romshop.co

FINAL CLOSING + FIXTURE SALE: This weekend, Sat 12/6 & Sun 12/7 11-2 ~ everything must go! All items and fixtures will be heavily discounted!

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for making this shop such a special place for the last 4 years ❤️ We cannot tell you how much it has meant to us and how wonderful it has been getting to know you and getting to be a part of your holidays and celebrations and self care!

We started this shop with the intention of bringing sustainable retail options to our neighborhood. Over the last 4 years, we’ve interfaced with the city of Albany’s economic and social struggles and continued decline; with the rise of inflation and tariffs; and with the reality that with more than 50% of our sales coming from online orders, the business we built may have been viable, but certainly not sustainable.

With our closing we would like to encourage our representatives to reflect on how they can better support neighborhoods and the small businesses at the heart of them, and to remind everyone in our community about the importance of shopping locally.

Every purchase we make is a vote, and we are quite literally voting for the neighborhood and city and world we want to live in every time we buy. But consumer power has to be met with powerful policy, too.

We could go on about the importance of sustainability, intentional consumption, consumer responsibility, and policy reforms from a local to national level and we probably will sometime soon.

But one final note to say, that while we juggled our own full time jobs and graduate programs and familial responsibilities (as many or even most SBOs often do), our desire to serve our community is what kept us going for these last 4 years.

All this to say THANK YOU for showing up, for making sustainable choices, for being curious and asking questions, for supporting us and this neighborhood, and for being a real joy in the world. Keep going! ❤️

And please check out the new cutie shop in town 💜

In bittersweet news, we have decided to take a break from operating Rom Shop at our Madison Ave location after 4 years.

Whitney and I opened this space in 2021 after spending the majority of the pandemic planning our dream shop just for fun. When the space became available in our neighborhood we didn’t hesitate.

Meeting and interacting with our neighbors has been the most rewarding thing and hands down our favorite part of running this business. Creating community and being a space for you to shop, recommending gifts for birthdays, anniversary’s and holidays, and welcoming visitors from out of town has been a very precious and special role we got to fill in Center Square.

There are many reasons we have decided to step back from operating this beloved small business, but above all we are just at different places in our lives than we were 4 years ago, with different focuses and goals that need our energy and attention right now. More on all that later!

For the time being we just wanted to say a big resounding THANK YOU for being part of the community and allowing us to serve you for the last 4 years. It has meant so much to us ❤️

We will have a round of closing sales this Saturday 10/18 & Sunday 10/19 from 11-2 🗓️ Please spread the word!

We may operate online through the holiday season or explore a pop up - TBD! There is much to hash out. Come help us clear the shop of all its goodies 🧡

Love always,
Rom Shop

🌟 30% OFF everything storewide now through July 29th 🌟

🛍️ We’ll be back in this shop this weekend, Sat & Sun 11-2

👋 Come say hey!