Pickyfix Collective

Did I say free?  What’s the catch?  The deal is, we’re trying to drum up new membership, so we’re offering an introductory special.  Try out our services.  Meet some people in the collective.  Have your goods in our retail location on the Oakland-Berkeley border and our (coming soon! –photographers and models needed!) online catalog and see if you get some exposure.  Maybe something will sell.  It’s worth trying.

The catch is it’s limited to a few goods and those goods must be left at the store for a panel acquisitions review before we accept them on a consignment basis.  This is not the full-on, you get $1,000 worth of goods on display here vendor membership.  This is just a sample.

For details, inquire within: soledad@pickyfix.com or (510)655-6790

Hey hey, how’s it going?

We haven’t had many meetings this month.  It’s been full-on work mode with no time for frivilous hostessing.  I want action!  Progress!

The femme clothing display is done.  Just got a new delivery of lumber today for the butch and andro displays and the garment racks will all be done!  Yay!  I take zee wood and fill, dry, sand, stain, finish, install, and trim with similarly pampered millwork.  I take zee hardwares and enamel to coordinate with the paintjob and wallpaper.  You know I do…and how do we feel about me calling the clothes femme/butch/andro?  I don’t want to exclude transfolk, ya dig?

I don’t know why I’m writing this way.  Too much work.  It is 4:48 am and I just got done re-installing printer drivers to be able to e-mail scans of Board of Equalization applications to our New Orleans outpost.  Some government offices are closed every last Friday of the month on depression-induced work furloughs.  I could tell you why this is not saving the State any money, but suffice it to say that the Board of Equalization is open tomorrow and I wanna get a jump on it.

This post is supposed to be an announcement that I’m bringing meetings back, oh yeah!  Sexy, sexy, face-to-face, vis-a-vis, incarnate, fleshy, Robert’s rules of rollcall MEETINGS!  Here is your big chance to ask me –and whichever other vendors grace us with the glory of their magnificent presence– all those burning questions you’ve always wanted to grill us with!  This Saturday and Sunday, April 25 & 26th, we are having as many weekend, evening (for workin’ folks) meetings as we can cram into our weekend evenings.

Saturday, April 25 @ 7-9pm: Open House –aimed at prospective members and vendors

Sunday, April 26 @ 5-7pm: Co-Op Meeting –for vendors, mostly, but also peeps who can’t make Saturday

Please join us!  Feel free to bring tea, pastries, and samples of your work if you are so inclined.

Look forward to seeing you! ^_^

Long week (month?) of bureaucratic hurdles.

Went to the Finance Division.  Need Zoning clearance.  Went to Zoning.  Need building owner’s signature.  Went to landladies.  Neither is in.  Assistant in meeting.  Closed Fridays.  Will mail to you.  Next week = not mailed.  Follow-up e-mails.  Was redirected to different landlady.  Corrected.

Had to wait two weeks (2-wks!) for the zoning application to come back signed by the building owner’s representative.  

Resubmitted back to the City of Berkeley only to find that the location has not been permitted since 2000, when it was an “Internet Consulting” business.  Our lease is for retail, so I have to get a building inspector to come approve the change of use in a commercial district.  They only answer the phone from 8-9am and 4:30-5pm.  I diligently called the inspector for my use and district and held interminably…:::Yes, I’m holding for –zoning inpector–::: Oh, well.  You’d be holding a mighty long time then, since he’s on vacation.  :::But I was just there this morning and they gave me his card and told me to call at 4:30?:::  Call back when he’s back from vacation.

Went to County Clerk’s Office.  Did name search and registered fictitious business name for “Picky Fix.”

Need reseller’s permit.  Went to State Board of Equalization.  Wants signatures and copies of driver’s licenses for all officers of the corporation…one of whom is in Louisiana, neither of whom has a driver’s license.

Don’t even ask me how much they want for the sign.

 Can we say $1,500 minimum for “Design Review Board” approval?  Before you can even start building the thing!  Oh, Berkeley…there is a check box for “does the business involve marijuana” (I asked.  ”If you don’t check ‘No’, we assume ‘Yes.’”).  That made me chuckle.