Today ISSUES turned 4!!!!

Hi everyone! 

I know it's hard to believe, but today we are celebrating 4 years of ISSUES!  It was June 1st, 2007 at 5 pm when we opened our doors for the first time.  We had been working so hard to get the store ready and our very first shipment of magazines arrived just a few hours before our grand opening party.  From the very start, we were warmly greeted and welcomed by friends, family, and neighbors near and far.  And from that day forward, we have tried our very best make ISSUES a place where everyone is welcome to come in and enjoy the beauty of print media.

It's hard not to be reflective when celebrating a 4th birthday of a small business.  Firstly, it's Noella's favorite number, which makes it extra special.  :)  But in all seriousness, it really is a lot of work to keep this place going.  Sadly, there is a reason that you don't see too many newsstands around anymore.  Everyone knows it's not the most profitable business, and there is a lot of back-end (and front-end!) work that is necessary to make ISSUES what it is.  We never had lofty expectations or grandiose goals; we knew what we were getting into.  We just wanted to have a small shop in our neighborhood where we could work & have meaningful lives doing what we love, with products that we truly believe in and care about.  We have tried to live simply and put whatever we have made back into our business.  People always ask us how we're doing, and in all honesty, as we have grown and expanded, we have worked very hard to walk the fine line between fulfilling everyone's needs and simply keeping the door open.  We still have a very small staff, and we like it that way.  We want to be your neighborhood newsstand, and we want you to always feel welcome being here in our space.

So yeah, it's been 4 years, and here we are.  And we know that it would not be possible for us to still be here if it wasn't for all of you and all of your support.  So we just wanted to take this moment to thank you for keeping ISSUES alive and for letting us live out our dream.  Everyone says that print is dying, but we don't believe that, and every day when you come in to ISSUES, you are proving that print is alive and well.  We appreciate you on every level.  Thank you for being our customers, friends, and community.  We hope we can continue to be your resource for all things print (and records, and cards, and gifts, and new rad books, too!!!!).  We really are grateful for this experience and we just want to thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for sharing it with us.

Much love and appreciation,

Noella, Joe, Jennie, & Harmony

your ISSUES family!!!!

PS: The logo above was our very first one.  We felt it was apt to post it here on our 4th birthday!!!!