#ContainTucson -- It's Here!

Tucson has hit the big time. 

As our population base for commercial purposes inches past one million, retailers become more interested in us.  So, when Toby Keith's bar and restaurant (no weapons allowed, thank you very much) went out of business, leaving a curbside, 20,000 square foot space available in the biggest mall in town, look who thought we were worthy. 

Because we are so special, bloggers in the area were invited to be the first non-employees to tour the store.  

Becca posted about it and I started my happy dance.

Melanie sent me an invitation, and the doors opened as I approached. 

Aiden welcomed me and gave me a moment.

The view from right there stopped me in my tracks.

Hello.  

My name is Ashleigh.  

I am a Container Store Addict.

Aiden and I talked about Big Cuter's gentrifying San Francisco neighborhood as he escorted me to the lunches and the chairs and the hand outs.  It was another example of the company's culture: if the employees are happy, the customers will be happy, too.
I was smiling by the time I sat down, that's for sure.

Becca was there and Desert Chica sat between us and won the door prize at the end, but I won't spare you a single detail of the 90 minutes in between because I am obsessed.

The lovely Robin, a relative newbie at 2 years with the company, 

led us through necessary 

( 200 varieties of hangars.)

and I just have to have it.

There was gift wrap. 

and I remembered the Container Store in Marin at the holidays my smile began to break my face.

There were baskets  

and clear containers

and the perfect packaging for that awkwardly shaped gift. 

There were solutions for everything 

(another company truism: Saving Space and Time) 

including a boring office, it seems. 

If you don't believe me, Kip Tindell, CEO,  wrote a book to prove it to you.

(1=3 ... hire one GREAT employee rather than 1 GOOD employee;

263 hours of training for each employee in the first year, vs 7-10 industry wide)

but let's get back to the goodies, shall we?

First, we must have this updated Granny Wagon to tote home our treasures.

If you live in the city and walk to the grocery store, why don't you have one of these?

And I just realized that this is the perfect farmers' market tote for me.... hmmmm......

.

All those green veggie saver bags are things of the past. 

Apparently, these containers keep lettuce for eons.... or weeks, anyway.

Aqua and ?rose?persimmon?matte red? are the colors right now.

I'm so glad that the Container Store came and told me so.

Really, I am. 

I have no need for anything in that picture, yet I stood before the display for quite some time.

Obviously, there was a hole in my life which this store filled.

I began to feel awkward about the whole thing, but Nerthus, 

who describes herself as Demystifying the Metaverse Since the Last Century,

was there, too.... and she was just as excited as I was.

I decided to go with the flow and stop judging myself.

Besides, both Robin and I really liked the fact that these doors swiveled open.

She suggested them as nightstands; it looks like they would work on both sides of the bed.

The men on the tour liked these bookcases for narrow spaces. 

I've seen them before, but my needs are so great that I sigh and pass them by.

The young man taking pictures for his mom's blog agreed; he, too has books double stacked on his shelves.

The display of wall mounted hanging systems was stupefying. 

 It almost made me wish that I lived in a sweaters-required climate.

A coat rack is wasted in Tucson, even one as spectacular as this.

Wall mounted, it's the perfect put-my-keys-and-my-wallet-and-my-bag-of-some-sort on it thing.  That black tray has edges to keep errant items atop, where they belong.

I lusted, and I moved on.

Should you need to leave a note, the Container Store has you covered.

If, like TBG, you prefer pen and paper, these are very cool cork boards, aren't they? 

The push pins were amazing, but my pictures are not. 

These are the paper clips 

(yes these are magnetic and no I don't know exactly what that means)

Try to imagine similarly wonderful push pins.

Again, I have only myself to amuse, and I have years of accumulated push pins to go before I sleep... or buy new ones.... so I movd on.

I am trying to be restrained, you see, so this next item is practical.

 I need a way to keep the door open between the garden garage and the back yard.

There are so many 

many choices. 

I have all day today and tomorrow to think about it.

The first retail sales will be Saturday morning.

10% of the sales go to support the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, a worthy cause

It's obvious that I will have to return on Saturday... and on Sunday, too, after I try the various boot forms/racks/stuffers on my cowboy boots at home, returning the ones that aren't perfect and buying more of the one that is.  

Or maybe I'll just bring the boots to the store.

There was more, denizens, there was so much more.

Bags of all types and sizes and shapes. 

Bins and totes and containers small and large and in between.  

But I fear that my obsession is beginning to annoy.....

Wait... I'm sure there's a container for that.......