Ready, Set, Paint!

Well, it’s been an interesting few months. And though we’re glad to be doing what we love best – dishing up some creativity via curbside or delivery – it isn’t quite the same without seeing all of you in action creating something that is uniquely you! Opening up is a big deal and we all have to do our part to continue to flatten the curve. And in that spirit and in the anticipation of the opening, we wanted to share with you our Reopening Plan. We have given a lot of thought on how we can open while providing safety measures for our customers to feel comfortable to come back and paint.

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Our Reopening Plan goals, in a nutshell, are to minimize in-store browsing, product handling, in-store point of sale transactions, and to keep it clean to stop the spread, and of course - maximize social distancing. Here’s what’s new:

• Though walk-ins will always be welcome, we recommend reserving your table before coming – our easy online system allows you to do this 5 minutes before you arrive, provided there is a table available. In keeping with social distancing and occupancy limitations, we are limiting the number of tables available.

• We also recommend you purchase online, this will allow us to bring your pieces to your table. Of course, you may purchase items you see in the store – either on your phone or at the cash register.

• We will also now have a Paint Bar – but we won’t pour, we’ll give you the bottle! Everything you touch will be disinfected and thoroughly cleaned – we are dedicating an entire staff meeting and training to this. We will also be handing out paintbrushes (of your choosing) and paint palettes to limit the handling of these items.

We have also detailed for you our Employee Expectations here. We are all adjusting to this new way of being, so if you see anything that requires our attention, we ask that you tell us. We all can help each other out to ensure we’re stopping the spread because we’re all in it together.

And good news on the Summer Camp front – we have secured a dedicated temporary space to hold our Summer Art Camp Program. The temporary space is over 3500 square feet allowing ample room for social distancing. Our Summer Camp Safety Plan is posted and it details how we’re keeping campers safe while we still have fun. The main gist:

• Space will be a dedicated space for our Summer Art Camp program. This means there will be no customers in the space, only campers.

• Each table will have a maximum of 2 campers with a sneeze guard in between campers as a safety barrier (but campers will be seated 6’ apart at the same table). In addition, all camp tables will be 6’ feet apart. For a visual guide, see our camp layout on our Summer Camp page.

• Each camper will have their personal supplies and assigned seatings for the week.

With this new dedicated space, we will now be able to offer Regular Parties, in addition to our Virtual Party, Your Way! Our new temporary space of over 3500 square feet complies with County and State Phased Guidelines. See our visual guide to the party layout here (no more than 2 per table with a sneeze guard in between as barrier, and ample social distancing, yet festive)! If you’re missing friends and tired of connecting over video conferencing, check out our Party. There will be no general customer at this space, just your party.

Pottery-To-Go will also stay available for the long haul, perhaps permanently. Who knows? But we’re here to serve you however you need. So if milling about in public is not quite in your comfort zone yet, give pottery-to-go a try, if you haven’t already. And if you have, then you already know how easy our online ordering system is.

We will continue to offer curbside drop off or pick up of pottery-to-go items for the duration. If you want to drop off items ready for glazing and firing, you may drop it off at the table outside (we will check it often) or come-in to the store. If you want to pick up your pottery-to-go or finished items, you can do it curbside or come-in to the store. We expect inside retail to start on June 1st. If you decide to pick up via curbside, please give us a call at 425-861-8388, and we’ll be right out.

So! I think that’s everything we wanted you to know for now. We encourage you to read our Reopening Plan so you know what to expect when you come in.

We are excited to open our doors and see you all again.

Love, Peace, and Paint Away!

Hazel Roos

How-To Pottery-To-Go

We are so excited to offer same day curbside pick-up and delivery for online pottery-to-go orders that we created a little tutorial. Our system is super easy. It's no secret that being creative can be comforting during these uncertain times. It relaxes and quiets the mind. Not to mention, it keeps the kids engaged. Go ahead and try it!

Special thanks to our super-staff extraordinaire Katie and her husband, Josh, for making this video!

