Burlington, We love you. We love you in the rain and on your beautiful sunny days. We love you covered in snow and dressed up in colorful fall foliage. We love you through all of your ups and your downs just like a best friend who is always there for you. We’ll always fight for you when times are tough and we’ll never turn our backs on you because that’s not what best friends do. We’re lucky to have you and we know that the secret to why life is so special here isn’t just because of the creemees. It’s all of the beautiful people who make up this unique and special city. We love all of our neighbors who fill the streets with their smiles and sweet “hellos”. We know that together we’ll continue to fill this city with love, compassion, and laughter because that’s what makes it so wonderful to live here.
What do you love about our city? What memories have you created here?
Want to take part?
This month we’re filling our windows with love for Burlington!
Stop in and write a love letter to Burlington OR drop off a piece that you’ve crafted. "Letters" can be completely visual if you don't want to write anything. Submit anonymously or include your name. Your note can be on anything. As long as it is 2D, positive, and appropriate it will be included in our window display. All ages are encouraged to take part!
Letters will be added weekly and on display at least through February 15th.
Neighbor afar... you can still take part!
Shoot us your Burlington love note to hello@commondeer.com with the subject like "Burlington I Love You" or mail us your letter to
Common Deer
210 College Street, Suite 101
Burlington, VT 05401
(If you want artwork returned to you, you will need to include
a return label and/or email address for letting you know when pickup is available.)
-
Reminder - We are not open for drop offs on Tuesdays!
]]>At Common Deer, here are a few ways we take in order to reduce our impact:
Supporting American-made
Products made with care to last are less likely to end up in a landfill. Conscious shopping encourages us to really consider our purchases, and seek quality over quantity. The small brands and makers we work with are part of our communities, and they are often leaders in sustainable practices. We believe that supporting small business is the way to a stronger planet (and economy).
Local sourcing
Whenever we can we source inventory and supplies locally. Goods that don’t need to be shipped around the globe simply have a lower carbon footprint. We are always focused on promoting bioregionalism, to help our business and our customers reduce their impact.
Domestic manufacturing
Locally-made is gentler on the planet. Domestic goods are required to meet certain environmental standards, enforced by third-party certifications, which help ensure their production is more sustainable.
No free shipping (here’s why!)
The lure of “free” shipping encourages more frivolous purchases and increases returns – all of which has a much bigger impact than we may think. Shipping actually has a large carbon footprint, and produces a ton of material waste and pollution.
Our Materials
Our shopping bags are always made with 100% recycled material. We also encourage people to use our Common Deer tote bags by offering a 5% discount when you wear it into the store. Many of the materials we ship with are also reused – and we deliberately limit the amount of branded paper goods we include in our outgoing boxes.
Reuse it
We find a second life for just about everything – from rubber bands to ziplock bags to cardboard. We reuse boxes and packing peanuts received in shipments, and meticulously save bubble wrap to use in the store. This is NOT at all the easy way of doing business, but for us it's the way we want to. If we can’t use supplies we’ve saved, we often find a local business or artist who can. To make it easier for others to repurpose OUR shipped materials, we don’t use branded boxes.
Supporting Local
Through our Vermont Parks Collection and Vermont Souvenir donation programs, every year we donate a significant amount to partners who share our vision of a greener, more sustainable world.
As always, thank you for supporting our small business!
]]>
Today marks 2 years since the pandemic forced us to temporarily shut our doors. Keeping Common Deer afloat has been a roller coaster through the last two years, and YOU have kept the cart on the track for us — we owe you our whole cards section worth of thank you notes ❤️…. If you’ve been with us for a minute, you know by now that business as usual for us doesn’t just mean slinging American made goodies and posting about a beautiful locally made mug that just arrived. It also means donating, finding ways to encourage change, trying to have a positive impact and more. Right now, we're seeing many of our friends and family members slump under the weight of everything going on. While we cannot hide that we too have been feeling low, we know that many of our followers come here seeking joy and lightness for their own mental health. In the spirit of that energy, we’re hoping that you might take part in something easy with us!
On our instagram, we're encouraging followers to share something that has brought them joy in the last two years. Big or Small! Maybe you went through a big life change like becoming a parent (see photo of me, shop owner Sarah with my joy - becoming a mom last year)… or maybe you cooked a fabulous cake last summer.... or volunteered your time or.... JUST KEPT GOING. Whatever it is, we hope you'll share it here. Now here's why it “helps” -- for every joy shared, we'll be donating $2 …. One to @hungerfreevt and one to @unicef up to a total of $200. We hope that this mini reflection helps bring you some comfort.
