A little snapshot: Behind the Scenes at Yo.

These photos were taken after my buying trip in NYC so we had a lot of orders to submit (they don't arrive in the store until August though!)

After meeting our vendors in person in NYC, we have a small window to submit orders so the brands can start manufacturing the garments in their factories.

Brands send us their line sheets digitally or paper catalogues then Corissa and I will go through our top picks and budgets for spending. Buying for the business is a lot of gut instinct, budgets and of course some risk.

We choose things that we like, what we would buy for ourselves and what we think our customer might like too (as always we are open to your suggestions!)  Buying is subjective for us - sometimes we get it right, sometimes we get it wrong!

 My kids go to school a few blocks away so after I drop them off at 8.30am, I head for coffee (right next door to the shop) at Prince Coffee.

Down the alleyway is our office space. We have two (actually three) spots in this building, the office, the shop and a basement unit.

We rent spaces in the NW Portland Film Exchange Building, which was built in 1931 as a regional distribution center for six major movie studios, where film was repaired and movies were screened for local theater managers. The property was originally modeled after studio buildings in Hollywood. LA in NW Portland basically - minus the sun ;)

The building has a really lovely feeling to it - I love our spaces, and our amazing neighbors (don't forget to check out Fine Art Fruit). Sometimes our building have spots for rent here.

We moved into the corner spot in 2016. An art gallery was meant to move in, but luckily for me, they pulled out and I was able to snap this spot up with my one year old son in tow.

Corissa (the best Yo manager and wears all the hats) comes in around 9am then we plan our day. We check online orders and what needs to be done that day - answering emails, planning and coordinating the month with events (we have lots planned for this year), scheduling, unpacking, inventory, selling, merchandising, opening the store and chatting to you!

As a mum of two young kids, I've come to accept I have a never ending to do list that is never complete. Luckily I also have an amazing team of women who are great at what they do and helping me do it! All super talented women who help me create the world of Yo and what it is today. 

Shipping and packing online orders!

Gracie, our shipping department (of one), arrives to pack and ship your online orders.  Gracie is the best at gift wrapping and taking great care to not break those ceramic items shipped out to you. If you need a gift sending, she's your girl to make it look fancy - just add into the notes at checkout (and my top tip is order on a Monday when we ship everything out for just $1).

We work with Noissue a lot for our custom tissue paper, paper tape and envelopes and our all colorful branding tissue paper and bags etc was executed by the excellent ladies at Afterall Studios here in town.

We also use A LOT of our colorful crates to help keep us organised in the back office.  We have all the colors in store at the moment.