Dear WIL Friends,

Here’s the deal. Running a business, a retail business specifically, isn’t easy. It takes so much of my time, T.J.’s time, our team’s time to do what we do. (Not to mention walk in love. is NOT my and T.J.’s full time job – we are wedding photographers for a living.) Now, I’m not complaining. AT ALL! I love my job(s). Our team members love working at the store. But sometimes just thinking about the fact that our Stone Harbor location opens exactly one month from today makes me a little nauseous. There is so much to do still. Product orders, bags, displays, mannequins, photos, computers, scanners, printers, cleaning supplies, stock shelves, keys, lights, hooks, tag gun thingers, folding thousands of new shirts…. and those are just the things that I can rattle off the top of my head!!! And yet, every time I look down at my what seems to be endless to-do list and see April 20th circled on my calendar, I remember why we’re doing this. And why it matters. Like really, really matters.

We are opening a second store for one reason only — to reach more people with the message of Jesus. And we’ve chosen do that through t-shirts. The more people that people see, buy and wear our tees, means that many more people might have the chance to talk about their faith. Share their life story. Invite a total stranger to church. And those moments could lead to a life change so remarkable that until you experience the love of Jesus for yourself, it’s hard to fully explain to someone. Hard to explain His grace. His patience. His faithfulness. His creativity. His everlasting love. But I hope and pray everyday that our store will be a light to the people vacationing in Stone Harbor, New Jersey – starting April 20th, 2013 – and for years to come. That it will open up hearts and conversations over breakfast on the porch, during hours spent swimming in the ocean with family and during the car rides back to their home towns. I truly believe that the walk in love. Stone Harbor store (due to it being a town with new families and faces every week) could impact the east coast in a very mighty way. I pray, pray, pray that this is the case. That people find Jesus… and maybe we can be a part of that story.

All that to say! The store is opening in one month. And it costs so much money. Like so much. When we opened our very first store in April of 2011, we fundraised 30K to cover the costs of construction and renovations to our store space. It was absolutely mind blowing how much people gave. Strangers from all over the world, friends and family from down the street all donated via our IndieGoGo campaign to help us reach our goal. We are forever grateful to those of you who gave.

But this time around, we do not feel a crowd funding campaign is the way to go. So instead we are doing something much smaller, but! we are certainly still in need of your donations. Yard sale donations to be exact. That pile of clothing on your closet floor, drop it off at the Lancaster store! Those blankets shoved in the closet and those necklaces you never wear… can we have them? We are asking for your slightly worn and used items to be donated for our Hipster Yard Sale Fundraiser. If you donate a box of items (dropped of at our Lancaster location) you’ll receive a coupon for 15% off your next purchase. Just one way we can show our gratitude. If you could take 30 minutes or so over the next week to dig around in your drawers, closets, attics, neighbor’s garage (just kidding!!!) to find a few items you no longer need, we would so appreciate you donating them to our sale. All items must be donated by Wednesday, March 27th. (The store is open from 10:00am – 9:30pm.)

We fully understand that this really only applies to our fans and friends living in the Lancaster, PA area – but we are hoping that we’ll see the rest of you at our Stone Harbor store this summer – you can show your support that way!! Or maybe you could take a little road trip to shop at our fundraiser on Saturday, March 30th. It will be awesome. I promise.

All money made at our Hipster Yard will go directly towards the construction/cosmetic needs of our Stone Harbor store. Because gallons upon gallons of white paint ain’t cheap y’all.

Accepting any of the following, and more —

Antiques, linens, blankets, board games, books, baby clothes, collectibles, (smaller) furniture, home decor, housewares, men’s + women’s clothes, lamps, luggage, chairs, movies, sports items, purses, bags, scarves, toys, jewelry, (clean) shoes, kitchen utensils, ANYTHING!

I hope you’ll consider donating your unwanted (but still sellable!!) items to us. It would mean so much. And if you can’t do that, please stop by our fundraiser sale on March 30th to check things out. Our team will be there, we’ll have coffee for you and cookies for sale and mayyyyybe even the Smilebooth set up (weather permitting).

Thank you all for your existing love and support. Both T.J. and I agree that walk in love. has already become more than we’d ever expected. So amazing!

Much Love, Brooke

* Please email brookecourtney@me.com if you have any questions or if you want to donate an item that might be larger in size!