#SmallBusinessStrong with You

We won’t lie, we were feeling pretty blue when we had to close down – and it got increasingly difficult as the days went on. But, we are now entering Phase 1 of the re-opening and feeling hopeful about what this could mean, not only for us, but for everyone. Here’s to brighter days ahead!

Before we go on and on about what we’ve got going on (and we’ve got plenty!) – we want to first practice some gratitude. We want to give a loud shout-out to all the healthcare workers and first responders who are on the front lines risking their own health and safety for US! Healthcare workers and first responders are our SUPERHEROES. We also want to thank all those who keep our food chain going – from farm to table and everything in between. We’re thinking of our global community during this pandemic – and though we want you to buy local, our LOVE is global!

And how about those Moms and Dads working from home with their kiddos? That is some difficult feat to conquer! We feel you and we salute you!

We want to give a shout out to One Redmond for being a strong voice and advocate for businesses, small and large alike.

Finally, thank you to all our customers who have checked-in over the last several weeks. We are only Small Business Strong with YOU. We hope we can count on your support as we’re coming back with a bang! Perhaps we’re looking a bit differently with the new COVID way of business, but providing the same great service. We are now offering:

• Pottery-to-Go with delivery to your home,

• Virtual Classes to keep your kids engaged while you work during the weekday,

• Virtual Birthday Parties to celebrate during social distancing

• And Summer Camp Program – Phase 3 of the re-opening plan is allowing us to have our program. Yay!

Our Health and Safety Guidelines detail the precautionary measures we are taking to ensure the safety of our employees and customers.

We get knocked down but we get up again! We are all in this together!

Peace, Love, and Paint Away!

Greetings and COVID-19 Update

We hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy. We, at Paint Away!, miss our customers and the hubbub that would usually be going on right now during Spring Break. It would normally be a busy time. I wake up every morning to Facebook memories of Spring Break pasts. And, oh, how different it is this year during COVID-19 which has temporarily closed our doors.

But we hope you are staying engaged and connected through many virtual means, as well as staying physically active to stay healthy and to lift the spirits up. These are “essentials” these days.

We will, someday, return and continue our services and offerings that bring much needed relief and enrichment to our community. We understand that being able to be creative can be comforting during this time of high anxiety and stress – I would even argue that it is also essential.

We have asked the Governor’s office to allow us to do Pottery-To-Go with No Contact curbside pickup or front door delivery option. They have denied us our request because we are non-essential, and therefore, it is against the Governor’s mandate to do it, otherwise. We are doing our part to flatten the curve, and we hope that other non-essential businesses are doing the same.

Until such time when we can welcome you back in our store or able to offer Pottery-To-Go curbside or delivery, this is just a short note to say hello, we’re thinking of you, and we’re wishing you health and safety.

As a Governor of another state has said - Stay Home. Stop the Spread. And Save Lives.

Love, Peace, and Paint Away!

COVID-19 Update on Closure and Pickup of Finished Items

In the past few days and weeks, across the country, we have been asked to practice social distancing, which we rather think of as physical distancing. However, in our determination to create an outlet for creativity for our customers, as that is what we do best, during this time of high anxiety and insecurity, we created an online Pottery-To-Go program with curbside pickup/drop-off that was in keeping with Social/Physical Distancing and keeps everyone safe – customers and employees alike.

We were ready to launch this program just before the Governor announced his Stay-At-Home mandate on March 23rd, which directs all nonessential businesses to close. As a small business, these are trying times for everyone in our immediate reach – our employees, customers, vendors and suppliers, as well as our landlord. We are seeking guidance from the Sate of WA as to whether our curbside program would be consistent with the latest guidelines. Until we obtain such guidance, our pottery-to-go program is on hold.

The store remains closed as we have been since March 19th. We regret that we cannot open for customers to pick-up their finished items or their work-in-progress at this time. We are sorry for the inconvenience. We are anxious to open as soon as we’re able and allowed. We love our customers and we so much appreciate your support during these trying and economically uncertain times.

Thank you for your patience. We hope you and your family are staying safe & healthy.

Love, Peace, and Paint Away!