End of Summer Loving
Summer loving ….
You may well know that at Jam we all love LOVE. And this summer, the love is what we felt. Our biggest summer ever. Thank you. Thank you so much for supporting us. It has been an absolute blast.
Last summer we had four stores after opening St Ives last June, lockdowns came and hung around for far too long but we were not going to be deterred. We continued our expansion opening the King’s Road store in London and a third store in Cornwall - Falmouth. Six stores heading into summer and a whole lot of staycations - let’s just say - you kept us busy. As it turns out, we can love busy! We especially enjoyed/ appreciated those special few that planned their holidays around every one of the Jam stores - I met a couple that had completed the tour of all six stores : Kings Road, Salcombe, Dartmouth, Padstow, Falmouth and finally St Ives - as surfers say; thats a serious strike mission. It does so happen that our stores sit in all our favourite places from city to surf, so if shopping online isn’t enough, it’s definitely worth the trip.
Whilst you might have seen all of us, we haven’t actually managed to see each other - in over a year in fact (you keeping us being busy and uh… oh, and covid). We finally had a chance to regroup as a team last month for a strategy meeting in the new boutique beach hotel overlooking Polzeath Beach; Atlantic House. With panoramic ocean views - we indulged in a sea of product samples, discussing future designs and growth plans. I’ve never actually been excited for a Winter but seeing the imminent winter collection in the flesh created genuine excitement all round.
Strategy away - it was time to hit the water. We’ve got a lot of big personalities amongst the Jam team. Add a little competition to the mix and absolute carnage can prevail. This is exactly what happened at Cornwall’s biggest Aqua Park (think real life total wipeout). Having the place to ourselves - there was only one thing for it; a race amongst the team. Thea as the youngest went first and her focused, athletic approach set the bar high. Anna and Lucy followed, styling out the slides. Izzy flew round (literally!), she barely touched the surfaces and ultimately pipped the leader board. Mark and I (Darcey) gave her a run for her money but it was the fastest last, and Andrew cruised in with gold. Just as he was recovering from near cardiac arrest, Izzy got a second wind and decided to take another shot at the title, this time pipping him at the post by a mere 2 seconds. Andrew is still convinced she had been before to practice. Luckily, or unluckily, Lynne captured the whole thing on camera.
Determined we would never leave it that long again we instantly regrouped again at the weekend, this time in London. Andrew was performing with his band on Saturday night, which was completely wild and a great excuse to kick our heels in the big smoke. On the Sunday Lucy, who joined us this summer as an intern, took it upon herself to run the London marathon. Not only did she smash the run, but we are very excited to announce that she has agreed to stay on as a full time member of the Jam family! We are all buzzing to have her. So, after a lot of singing, grooving, and screaming at the sidelines we have all had far too much of each other. Our plans for next month suddenly feel a little too close - I think I’m only only just getting over my water park injuries, so I’m hoping for a team trip to the library (or a vineyard)!
It’s good to be back, you will be hearing more from me on a weekly basis.
Darcey
More pics from that fateful aqua park....
