Under the Dome

First visit to 605. Check in the offsite office to sign waver forms
and pick up hard hats. Rob gives us a tour starting from the loading
dock (our request) giving us the path through the back halls and
service elevators our merch will travel (no mean feat). On the fifth
street side there is a huge elevator to take the trucks down to the
loading docks in the basement! We are quickly turned around and lost
in the back halls, opening a door and suddenly in a busy shopping lobby.

First thing you notice is the workers everywhere and all busy. No one
is leaning on a shovel, it's all "get 'er done." There is work being
done everywhere. It seems odd that so much of what seems to be the
finishing work; details in glass and light fixtures, for instance, is
done, but the floors are plywood and wires hang out of the ceilings.
We enter the store through the delivery door; our inventory space
seems much smaller than the blueprint. There are workmen everywhere
and all busy painting, welding, laying tile. Yes, the wall are
already painted even though there are open holes in the floor to the
floor below!

We take some pictures, ask stupid questions, freak at the cave nook
our fiction will hide in, the tiny office area, but agree that the
space, en toto, has a nice feel to it. Cozy, warm, friendly even.

Rob then takes us outside to show us the dome. I had seen pictures,
renderings, but was overwhelmed by the beauty and design! A wonderful
blend of traditional greco-roman in the dome area, with the modern
glass and steel section next to it. The dome! It's bigger and
brighter and more beautiful than I imagined. The store is located in
a sweet spot in the mall, right at the top of the escalators, the
only way to get to the movie theatres (9 screens) on the floors
above. I hear there will even be a roof garden... And did I mention
we're next to the huge day spa? (Hello, foot massage!)