Welcome to Pink Moon Goods, where we celebrate the beauty in everyday living. Our mission is simple: to provide you with precious items that delight your senses, serve a practical purpose, and contribute to making the world a better place. This sweet little shop with a big heart provides quality goods that enhance your life. Whether it's a reusable sustainable swap, a 4th generation brand pocket knife, or a luxurious Japanese bath towel, there is truly something for everyone.
Have you ever walked into a shop and made that sound like something just took your breath away? That is what the experience of walking into our adorable little shop in the charming Historic Huffman Neighborhood is like. One's senses are immediately stimulated in the most pleasing way and your brain recognizes that you have just stumbled upon something truly special and unique.
Pink Moon Goods is one of those rare shops where almost everything serves a practical purpose while also being well made and beautiful. Every item in our shop has a story to tell and the folks you encounter at this gem of a store love sharing those stories with you.
We love supporting local makers and artists through our series of mini markets and artist receptions that celebrate the art hanging on our little in-shop gallery. Once a year we even host a Kid's Market to support the youngest entrepreneurs in our community.
I promised to share with you how Pink Moon Goods came to be which requires me to first talk about how traveling to Japan for the first time changed my life and how I approach living.
In 2017 my husband and I travelled to Japan for the first time ever. We spent three weeks traveling with our JR pass. We had planned a trip that would give us time in both city and country environments with some stops at historical hiking trails and even a stay on a small remote organic farm. When we travel we tend to do a lot of the same stuff we do at home. A friend put it well when he started seeing our photos from a previous trip when he said, "all of your photos are of food!" Our trip to Japan was no different. We ate a lot, shopped a lot and generally relaxed and observed this country that we quickly fell in love with.
There is so much to love about Japan but there is one thing that left a deep mark on me. Everything I saw everywhere we went was beautiful. Even the sewer hole covers on the streets were beautiful. As any good travel will do, it kept me reflecting on how inspiring it was to be surrounded by beauty at every turn. The overwhelming thought that I carried home with me was "what if I could surround myself with beauty always?"
The following year my husband and I got married after being in a committed relationship for 9 years. We had a fabulous wedding in June on a sweltering 94 degree day and as you might guess everything about the day was beautiful down to the flowers that I grew in our garden and the yummy food. A few days later we set out for the NorthEast. We flew into Portland, Maine and we rented a car and spent about 9 days driving through New England.
My husband is an avid record collector and the year before we got married he finally accomplished his life long goal of opening a record store. So while we travelled through the small towns of New England going about our typical activities, eating and shopping and enjoying the sights, he was shopping for records. This gave me time to seek out adorable shops that gave me the feeling I mentioned above, a deep sigh and excitement of discovering something special. There were soooooo many. In almost every tiny town there was a shop filled with all of my favorite things.
Over the course of these nine days of travel I kept having the same thought: Dayton needs a shop like this. One filled with beautiful items that actually do something and bring folks joy at the same time. After being at Luke's side while he brought his dream to life I felt more confident that I could actually manifest this idea of a shop. How I was going to do that I had no clue. I was working full time as a Costumer, Instructor of Theatre, and Costume Designer and changing careers, let alone taking risks like starting my own small business, just was not something that I saw in my future. But nevertheless I started to follow my urge. Late in 2019 my husband and I sat down at the bar in our favorite restaurant in Dayton, Corner Kitchen (the OG) and he recorded my ideas for this shop as I let them flow just as I did for him in 2017. We used the typical questions one might find on a business plan and by the end of dinner I was convinced that it was an idea worth pursuing. I started to reach out to a few brands with the hopes that summer of 2020 I would launch my shop.
Then covid hit. My covid story is not unique but it is one that I consider to be a blessing as it literally shifted everything in my life for the better. Being home so much gave me more time to reflect on what my priorities were and conflict at work brought with it the realization that I was not living to my fullest potential. In fact, I started to realize that I was enduring a great deal more stress and anxiety than I would choose for myself if given the opportunity. But with everything shutting down the idea of opening a shop seemed farther away then ever. Until a local organization (thanks DDP) took things into their own hands by hosting outdoor sidewalk sales for local brick and mortars and other aspiring small businesses. This was the nudge I needed and I took hold of it and ran with it! In September of 2020 Luke and I set up on the sidewalk outside of his shop and this is where Pink Moon Goods was born! I had one handmade product (my cutlery wraps) and three to four other brands of products. I gifted each customer a sample of washi tape from my own collection and flower bouquets from my garden.
By 2022 I knew that I was going to leave my job and before I had a chance to submit my letter of resignation I was given a gift of having my position terminated which meant I could collect unemployment for a few months, helping me to get things rolling on opening this little shop without the stress of having to support myself financially right away. I knew by the Fall of 2019 I was headed in this direction so I had also saved every penny I could. Maybe it's weird to share the financial part of manifesting this dream but personally I am always curious to know how people pull off starting and running their own business so I have always sought to be as transparent as I can be about that aspect.
Several months ago I found a notebook that I started that evening in Corner Kitchen and it surprised me to read some of the original ideas for the shop that never quite took hold. I also found it surprising the things that did come to fruition in this little shop that I never could have anticipated. For one thing there was no mention at all of selling Japanese products. But as many of you now know that is a significant part of the identity of Pink Moon Goods today. It reminds me that we are always changing and shifting and so the ideas we have and who we are in the world is doing the same thing.
Speaking of that, generally speaking...I love what I am doing. I feel like I am a better person because of what I am now doing to support myself. I spent 15 years working in an intense deadline driven industry in a shop that was literally in a stairwell with no windows and surrounded by folks who I had little to nothing in common with and coworkers that daily made me feel unappreciated, disrespected and undervalued. Today I get to control my lovely natural light filled shop filled with beautiful things. My disposition has shifted a great deal and for that I am very very grateful. I get to talk with all of you and help you find things in the shop that bring joy into your life. I get to seek out goods that fulfill your desire to spend your money in intentional thoughtful ways.
I will never grow tired of hearing that sigh of relief the first time that someone walks into our shop or the looks of satisfaction on a return customers face when they excitedly burst through the door.
I am not going to lie, I started this blog because everyone tells you that one of the best ways to boost your presence online is to write a blog. But it has become much more than that. This blog has become a way for me to share the stories of every good in this shop. It is an avenue through which I can educate those who desire to learn how to adjust and adapt to the growing concerns of climate change and a forum for me to share how we can each take small steps everyday to make the world a better place. This blog is a fun way for me to share the time honored traditions of goods that fill our lives with joy and beauty while helping us perform some simple task at home. I learn so much by writing it and I honestly can't even believe that anyone reads these blogs. Seriously. Every time someone tells me they open an email and click on the blog link and actually reads the blog I am surprised. So thank you for making it to the bottom.
Purpose gives meaning to one's life and although at first my ambitions to open this shop may have seemed selfish or not as important as being a theatre artist I no longer believe that. I feel very much that my life has more meaning than ever before. Thank you for trusting me and thank you for supporting me on this mission.
Together we are Pink Moon Goods.