12/17/2025
Hi, friends. Coming to you today with an announcement I never wanted to have to make, but it's one I'm sure you all saw coming. Our Charlotte location will be CLOSING PERMANENTLY at the end of this month.
When we were offered the opportunity to open a second location earlier this year, we jumped at it despite the many obstacles, because Eaton County's Museum at Courthouse Square is one of our absolute favorite places. The chance to become a part of that history, and to have such a big, beautiful space to utilize for events, was too good to pass up.
Unfortunately, things didn't pan out as we'd hoped, and it became evident pretty quickly (like on day two of being in business) that we were in for more of a struggle than we'd anticipated. Our experiences in Charlotte have largely been limited to the season surrounding A Festival of Oddities, when the entire downtown is alive and vibrant and there are people everywhere. And whenever we had events at the museum, or there was a community event going on downtown, we did great. But we were not prepared for the absolute ghost town that the museum (and from what we've seen, a lot of the downtown area) turns into when there's not a big event happening.
I wish we had the time and resources to just let our Lansing location run itself for a while, so that we could focus all of our time and energy on advertising and event planning in Charlotte, because I feel like all the elements to create something truly unique and special are there. But the fact of the matter is, our overall sales are down nearly $40K compared to this time last year, and we've been just hemorrhaging money since opening a second location. We've got to stop the bleeding somewhere.
We will forever be grateful to the museum staff, especially our dear friend Julie Kimmer, not only for this opportunity, but for always going out of their way to help with our crazy event ideas, from Twilight proms to Labubu parties and more, and we look forward to working with them for many years to come on A Festival of Oddities, and perhaps some other fun things.
This was not an easy decision to come to, and I will struggle with it for a long time, so please refrain from any "helpful" suggestions. This is all incredibly painful and depressing, as I'm sure you can imagine- we've still got orders showing up for the "rebrand and reset" plan we've been working on- but in my heart of hearts, I know this is the right move. The only move, really.
This week will be business as usual, as we figure out what gets moved over to Lansing and what needs to go. We'll be open Thursday 12-4, Friday 2-6, and Saturday 12-4. The big clearance/closing sale will happen after Christmas, and will move FAST. Ideally, we'd like to be able to be out by the end of the year, so that the museum can find a new tenant for our beautiful space as quickly as possible.
To everyone who supported this dream in ways both big and small, THANK YOU. Not every dream comes true, and that's okay.
