Let’s Make it Official: Saying Goodbye

I’ve been mulling over this decision and tossing over how to write this post for some time now…and what I’ve concluded is that I just need to stop searching for the perfect words, or event, or time and just rip the band aid.

So here it is: I’m closing Millay Market.

Closing the physical storefront in Philadelphia in order to move here to Boston didn’t feel like a closure in my heart. While I hugged lots of customers goodbye last May, I was internally convinced that I’d quickly find the right space and reopen a bigger and better Millay soon enough in the city of Boston, and continue to keep the brand growing and thriving as a retailer!

But then, one thing after another happened—and maybe more importantly didn’t happen—and I went with my gut and decided to put the new brick-and-mortar on hold indefinitely.

And then, in the meantime, new opportunities opened. I took on a job with a company I love, started getting settled and really planting roots in this new city and in our new home, started hearing and heeding lots of advice on where my career could go from here, and bit by bit felt less and less attached to staying the course on where I had been. And even though I don’t quite have it all perfectly figured out yet, I do know that I feel so grateful and at peace with where I am.

Quietly though, in the midst all of those changes and pivots in my plans, I kept my little Millay Shop domain, not quite ready to cope with the reality of REALLY. LETTING. GO.

Here’s the thing though: even in the free time I have outside of my new job, I found myself procrastinating, even dreading the thought of needing to photograph and list items, let alone how to get in a good rhythm of packaging and shipping parcels (for a number of reasons, that got much more complicated in my new set up than its ever been before). In the words of the ever-so-dominant current goddess of all things good Marie Kondo, the e-shop just wasn’t sparking joy for me anymore.

Honestly, I think that was pretty evident to you all, too. I didn’t ever revive the e-shop to what it used to be, and honestly, if I can’t go all in, I don’t want to half do it anymore.

So it is official: I’ve closed the online shop.

And now that I have, I think I can really take that moment to have a small sense of closure: to really say goodbye and to thank the experience for all that it was to me, to fully let go and move on to whatever is next.

While I recalibrate, I plan to continue to pour myself into my new job, be grateful for dipping my toes into the world of consulting and strategic brand partnerships, and to go a little slow. To let myself enjoy this moment of pause, to keep digging within myself and searching for where to go from here, and to enjoy myself along the way.

In the meantime, I’ve got a new shop tab at the top of the page routing you to all my favorite things that I either own and love or have on my wishlist, since that is the number one category of DMs and messages I get from you all: where I get x, where I saw y, and what z’s I’ve got my eye on.

I hope to make time when I can for this blog here in a fairly routine way, as I’m learning that I really love this little outlet 🙂

Until then—

 

photography & art direction by Julia Okun of Rennes.

Join the conversation and share your thoughts!

  1. Linda R. says:

    So glad to have you in Boston!!

    • Mary says:

      Me too, Linda – Boston is my chosen home, I’m so grateful I landed here! And so happy to have met you! xoxo

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