The best thing about this particular summer is seeing the faces we love again. Seeing smiles again. Folks coming in and having a chat. While your first time ringing the bell for service might feel disarming, the reimagined space perhaps a bit disorienting, most are warming quickly to the D+L 2021 shop, and so the reanimation of our daily lives excites us for the possibilities that lie ahead.

By now almost everyone knows where our business has pivoted since late winter 2020. It's been fairly easy to adapt since most of our energy goes into making the stuff we sell. A sort of "keep your head down" mentality prevailed throughout the storm. We know we are luckier than most. Dare we say blessed. The joyful opportunity to continue working offered a sense of normalcy within the walls of our workshop. Coming out of it we continue to thrive because of our loyal customers, online shoppers and quality of goods sold. The addition of our customizable hair and skincare line has forever changed the way we will operate the workshop and the store. With hundreds of empty storefronts across center city, and Amazon as America's preferred way to shop, it's easy to see that the trajectory of retail shopping is constantly morphing. While we will continue to enjoy in-store customers, all signs point to online as the place we can secure a future for ourselves.

We believe that attitude is everything. You cannot run a successful business unless a bright future is in your line of site. Sure, we've had a few endeavors that didn't quite work the way we had imagined, but experience has taught us to embrace the unexpected. Without the ego. Without baggage. Now we drill down into the core of what is already working. Constantly improving and innovating. The bright future we see also includes a new location for our store.

We've begun looking at spaces. Seeing what is available, what neighborhood we might like to tuck into. Planning a hybrid space where the workshop and store are blended together. Where you can come in and shop, create a customized item if you like and either wait on a bench outside with a cup of coffee, or simply watch as it is blended. The search for the right center city space might take the better part of this year to find but the plan for 2022 is well underway.