Thank you again to our team and our customers for getting us through these past two years, and continuing to keeping us moving forward.
- Sarah + the Common Deer Team
]]>We invite everyone to take part in our "Art in the Window" Community Project! This month marks 2 years of the pandemic and we want to remind everyone the importance of getting through this TOGETHER. To celebrate the that idea of "together" we've set up an art project that requires a community effort. We’ll be collecting paper chains from artists like YOU (all ages and all abilities). We will build a continuous paper chain over the course of the month of February. New additions to the growing chain will be added weekly - so there's the bonus pandemic-friendly-outdoor-activity of viewing the growing paper chain over the weeks. We hope that you will join in on the fun. Go as simple or wild with the design/decorations as you'd like. Parents: here’s a triple whammy of activities with your kiddos - easy paper cutting craft, dropping them off at our door, and then visiting our display window to see the art (we will post when new chains get added!).
Thank you to everyone that helps build the chain!
.
.
Want to take part? Make a paper doll chain — on any type of paper/fabric (be as creative or simple as you’d like - feel free to stray from “dolls”), decorate if you'd like -- if possible please avoid glitter. Make as many chains as you’d like, we will display as many as we can! Inappropriate designs will not be displayed.
.
Drop off your paper doll chains STARTING TOMORROW (January 28) and up until February 21 (the final chains will be added on Feb 22/23). The earlier you drop off your chain(s) the longer it will be displayed in the window.
.
Thank you for taking part in this community "art in the window" project.
Reminder - We are not open for drop offs tuesdays or wednesdays - and our store front remains closed, so please check our website for our door service hours for drop off days/times here: https://commondeer.com/pages/delivery-shipping-and-returns-during-covid-19
Not local? Doll chains can also be mailed to us -- Common Deer, 210 College Street, Suite 101, Burlington, VT 05401.
**If you would like your part of the chain back please write a contact email address legibly on the back of your design and we will try to get it back to you.
And if you'd like hints on how to make a paper doll chain - here are some helpful videos.
]]>
They're the days that we look forward to all year, with big plans and loads of anticipation - they're also the days that help us pay the bills. "Black Friday" is so named as the day that retailers go from operating at a loss ("in the red") to covering overhead ("in the black"). Thanksgiving flips a switch in the shopper's mind that it's time to find holiday gifts. While the whole year is important to the success of running a gift store --- the holiday season is really where the rubber meets the road. At Common Deer the last 6 weeks of the year are INTENSE - and Black Friday Weekend is the big kickoff - our store is packed absolutely solid full of smiling, excited customers, with drink tastings, snacks, live music, giveaways, and lots more. On these crowded days in the shop, I often imagine our store as a well-oiled machine humming along as our store team works together to help 1,000s (yes really) of customers find thoughtful gifts for their list. These are the days that Common Deer really comes alive. It's truly a magical time at Common Deer, but of course, we cannot safely pack our store this holiday season.
Through the pandemic, we have worked to keep our team safe and our business afloat, by closing early, requiring masks for everyone, operating by appointment, offering local delivery, and much more. This year (like last), we have decided to have our storefront closed to in-person shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving. That’s right, a gift shop being closed for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday – we must be crazy?!
Running a retail business in a pandemic for over 20 months has mentally frayed our edges, and our team and owners need time to recharge. Our storefront being closed for Black Friday / Small Business Saturday allows our team the full weekend to rest and spend with family. Secondly, being closed these days will reduce the chances of large crowds at the store and exposure for our team and customers - as out-of-town guests gather and the risk increases. Since we have so many wonderful customers that come out those days to "show their support" we decided that it was best to encourage online orders that weekend. And lastly, this decision makes it REALLY CLEAR that you should get your shopping done early this year. While we plan to remain open through the holiday season, we really have no idea what the future of the pandemic holds. We're selling out of some of our favorite gifts already and restocking is limited this year due to supply issues (yes, it affects us too!). All that's to say, if you see the perfect gift for someone, get it now before it's gone.
As always, we'll be open online for your gifting needs throughout that weekend. We plan to re-open December 1st for in-store shopping. We apologize to those that traditionally shop our store with their families that weekend. We know that this will not necessarily be met with understanding from all, but we hope that you respect our need to make decisions that are right for our team.
