We're Moving Out...

MOVING ON UP After nearly eight years in this amazing space in Prahran, Melbourne's insatiable appetite for development has finally caught up with us. Early next year, the wrecking ball is due to come down on this lovely building. We will be sad to see it gone but with loss comes opportunity. The store will continue to operate from Grattan Street, Prahran, until the demolition team moves in. In the meantime we are looking at a number of options for spaces in Melbourne to move to and will keep you updated as soon as we lock something in. What we can confirm, however, is that we have found a permanent home for the workshop. This will be the first time in the history of the business where the workshop and retail store will be separate. Due to the ever-increasing cost of property in Melbourne and the diminishing number of industrial buildings (read: Melbourne's insatiable appetite for apartment development), finding a home that could house 200+ square metres of workshop space was inequitable. We love Melbourne, but damn, she's got expensive taste. This led us to broaden the search in trying to find some Champagne on a beer budget. The question was, where could we find a place that we would want to call home? It couldn't be some industrial estate filled with concrete tilt-panel buildings; soulless and uninspiring. We wanted something much more than that for our little endeavour. Imagine another big old red brick building, filled with character and history. One where we weren't working on top of each other and with a little room to grow and one that we wouldn't be forced to move out of. In other words, a permanent home. It just so happens that all of this was just down the road from where we live, right under our noses in one of Victoria's biggest regional cities. Helloooo Ballarat. You're looking mighty fine today. This is the Gun Cotton complex, located a few kilometres south-west of Ballarat Central. It was built in the 1940s by Australian and American soldiers stationed in Ballarat on R&R during WWII. It was a big deal in its day for Ballarat and today it is a big deal for us. Over the next couple of months we will be working on fitting the warehouse out; stay tuned for updates on how this is going. In August we will making the move up the Western Highway with all our machinery, leather and tools in tow. We will aim to keep the shop space open in Melbourne two days a week (Friday 10-5 and Saturday 10-4) during August with things hopefully back to normal by September. We have a lot of work to do between now and then, so we will do our best to keep you all updated with all of the happenings and try to get through your orders without too much delay. Exciting and scary times ahead. Click here for more of the story on our blog. AUGUST WOOTTEN SHOP HOURS For the month of August our shop in Prahran will be open limited hours: Friday 10-5 Saturday 10-4 During this time we will be moving our workshop and machinery from the back of the shop to its new home in Ballarat (see picture above). On Friday and Saturday it will be business as usual in the shop. However unfortunately we are unable to take any bespoke footwear appointments during this time. 20 Grattan St Prahran, Melbourne E: workshop@wootten.com.au P: (03) 9510 6503 Instagram: @Wootten_ Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe