In a nod to the history of our area, I discovered one of the homes Mr. Waters will be renovating was once owned by Jay Malone, who also owned several Friendly’s Ice Cream Shops back in the 1970s and early ’80s.

Additionally, on the day I visited, Mr. Waters pointed out a boat that had recently washed up onshore in front of the house. According to a photo from a back issue of The Observer, Mr. Malone caught quite a few fish from his treasured boat. I’ll be doing a little digging to see if the boat that washed up did in fact belong to Mr. Malone. In the meantime please enjoy our feature on Fox Cove on 1B.

Happy reading!

Liza

Nine

“Do you mind if I move the tote bags to the rack here under the window? We could tell customers they can grab a bag to hold the items they plan to purchase, then when they come to check out, they’ll realize the bag is so cute, it’ll be hard for them not to buy it along with their other things.”

Two Sisters had just opened for the day, and Maya was standing in the center of the shop, gesturing to the window, her dark hair in a high ponytail, a dustcloth tucked into her back pocket.

Violet smiled. “That’s a great idea. Go for it.”

They’d originally planned for Maya to work only two shifts a week to start, but she was a quick learner and had already come up with ideas for how to bring in more customers and increase customer satisfaction. For one, she moved a tray of pinch pots to the counter by the register, which had resulted in many customers adding a small pot to their stash of items to purchase. She also suggested bringing in someone from the library to hold a story time for kids and maybe even adding a coffee cart to sell flavored coffees and treats. She’d met a server at the Sugar Shack who worked nights as a pastry chef and was looking for places to sell her own gourmet cookies, cupcakes, and macarons.

With Maya there learning the ropes and helping with customers, it seemed people were swarming in at a thicker pace than before, and with the increased traffic, Violet and Trudy had already bumped her schedule up from two days to anytime she was free. If she wanted to work, they’d pay her for the extra help.

A week ago, with encouragement from Maya, Trudy had put up a sign in the front window about a mixed-media art class. The class would be for all ages, and students would have two hours to create a piece of art using a variety of materials provided for them—found objects as well as paint, charcoal pencils, and filament wire. The materials would vary for each class, depending on what Trudy had on hand, and their plan was to add more classes if turnout for the first class was decent.