I loved being part of the wonderful community of people — shoppers, makers, sales reps, delivery people, employees — who appreciated the store and kept us going for these many years. Goodbye, and stay in touch. You’ll be able to reach us for at least the next year at info@joiedevivre.net — and we will keep our facebook page, and website (as an archive) up for the inter determinate future.
Thank you and until we meet again!