7 Years Strong; Chicago, Europe and the future in Denver
What’s up everyone its Ruga owner of GRC. First off, happy 420 everyone! This 4/20 I write to you from Barcelona, Spain in our first international Pop Up store. We have a little something extra to smile about as today in Chicago, IL GRC will be opening a new Flagship location back in America! (maybe link to addy) Wish I could be in Chicago celebrating with all my Midwest homies but pumped to be out in Spain with Edu, Mapaux, Fede and Jakob expanding the movement in Europe.
2015 was a roller coaster of a year but we have managed to keep all of our staff and even expanded despite our Denver store being closed since August. The silver lining has been our Denver Warehouse HQ; where retail sales have still been taking place so local fans and those from out of state still have the ability to shop. This Warehouse direct experience will be open until the new Denver flagship retail location opens this summer back downtown on Welton.
It is crazy to think that just a few years ago I was living out of our original Flagship location on Larimer and a few short years before that I was running GRC from my Tundra, Vern. To cap off the year I finally sold Vern before heading off to Spain. She had about 380,000 miles and moved all my stuff back into a storage unit before I left the states.
It is important as a business owner to remain humble and stay light on my feet if I want the company to grow. Spain has really been a great taste of humble pie because we are nothing out here yet. For me though, that is what excites me, as an entrepreneur I enjoy the challenges it takes to grow my company all over again. Anything from learning how to ship products, pay taxes, hire staff, learn a new language, get a business license, trademark your stuff…you name it you basically have to start fresh and that is just on the business side of things.
To expand our brand out in Europe we are taking the same business plan as we did in America, which is essentially, go to as many events, festivals, expos that we can afford and physically do and meet our fans and clients face to face. It has been a fun process trying to find influencers here in Europe and have the chance to work with them and bring their name back to America as I am doing with so many of my American artists now here in Europe.
This 420 though, I need to thank all of you who have supported us and stayed by our side through the thick and thin. For those of you who have donated to our Chicago Kickstarter page and are making our dreams to open a Midwest store a reality. We are nearly 90% funded with about two weeks left and because of your support we are able to open our doors early. On this day one year ago when we essentially got the boot from our Denver store; we get to open a new location in Chicago! Stay strong and stay safe!
-Ruga