Chapter 7: And So, She Opens Her Shop in the Capital
IT was the day after Gordon and Olivia had submitted the business application for the new shop to the Artificers Guild. The rain had let up in the afternoon, and Olivia was back at Sally’s Bridal Boutique.
“How lovely! I feel like a noble lady!”
A young woman was in the cute dressing room, enchanted by her reflection in the mirror. She wore a gown overflowing with delicate lace and a white veil on her head, along with a sparkling ring on her finger with a blue gemstone.
“It looks wonderful on you. Is the size all right?” asked Sally. She was wearing a cream-colored suit. Another woman in a uniform, her assistant, was smiling as she checked the length of the skirt and sleeves.
“It fits perfectly! Arthur’s going to love it too!”
The woman spun happily in front of the mirror, and her eyes stopped on the glittering ring on her finger; she looked enchanted. “This ring really is beautiful. It’s wonderful; it even matches the dress!”
“They look really good together,” agreed Sally with a smile. “And the design means it won’t get in your way. I hope you continue to wear it even after the wedding.”
“That’s what’s so great about it! I can’t wait to go out with it on!”
Olivia was in the corner watching the woman, and the corners of her mouth turned up. She felt delighted to see someone that excited.
The woman’s mother and grandmother were on a sofa diagonally in front of Olivia, smiling as they watched and spoke together in hushed tones.
“Girls these days have it much better. Your father gave me the most wonderful ring at our wedding, but I only wore it that day. I haven’t even looked at it once in the past fifty years,” the grandmother recalled.
“I kept mine safe so I could give it to my daughter if I had one, but when I tried to, she said she didn’t want something so old-fashioned! I was devastated.”
Olivia giggled inwardly as she listened to them. That made her think of the time her mother showed her the ring her father gave her and told her to take it when she got married.
As the two older women talked, the bride spun around and glared at them. “Would you two actually look and tell me what you think? Today is about me!” Then she turned to Olivia and smiled. “Thank you so much for the ring! I’m going to visit your shop sometime!”
Happy that the woman did really seem to like the ring, Olivia smiled and bowed. “Thank you. I look forward to seeing you.”
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ONCE the three women had left, Olivia joined Sally in her pink office and spoke over some tea. Sally’s eyes grew in excitement when Olivia shared her plans to open her new business.
“Wow! Your own shop?!”
“Yeah. It’ll be a sister store, a separate sales location to Gordon’s Magic Appliances focusing specifically on women’s magic jewelry.”
Sally clasped her hands together happily. “Congratulations! That’s incredible! It might just be the first shop in the capital dedicated to women’s magic jewelry.”
“It looks like it will be. Gordon’s raring to use that as a selling point.”
As happy as if it were her own accomplishment, Sally cheerfully added, “Well, then, you’ll need a detailed business plan, won’t you?! Do you have any leads on the location?”
“Gordon’s friend had a shop on Lamilis Street; it’s now vacant, and we’re going to refit it.”
“That’s perfect! And near me.”
“Yeah…”
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Compared to Sally’s bubbly reaction, Olivia’s expression was somewhat chilled.
Sally cocked her head. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s just…things have gotten difficult.”
“How so?”
Olivia let out a heavy sigh. “It looks like I’m going to have to open the shop in three months.”
“What? What?! Three months?!” Sally’s eyes rounded, and she shot to her feet. “Wait! Why in three months? You need at least six months; my shop took nearly a year to set up! Three months is rushing things, seriously rushing things!”
Olivia cast her eyes down. “Apparently, the King is planning to slow down the opening of new shops in the capital. Any shop opening after three months from now will be subject to an intense screening process.”
When Olivia decided she’d open the shop the other day, they went to submit the business application to the Guild. The worker there informed them in hushed tones of the situation, which would be announced next month.
“According to the Guild, applications like mine, where the shop is a branch store, could be refused because they’ll decide that the main store could easily handle that business. Both Gordon and I are in a panic.”
As she explained, Olivia thought back to her night stroll with Elliot.
“By the way, I recommend you submit your business application as soon as possible. If you have any trouble, just let me know, and I’ll help.”
He must have known. I’m so glad he told me.
“Then I guess you have to hurry,” murmured Sally as she sat back down with a concerned look at Olivia. “Are you going to be all right, though? If you’re doing a refit, you need to grab some builders, like, now!”
“Gordon’s been working really hard on it and already requested the builder who works with his shop regularly. He already has an idea and feel of the store, which helps, and I’m scheduled to have a meeting with him this week.”
“You might be able to scrape by in time, then.” Sally looked relieved, but that changed to confusion as she looked at Olivia. “If that’s the case, then why do you look so down? Was there another problem?”
“Gordon told me I should make a signature product, and I’ve been trying to figure it out.”
Sally nodded in understanding. “You definitely do need a product that’s sure to sell, but I imagine the magic jewelry you design should move plenty easily.”
“According to Gordon, he’ll still want to stock some of my jewelry in his location, so I need something with a wow factor that you can only get in the shop on Lamilis Street.”
Sally folded her arms in thought. “I can see that. You do need something that screams, ‘You can only get me here!’ Do you have a general direction at least?”
Olivia’s eyes fell to her knees. “I don’t have anything concrete yet, but I want to make products that put smiles on women’s faces.” That was Olivia’s drive, and it would be the core of the new shop as well. No matter what she made, she didn’t want to move away from that mindset. “I also want to make something no one else has, something completely me.”
However, she felt that three months was not enough time to develop a product that could be her flagship item. If she had to, she wanted it to be something incredible, something you couldn’t get anywhere else—something that represented her shop.
Sally smiled at Olivia’s determined expression. “There we go, that’s the spirit! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!”
“Thank you. I’m going to give it my all!”