The Last Day at Pine Street

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐔𝐬. It's the official shop birthday of our original Rittenhouse location at 1608 Pine Street, opened on this day in 2006. Today we're taking a moment to appreciate April 20th, 2021, the day we bid farewell to the place where it all started, the Last Day at Pine.

This year, things have been so busy since moving Omoi operations into what is now our Old City headquarters that we never got a chance to commemorate the move (not unlike this time every year, where we're so busy with demands of the holiday season that our shop birthday springs up on us like an overactive house cat ready for attention).

From Liz:
"I’m really grateful in that we were able to close the Pine street store in a lighthearted and non-rushed way despite all the pandemic-related factors that expedited the need to move on from that location. I was touched that people went out of their way to stop over and dig into the packed Pine Street displays one last time, even when they acknowledged that they’d likely see us again over in Old City in short order. And that it prompted people to share their personal connections to the shop (like a customer that got a tattoo!). That was really uplifting, especially that at that time I/we were having to troubleshoot all the possible scenarios, including action plans for what we’d do if the consolidation resulted in a major drop in sales. Overall it was just a very chill day, very sweet, a little silly once we popped the champagne. I liked that Jessi, our head of merchandising, hand made a big sign and we probably didn’t get to hanging it up until around 4pm (3 hours from close), a spiritual parallel to Opening Day on Weds, Dec 13, 2006, when I finally said 'fuck it, let’s open' at 5pm hahaha"

Liz and Jessi vibing by the cash wrap.

Pretending we're suddenly going to be mean, judgemental sales people: "Ummmm, can we help you?"

Can you believe this is sparse for us?

Ohhh the many changes this side of the shop has seen over the years.

Talking to neighbors about what's next for us.

Let's get a look of the neighborhood while we're out here. Say hi to our neighbors, This Corner, a life shop and salon.

The view towards West.

The view looking northeast, onto Smedley, one of the many charming residential streets in the area.

The intersection of 16th and Pine looking gorgeous on the mild spring day.

We certainly miss our neighborhood florist, Avanda, who provided us with many gorgeous bouquets over the years.

We still remember Said's cafe that was once on the corner where the bustling Nic Grooming now stands. Said made sure we were well caffeinated those early years.

OK, now it's time to pop champagne and eat the cake that Nono from This Corner brought us.

DELICIOUS ROLL CAKE THANK YOU NONO

Continuing cake operations...

Still can't believe we packed every online holiday order for years at this wittle bitty table. Thanks for all the hard work, table!

Getting goofy in the final hours lol...

Goofing continues.

Attempting to take a group photo...

Oop, then the store filled up with shoppers!

The line in the final hour.

The shop old timers take a picture for posterity. Left to right: Liz (founder & owner), April (head of logistics), Jessi (head of merchandising), Monk (head of online).

Thanks for all the memories! See you in Old City!

And not soon after moving out, we started major undertakings at our new HQ for the next stage of Omoi. For those playing along, our Old City shop birthday is Black Friday of 2015—always a hectic time. While this lil blog post is the entirety of our birthday celebrations this year, we noticed a number of Philly small businesses celebrating their December birthdays and just wanna say, it's never too late into the year to open your business! So Happy Birthday to everyone starting new things and stepping into the next phase of their dreams. Thank you for reading.

We have a beautiful storefront on 41 S 3rd Street, on 3rd between Chestnut and Market streets.

We hope you come visit us in Old City.

It's twice the size and somehow just as packed full of treasure.

See what we mean?

We're so grateful for our customers who shop with us again and again.

Looking forward to 2022 and beyond.

=]