Brent grew up in rural North Carolina and went to a fairly small public school system. In elementary school he was identified as “gifted and talented”, and twice a week he would be made to sit in the hallway outside the classroom and do advanced academic work.
His other classmates (as schoolkids do), started calling him “gifted and ‘tarded”. It was a cruel moniker, but Brent didn’t really care because his parents taught him that just because he was good a figurin’ and cipherin’, he was no more blessed or special than anyone else. EVERYONE is gifted in one way or another–including the budding comedian who came up with that nickname.
At Beekman 1802, we are always amazed at the talented people that we meet everyday, from our neighbors down the street, to the Beekman Neighbors around the world, to each of the artisans that are part of the Beekman 1802 community. You are ALL geniuses to us.
So this year, the theme of holiday at the flagship Beekman 1802 Mercantile in “Everyone is Gifted”
Take a tour:
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
store all aglow
Come on in
At the entry way is a singular light bulb with an old-fashioned typwritten note. Customers will have their own eureka moments as soon as they step across the threshold. Store staff greats each customer by saying “Let me know if I can help you find a genius gift.”
Einstein with a bow! Every is gifted!
Throughout the store we’ve suspended single light bulbs from the ceiling
the lightbulbs represent eureka gifting moments throughout the store
Gifts for the baby!
We carried the lightbulb throughout the Mercantile
using light to “highlight” our holiday-only items
Our B. 1802 artisan made this hand-hewn copper tacks so that you could pin your own Eureka moments
The “everyone’s gifted” idea carried over into our vintage offerings in the Mercantile.
Throughout the store we’ve curated collections of vintage gift boxes
round gift boxes
metal and wood gift boxes
even this adorable marching penguin parade gift box
These vintage boxes inspired some of the designs for our gift boxes
Just like Einstein, everything looks better with a bow
Young artisan Megan Nevil crafted this bow pendant necklace so that you can show people how “gifted” you are, too.
Each year one of our master weavers, Karen Tenney, hand-weaves a special holiday handtowel. This year the design is a garland of bows.
Thank you note station
When Neighbors check out, they are asked if they had any “eureka” gifting moments while they were in the store. If so, they get to pick a lightbulb from this cup …
…and add it to the strand that will show all the eureka moments that happened at Beekman 1802 Mercantile this season
Through social media, Neighbors can earn ‘Beekman IQ points”. If they submit a genius holiday entertaining idea, and we use it on social media, they can earn 5 or 10 “IQ” points that translate into 5 or 10% discounts off their next order
No, it’s not you and it makes it difficult to view the lovely photos. I have about given up.
Are most photos sideways or is it me? It could be me…..