Brettuns Village
Trunks & Leather
Old Trunks, New Leather.
All from Maine.
October 20, 2016
Let’s start with
a question: How in the blue blazes did it get to be mid-October already?
2016 seems to be flying by; we’ll be hip-deep in holiday stuff before we
know it. Here at Brettuns Village, conveniently located in Maine,
we’d like to slow things down for a week or two, just so each and every
one of you can drive up, or fly if you prefer it, to see this wild explosion
of color that’s going on. The leaves are wild – and, as you well
know, you really should see them. Better hurry – we had to sweep
leaves off the loading dock out back this morning, so if you dilly-dally
you’ll have to look at the ground to enjoy the nice fall foliage.So, what’s been going on
since our last BV newsletter? Oh, not much. Got both of our
daughters through college and am pleased to report that both are gainfully
employed in their chosen fields of endeavor. We sure are proud of
them. We sure do miss the little stinkers too. Another thing
that’s happened – for some reason we thought a For Sale sign would look
good on the front lawn at the old farm house where our Antique Trunk business
was located for the last 22 years or so. Houses tend to sell in the
3 to 5 month range hereabouts, so we were caught a bit off-guard when it
sold the first day. The next few weeks after that were sort of a
blur; an amalgam of cardboard, tape, and decision making (keep or throw
or yard sale). Seems like every time I got near a mirror, well, first
I’d scream, but when I took a look I’d find packing tape stuck in what’s
left of my hair. Frenzied packing, that’s what it was. All
settled in now, enjoying our new location, and we’ve kept our shipping
operation at the Lincoln Street building on the Androscoggin River in Lewiston.News from the Antique Trunk
side of Brettuns Village: The trend, for us, lately, has been smaller
trunks. It’s not some sort of program, it’s just that when we buy
trunks to fix up lately our pickers seem to be bringing us smaller trunks
and boxes. They’re easier to ship, and fit well into smaller spaces,
like apartments and smaller rooms, and the little things look cool.
That’s just the way it is. We’ve got a couple of them on the ‘Trunks
For Sale’ page, should you care to take a look.https://brettunsvillage.com/trunks/forsale/forsale.html
You may also notice over
there in the BV Trunk Shop that we’re selling unfinished wine boxes.
We figured they’re really just very, very small trunks, so we made room
for them in the business plan. We have them made unfinished, so you
can paint/stain/decoupage/beat them up as you see fit, and add whatever
hardware you like, if any. Nice for giving as a gift, or for use
in wedding ceremonies, apparently.Here at Brettuns Village
Leather we’ve hit that part of the year where we get inventory cleanouts.
It’s related to tax season for manufacturers, and we always look forward
to it, year after year, as we get buried in good leather for the Fall season.
Last week we received some very nice USA cattlehide sides (that’s just
half of a full hide) in rustic, earthy, natural colors. Check out
the top three listings on our Sides page:https://brettunsvillage.com/leather/sides.htm
A little further down that
page you’ll find bison sides too – not many left but thought I’d mention
them anyway.
Full cowhides are nice when
you make your mind up that your couch needs to be re-upholstered.
Running about 7 feet by 7.5 feet, full hides yield nice big panels so that
you don’t have a seam right where you’re trying to sit comfortably whilst
watching Kershaw do that strange stretch-kick-blink-heave thing he seems
to do pretty well. We’ve reached an agreement with a tannery that
produces very nice whole hides, and we’ve got some great colors in stock.
Yes, there’s black, but also camel, red, honey mustard, and khaki.
Check them out here:https://brettunsvillage.com/leather/wholehides.htm
Also check out, if you’re
so inclined, the enormous full hides on that page that have a very faint
crocodile pattern pressed into them. Big hides, nice colors, great
price. It’s a trifecta, according to Charlie.
Since right around 2004
our most popular leather has been our Sunrise WigWam, which we developed
with Prime Tanning here in Maine. We try to always keep some WigWam
in the warehouse; currently we have it in double shoulders only, but in
two weights so you can choose which one works best for your projects.
The thicker ones, about 5-5.5 oz, are described on the paperwork as ‘Bull
Shoulders’ which means the hides are large. Very large. That’s
a nice leather right there.
Did you find us and like
us on Facebook yet? You haven’t seen many of these newsletters lately,
mostly because we post our day-to-day news flashes on FB, rather than tying
up your e-mail inbox. We’re still updating the BV Deal of the Week
every Wednesday morning, and we post it on FB right after we go live with
the new DOTW.Remember the new puppy, Indie?
This will turn your hair white: That Pup turns 6 years old pretty
soon. Wow, that was fast, wasn’t it? She’s a great dog, like
most black labs, and fun to have with us at the office, in the warehouse,
or in the duck blind. She’s up for anything, and says hi to you.
I think.We’re in the process of updating/replacing
our website, so many of the fun, truly enjoyable aspects of doing business
with us, like having the shopping cart vanish or receiving e-mail confirmations
in Portuguese when you clearly chose Albanian, will be in the rear view
mirror, we hope.
Here comes Halloween – get
your costumes ready, and holler if you need some ridiculous metal decorations
to add to it – we’ve got about 2 tons of that stuff. Thanks for reading,
and for signing up for this in the first place; we sure do appreciate it.Thanks-
Churchill Barton
Tape Gun Mechanic
BrettunsVillage.com
Lewiston, Maine
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