So we're shifting the energy of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday from two hyper-focused days to a fun TWO WEEKS--- November 10 - 24! Look for specials and promotions going on by subscribing to our emails at the bottom of our website.
Our storefront is open these hours (link), and we will release our special promotions, free gifts, and more to our email subscribers. Make sure you open our emails - you never know what kind of holiday surprises might be in there. Follow us @commondeer on instagram for updates.
Thank you for supporting our decision.
Thank you for supporting our small business and goods made here.
- The Common Deer Team
]]>This weekend marks a full year of switching gears. A year apart from friends and loved ones, watching small businesses close, witnessing tragedy and loss… a heavy year for all.
Like many working to preserve their livelihoods, this year has not been a downshift. Before March 2020, our small business relied almost entirely on in-person sales. Not unlike our unique approach to retailing, we also decided that we'd take a different approach to weathering the storm. Instead of being "open" when permitted, we leaned hard into a new path forward.
Still with each knock on our locked door, each disappointed message, or weighted question of "Why don't you just open already?" --- the bigger question ❔reared its ugly head: "Are we throwing away the business we've built over 8 years?"
Our community is the most important thing to this business. The community of customers, makers, and artists. But also, the community of our space. There is nothing like our shop bustling full -- friends discovering new finds together, employees sharing stories of makers, the constant laughter from the card section, tourists getting restaurant advice, the satisfaction when the perfect gift is found, local makers popping in to say hello! In a retail shop, each day is much like the one before -- full of beautiful wares, lots of cheer, and most importantly, YOU!
Despite this difficult year, the community we’ve built continues to show up. In addition to online orders, customer notes of encouragement have kept the wind in our sails. Our makers and vendors have understood hard decisions, respecting the pressures of running a storefront in a pandemic and found ways to support. And our storefront patiently waits once again to be filled with the cheer of in-store shopping.
We continue to fight hard for what we've spent years building. Amid so much tragedy and distance this year, we are thankful that we have not lost the most important thing to us - YOU. Our hearts go out to all those that have experienced loss this year.
The excitement of discovering a new artist is why we love what we do. Their creativity is a constant inspiration, and these talented people are the core of our company. With your backing, our small business is able to support a wide network of makers, and help them to make a living doing what they love.
Inside the store we feature maker stories with product - to recreate that, we'll be sharing these story cards on our blog in groups. There are plenty of makers to meet, as we've worked with over 1,000 different brands since we got our start in 2013.
Meet 5 of our makers:
salem, ma
Envisioned by designer Jade Gedeon, this vintage-influenced jewelry line is hand-made and woman-powered. Owing to her family’s nomadic lifestyle, Jade’s aesthetic has been shaped by a range of global influences. Her line is well known for its nature-inspired motifs, and especially its saltwater patinaed pieces. Dedicated to minimizing their environmental impact, WDIC prioritizes socially conscious decision-making throughout their business.
isle la motte, vt
Known for their functional and artistic mugs, this brand also has a strong sense of fun. The founders are (no surprise!) two animal lovers, and they embrace and enjoy the title of the “Crazy Cat Ladies.” Their hand thrown ceramics even undergo an extra inspection – by their four cats! The pets are stars behind the scenes (boasting a large social media following) and are featured on many of the ceramic designs, alongside famous faces and original art.
grand rapids, mi
In 1983 William Bultman was dismayed to find no one was making wooden alphabet blocks, the classic children’s toy, in the USA. So, he decided to hand-build his own. Thus began a family business, and today Bultman’s son Pete runs the company his father started over three decades ago. He remains committed to crafting everything entirely in the USA with materials sourced from around the Great Lakes; each creatively designed block is non-toxic and built to be passed down to future generations.
vancouver, ca
Inspired by collaborations with artists from around the world, Devi Arts features the nature-inspired designs of Bayoush Mengesha. Wanting to be more accountable for the impacts of sourcing her raw materials, Bayoush built Devi Arts in the image of the ‘slow fashion’ movement. Slow fashion encourages and enables consumers to make more conscious and sustainable choices. We occasionally feature standout makers from our neighbor to the north - Devi Arts is based in Canada.
burlington, vt
Britt and Matt quit their jobs, packed up their family, and moved to Vermont practically sight unseen. Wanting to engage life more passionately, they aimed to shift focus from economy to community. The couple began making waxed canvas bags somewhat by accident. But, following the dream of living a simple fulfilling life, they harnessed their serious talents to build their line of stylish, Vermont weather-ready bags. Each piece is still made by hand. As business grew their workshop moved into a bigger space — and the family moved into a sweet red house.
