01/01/2016
It looks as though our time in Birkdale village has come to an end. It is so hard to believe 5 years can pass so quickly.
Life is Good Birkdale Village. www.jakesatbirkdale.com
Closing Sale!
Many of you may know the story behind the reasons for opening the store in Birkdale Village and for those of you that do not.
If you can remember, five plus years ago was such a crazy time. Everything was crashing, the stock market, banks, real estate, Birkdale Village had about 20 plus vacancies, construction and etc… Trudi (my wife) and I were experiencing our own crises as well. Trudi was diagnosed with stage 4 Breast cancer. To make matters worse I was basically unemployed due to the crashing of the real estate market, I was a Real Estate Broker/ General contractor. If you could only imagine our world was shattered!!!!
If you were fortunate enough to know my wife Trudi, you would have known she was such a beautiful, compassionate and optimistic person. Trudi and I always felt that there was not anything we couldn’t accomplish together!! After we had time to digest our crises, we wondered how we could help everyone.. This is where we came to the decision to open a “Life is Good” store. We thought in doing so we could spread a little optimism in such a dismal time.
Opening the store was such a blessing and a family affair. My daughters were 6 & 8 at the time, they helped paint a lot of the graphics that are on the walls and loved being “Live Manikins” in the front window. I know it definitely was therapeutic for Trudi, she loved getting to know many of you and we were astonished by all the warm support you provided..
Lake Norman, Charlotte, Huntersville, Rock Hill, North Carolina and South Carolina you are beautiful!!
Trudi passed away October 22nd 2012 at 4:29 AM.
Little did I know I would be experiencing the most traumatic 9 months of my life. First the passing of Trudi, several months later my sister and mother died. Oh my, if it were not for all you beautiful people my life would have been in shambles. I want to especially thank all those volunteers that took shifts and ran the store until I could get my feet back on the ground… How wonderful!!!
Now looking at the bigger picture several years later… I just wonder if “God” put this all together.. Knowing that such a traumatic time was coming, he knew that by building a store would help save a family..
It has been a real pleasure to have gotten to know all of you.. I hope that in some way we were able to shed some light and optimism your way!! I know it was truly healing for me to have had conversations with many of you who were experiencing crises of your own. We were able to open up and relate to each other on a different level.. I wish I could take all the pain away!! Hopefully I lightened it and we both helped each other!!!
Times have definitely changed since opening of the store: The stock market and banks are stable again. The real estate and construction is back on a roll. Birkdale Village has 99% occupancy. Trudi, my Mother and Sister are at peace now in heaven!
What we would like to do for your wonderful support. In the next couple weeks we will have to clear out all inventory and if you will say to your friendly cashier at check out time… “We did it” we all made Trudi’s dream come alive, you will receive an additional 10% off what current sale we are running.
