As you can see, the kids are SOOO small and Allison & I look a little younger too, he he. There's Mary Heintze, who is responsible for convincing me to take up scrapbooking in 1997, so it was only right that she be our first employee (the kids were free labor, he he). Look at the blood, sweat & tears these little guys put in for the opening of Memory Mania. They did a great job. we THOUGHT that was so much product, ha hahahaha. Check out the stickers on a roll and that double rack of paper was every paper we could find, the only manufacturers then were Frances Meyer, Paper Adventures & Keeping Memories Alive (this was even BEFORE Bazzill). IN fact, just to give you an idea of how NEW this hobby was, CK had just begun publishing their magazine just months earlier.
Mallory is sorting DIE CUTS, OMG. We couldn't even imagine a cricut back then.
Check out these Templates, can't recall , ____ buddies??? more stickers on a roll WOW-so much scrapbook stuff, who would have every thought (ha ha), they worked about 18 hours & then they were pooped. My favorite memory (wish I had a picture) was Becky Robichaux who lived in Alabama at the time peeking through the gates, (oh yeah we were in a small room behind Coffee House at Tanger Mall in 1999) saying "I just can't wait to come in, a real scrapbook store, I saw ya'll in CK". It wasn't long before she moved to Prairieville to be near her favorite scrapbook store-we love you Becky-can't tell you how that made our day-we were so nervous about spending that money in CK and someone actually read it-turns out alot of people read it!!! And guys, take a look around MM today, and look at this picture, in 3 snapshots i could show you every item in the store, and believe me in 1999 that was every item available-we had it all. if you look real close, you'll see Coluzzle hanging on the wall, that was the month it was created. When i quit my job at EATEL, people would look at my like i needed to be commited, "What are you going to sell besides scrapbooks". The puzzling looks were so funny. When we would talk to others, people didn't even know what SCRAPBOOKING was.
Check out those first 2 shoppers, that's Jill and our Asst Manager, JADE Templet -OK, so don't you agree this was a REALLY long time ago. Jade attended our first Junior Scrappers Camp that summer . Tina LeJeune was the 2nd of the 53 customers that day, and she is also still scrapping today!!!! And of course, i couldn't pass up this last photo of my CARLY, 5 years old making her first scrapbook purchase (ok maybe she didn't purchase it).
And with the help, support & encouragemen of all of these wonderful people, Allison & I took a huge leap of faith & opened this humble little scrapbook store of 500 square feet, March 24, 1999 (The opening was supposed to be April 1st, but we couldn't stand it, we opened a week early).
Seriously, I could never run this store without the love & support of my 3 boys & my BFF, Allison-you can't imagine how many sacrifices they have had to make for the good of Memory Mania. But as John says, "You couldn't LIVE without Memory Mania". So, thanks to all of you, you give me so much back!!!! What an awesome life, that my work is my hobby & my passion. I wouldn't say it was easy, but i would always say it was worth it!!!!!
And its OFFICIAL, we are business owners YIKES, we were scared to death, WILL THEY COME???? And they came, and they came, they continue to come 10 years later. We are told on a regular basis how awesome a store we have, that's it the best store in the nation (for real, they say that). I can't take credit for that though, its my girls!!! Its definitely a team effort. Its because we have always had the best people in the world working at Memory Mania!!!!! Tha BFF, Allison, she gets the word out to all of you through her emails & newsletter. The TEACHERS, you know we have the most awesome classes in the country-seriously-these are the best teachers& i've been to many classes across the country and I'm NOT being partial, ask anyone. AND "my girls" in the store, WOW, what can i say??? Its not just a job to them, its their passion too!!!! They give 100% all of the time, anything I ask and anything you need, they do it and with a SMILE. We have been so blessed through the years at MM, for the awesome girls that we've found to work at MM. Of course, these 4 walls changed to the 4 walls we call home in Prairieville, more pics of that later. There is so much more we want to do & provide at MM, stay tuned. As we all know, times are tough in the world today, PLEASE PLEASE support your local scrapbook stores-they are a blessing-can you imagine trying to match your pattern paper online?? !!!!! Let's stick together for another 10 years, don't you think? I HAVE scrapbooked before local scrapbook stores, believe me, you don't want to LIVE without a local scrapbook store!!!!!!