Find the work of any of these artists by searching their name in the search bar! And look for more maker stories on our platforms!
]]>Why? Simply put, we believe that our economy should lift people up, not grind them down – and that buying American-made will help us build a better economy. Actually, it is one of the most impactful ways that you can do good with your dollar.
Just by changing the way we shop, each of us can be a part of this movement. Every gift or necessity that you buy from an American maker, manufacturer or artist is unique; it has a story and a face behind it. And each time you choose goods made here, you support a whole web of domestic businesses that have a direct stake in the success of their communities.
Because these companies are rooted locally, they tend to do things pretty differently from the big multinationals. They create good local jobs that are safe and pay living wages; their practices are more sustainable and have a lower carbon footprint; and they prioritize your family’s safety by creating quality goods that are built to last. Supporting these companies directly fights exploitation and helps local economies and communities to thrive.
Shopping American-made is really about upholding the common good – ensuring better opportunities in our neighborhoods, better products in our homes, and a better world around us. Also...it just plain feels good. So take a stand for what you believe in! Our choices, together, can build a shared prosperity that benefits us all.
Help Local Economies Thrive - When you spend your money on a product made here, you’re supporting businesses that are rooted in their local communities. These businesses rely on each other, and when they thrive they strengthen supply chain networks across the economy. This not only protects existing jobs, but it creates a ton of new ones! Small businesses are the engine of opportunity in our economy, generating not just jobs — but good jobs — that pay living wages and directly respond to the needs of their communities. It diversifies the economy and encourages those that aren’t chasing the cheapest production.
Take a Stand for Best Practices - When an item is made here, it meets certain standards; both in how it’s built, and how it’s built to last. You can be sure that your purchase is safe for your family and heirloom quality. Beyond that-- choosing goods made here ensures your items were manufactured under fair labor conditions. Locally made goods also have a smaller carbon freight footprint than imported items, producing less pollution and meeting strong environmental standards. So — when you buy USA-made, you are also taking a stand for the health and safety of your family, of workers and of the planet.
Put your Dollar to Work: By simply changing the way we shop, each of us can be a part of this movement. Every gift and necessity you buy can have a meaningful impact on people’s lives; the items you get from an American maker, artist or manufacturer all have a story behind them. Shopping American-made is about upholding the common good — ensuring better opportunities in our communities, better products in our homes, and a better world around us. Take a stand for what you believe in! Together we have the power to create real change for the better.
Photo by Dylan Griffin Photography
]]>
How did you get started as a maker?
I honestly was quite fortunate to kind of fall into it. I was always interested in studio art growing up, dabbling as an art major in college, and continued to do a few projects here and there. After not feeding that for a few years, I found myself called into the world of carpentry and construction. Then as a result of a downsizing economy, I went from that large commercial outfit slowly on down to a little woodshop space, that I share with a truly inspiring artist, Mark Dabelstein.
Why is the act of “making” important to you?
The act of making itself aligns with a simple philosophy, at least in my mind. I believe wholeheartedly that people are designed to create, and to grow and nurture the world around us. That’s really all making is, it’s finding the way to add your energy into the world. In this way, the spirit of the maker movement can be found everywhere, anyone that loves what they do for work or as a hobby, and gives that task their good energy...making, creating, it seems to just be about a positive way of life.
How do you find balance and motivation with “life”, other jobs, your creative work, etc?
My family. That’s my main inspiration, my motivation, and when I need it, my excuse. Life just hands inspiration out all the time, keeping a notebook is a great idea. I should do it.
How has Vermont’s maker culture been a part of your development as a maker?
Vermont as a whole is full of people that just do things. There is a category of maker, I get that, but there are makers here in all kinds of fields, with all kinds of products. Isn’t the activist that’s around every corner of this state making something? The person with the incredible home garden in your neighborhood? Vermont has a culture of doing, it’s probably what has made the maker movement so incredible here for everyone.
Any particular moments in your maker career that you’d like to share that were exciting?
It sounds corny, but my favorite moments are cleaning up a piece of rough cut lumber and seeing something particularly beautiful reveal itself. It’s hard to know exactly what it will look like, and sometimes it’s just so much more than you could have imagined.
Where is your favorite creemee in Vermont? And... what’s your order?
The maple creemee with maple crumbles at Palmer’s in Jericho is the one for me. It was the first place my wife and I went after exchanging vows, just the two of us, on Mount Mansfield. How could I beat that?
