We’re in interesting times right now. Never before in our lifetime have we seen something so disruptive to our “normal” lives. We have always supported our community, employees and neighbors whenever possible.
At our core, we are makers. We handcraft leather goods. But we are also retailers, people that serve others through the products we make. For us as makers, it means we need to switch things up to keep crafting. For us as retailers, it means we’ve lost a significant amount of art festivals which have been or will be canceled. While these are indeed hardships for a small business, our dedication is to our community, employees, and customers.
Precautions we’re taking
We’re following the guidelines set forth by our state. And we keep up with the changes to these guidelines by paying attention to our governor, Tim Walz. We’re following our usual protocols of washing hands and such, but have added more as well. If anyone is sick, they are to inform us right away so we can better assess what changes need to happen. We’re sanitizing surfaces too and keeping a distance of at least 6ft from others in our daily lives, or if we happen to cross paths at the shop. But that has changed too…
Our new workspaces
We’ve altered our roles and workspaces to best address health concerns while still maintaining productivity. It feels a bit mixed up right now, but it’s working!
Shipping & Receiving
We now have a single dedicated employee go into the shop each weekday morning to check handle the mail. We’re keeping up with sending packages out, but shipping may be a bit slower than usual based on USPS times. Our tech support from AugmentJ, LLC is remote from Saint Paul, MN and Noah is able to remotely manage most everything and help out with shipping/tech questions while being about 300 miles away. No transfer of germs with that! This setup seems to be working well right now.
Production
Keeping up with production is a bit trickier because most of the tools we need are at the workshop! But our leather smiths are dedicated to serving our customers and wholesale customers during this time, so we’ve made a big change. They’ve taken work home with them. A lot. We’re going to keep things going as best as we know how during this time. So feel free to keep placing orders and we’ll do our best to fill them!
Retail Shop
For public safety, we’ve closed the doors on the retail shop until further notice. We hope to open again soon but regard public heath an important matter and place trust in the very knowledgable scientists directing safety efforts.
We are grateful for your support over the years, and for your continued support. We’re all in this together and we will continue to support our community and employees as best we can throughout these ever changing times!
Thank you for your continued support,
Bill & Lauri Keitel