How does the concept of “race” enter the conversation for you for making in the USA?
Race in the USA is a part of every conversation for me. It’s the unfortunate truth...but it’s not always bad. Particularly among makers, there seems to be an excitement around interacting with those that might bring something new to the table. A new experience, or one that you may not know much about. It has been my experience that the vast majority of makers really prioritize the spirit of creation, growth, and addition, and for that reason are enthused to see what they learn from another person’s difference. Just like team sports encourage the celebration of each teammate’s unique contribution to the common goal, the maker movement seems have created a similar community of openness and inclusion.
>>> Catch more maker highlights and “Making It” interviews Thank you for supporting our family of makers and our small business!
]]>
This survey will help us collect some feedback about what our customers and community are looking for right now. We are looking to use this information to help us weather the COVID storm. In return for your participation, we're offering prizes & rewards like free delivery memberships and over $300 in store credit!! Thanks for supporting our small business.
Create your own user feedback survey
]]>
We’ve all started to take free shipping for granted — as if by magic our items go from the storeroom to our doorstep. In reality, someone is paying for that service. Sometimes it’s the consumer and sometimes it’s the business — but if it’s the business, then only the big boxes can truly compete. And who’s job is getting pinched to make it happen?
Free shipping memberships cost well over $100 per year. Unless you’re ordering from one retailer a LOT, then it’s likely cheaper to just pay the shipping cost each time you order. When retailers offer free shipping without a subscription, it’s likely that cost is simply rolled into the price of the items you buy — so you are paying for it covertly. And sometimes if you want to zoom out to 10,000 feet, you may be subsidizing one company’s profits by paying your taxes, i.e. tax breaks and aggressive negotiating tactics. But let’s not go that far… right?
Large corporations pioneered free shipping to entice customers online, and they’ve made it seem easy. But, while billion-dollar companies can best absorb this cost, even the biggest retailers are losing money on free shipping. For a small business with tight margins, that loss could mean going under. Preferential contracts (which now threaten our postal system) allow large companies to negotiate better shipping rates than small ones — meaning that, for a business like ours, shipping costs a bigger chunk of a smaller pie.
Shipping is a service that allows us to bridge space and conserve time. It lets us buy things that aren’t available nearby, and offers time-saving convenience, and for many unable to make it out - a lifeline. It allows small businesses to reach customers afar and compete in a global marketplace. But when something is given away for free, we tend to forget its value. Though shipping fulfillment is an essential modern service — we’ve been led to believe that we shouldn’t have to pay for it. How much are we devaluing the hard work that fulfillment employees and delivery drivers do when we’re unwilling to actually pay for it?
This convenience hurts us in other ways too. The lure of free shipping drives us to place more small orders — instead of bundling purchases. And as big retailers offer ever-faster delivery, packages are even less consolidated. All those boxes full of air, shipped separately, require more cars, trucks, planes, and definitely more packaging. In this way, free shipping is increasing congestion in our cities, adding pollutants to our air, and overflowing our landfills with trash. And if it’s not clear to you, the systems of recycling have begun to break down. These are true costs that we will all pay together for “free” shipping.
We charge for delivery and shipping for many reasons. Your help with shipping and delivery fees enables our small business to stay in business. Small retailers don’t have the same margins as the big guys because we prioritize different things. We pay our staff a living wage. We build ways of giving back right into our business plan — be it monetary donations, programs for artists or leadership in our community. And, while our amazing customers hail from all around the country, we are a brick and mortar store with rent, payroll, and utilities due here in Burlington, VT.
So, while we want our products to be affordable, we also want them to reflect their true cost. Doing this ensures that we can keep doing business in a way that enriches our community, not just us. We’re not here to make millions, or to coerce you into buying things you don’t need. But when you shop with us you are supporting 500+ American artists and makers. And we can’t ask our makers, our staff or our environment to shoulder the cost of giving shipping away for free. So next time you check your cart and see that shipping charge, just remember it’s probably a small price to pay having your things materialize at your front door. And when you pay for shipping with ANY small business, know it’s going somewhere great. Thank you for appreciating the hardworking humans that get that box to you.
]]>
First and foremost, racism has never and will never be welcome in our storefront, nor in how we run our business.
We are a small business, but a business built on aspirations to affect change. While our primary mission is to lift up and celebrate American made, with that we also stand for diversifying the economy, fixing the planet, and much more. We stand in solidarity with black lives, and recognize that we can do more to help amplify the voices of black, indigenous, and people of color.
For starters, we pledge to better communicate the diversity that exists within our family of makers and our community. While we don't always post the photo of the maker behind a product, we realize that we haven’t made enough of an effort to ensure that our feed is diverse and inclusive...and that isn’t right. Moving forward, we will do the work to make our virtual spaces more welcoming and inclusive to all. Additionally, we have begun the work of expanding BIPOC representation within our family of makers. We are incredibly thankful to those that have reached out with makers they’d love to see us buy from. The resources that have been shared with us within the last week are outstanding, and it has been wildly exciting to discover new talent to bring into the Common Deer family. We look forward to sharing these new makers with you. The limited funds we have right now we feel are best used spending directly on re-orders and new orders with our BIPOC makers to help their businesses grow.
Additionally, we are working to find ways to better support our BIPOC makers, tell their stories, help them grow, and better allow their voices to be heard. We are bringing race along with us forward in the conversation, and hope to share new ways we have found of helping to amplify BIPOC maker voices.
We are committed to listening and remaining teachable as our nation faces the reality of systemic social injustice.
We make these commitments long term.
All that being said, we remain a small business, without PR firms on retainer, unlimited donation capacities, photography budgets, huge employee training protocols, and more. The pandemic has left the future of our business uncertain. We're working hard to keep it going so we can continue to help our family of makers, customers, and community, and will be bringing consciousness around race with us as we move forward. So while our efforts and interests are very much seated in positivity and a desire to help, we may misstep. If we falter, please help us find a better foothold to lift others up the mountain. We are committed to making the changes within.
We will get there, but only together. Thank you to everyone that continues to support our business, our family of makers, our team, and our hard work.
Sincerely,
Sarah and Sharon
]]>In that light we want to let our community know — though retail stores are permitted to open May 18th in our state, we have decided to delay opening our store space to the public.
Don’t get us wrong — we miss all your faces! We wish we could walk back into our sunny corner on College St. and swing the doors wide. We love being your go-to spot for unique gifts; we love sharing our passion for American-made with every passerby, catching up with regulars and meeting new ones and, of course, the hustle n’ bustle of Saturday shopping.
But if we open our doors next week, that’s not how it will look. All the science is telling us that this is a critical time to hold on to the progress we’ve made. With the safety of our at-risk staff, customers near and far, and vulnerable populations foremost in our mind — we want to make the right choice for our business.
For now, that is to stay the course we began on March 15th to move our store online and focus on delivery and ecommerce. Common Deer is available to you 24/7 at commondeer.com, and we’re just a phone call or email or direct message away most hours of the day or night. We hope you will support us through this tough decision, and adapt with us. The choice to open will look different for every small business. Margins in small retail are notoriously tiny (we do it for the love!) and these times are… testing even the strongest.
We built this business from the bottom up; and if the model we’ve relied on over the past seven years doesn’t work for the current moment...then we’ll continue to build a new one. We appreciate our state government’s measured approach and want to thank them for their efforts on behalf of small business.
The truth is, small business needs you all more than ever. Just because there’s an OPEN sign in a window, doesn’t at all mean that we’re out of the woods. Opening doors doesn’t magically make a pandemic (or the cratered economy, or unemployment) disappear. So many of us will be opening to empty streets, high costs, and difficult-to-enforce safety measures. Many will double or triple expenses to cover sanitation efforts. We’ll be wearing masks, but what if customers don’t? Will our cheery staff be ready for heated “civil liberty” debates with un-masked patrons? Please respect that every store is facing incredibly hard decisions. Please be kind to each other, and to staff and owners. And please, follow their guidelines or support them curbside.
All this to say: even though Common Deer’s front doors aren’t open just yet, we want you to know that we’re still here — albeit at a safe distance.
And don’t worry, soon, with unbridled excitement and emotion, we’ll swing those doors to our retail store wide and welcome you in with smiles, good tunes, and lots of cheer. For now, we hope you’ll continue to support us online. Know that our team is working hard and staying safe to keep you safe. We’re offering local delivery to 10 towns and growing. We’re shipping nationwide to reach our far-away customers and your loved ones. Every unique item we sell keeps 500+ American makers and artists working through this tough time. Including us!
From the depths of our hearts, thank you for being with us.
This is not easy, but we’ve dialed in a new heading, and with your continued support, we’ll get through these stormy seas together.
With love,
Sarah + Sharon
And the rest of the Common Deer team
]]>