Updates: Retail expansion, commitment to our safe space, and more! (Patreon)

Hello all -

I'd planned to send this after a little more preparation, but as the saying goes, "life is what happens when we're busy making other plans."

Tomorrow, it will be nine years that I've the honor and privilege of running Wicked Grounds. It's been an adventure, sometimes a challenge, but always completely worth it.

It's no surprise to say that the pandemic has utterly reshaped San Francisco and the world, for better and worse. Many of you whom I used to see in the SF Bay Area are now reading this from new homes all over the world, while Wicked Grounds has finally accomplished a years-long goal: providing insight and education to kinksters globally.

Providing a safe educational and community space to kinksters and locals here in San Francisco remains a huge focus, and with huge changes to the neighborhood and the restaurant business, I've been looking long and hard at how to do this while remaining sustainable.

It will be no surprise to most of you that food & drink have been the challenging part of the business for years. Launching the Patreon and later Wicked Grounds Annex were the best risks we ever took. The Annex has partially -- but never totally -- allowed us to offset losses on the cafe side for quite some time. But the bleeding has gotten much worse over the last two years. Because I feel so passionately about the core of what we do, it's overdue to make some tough decisions.

Starting on May 1, we will be operating Wicked Grounds as an event and boutique space, with open hours downstairs to not only continue -- but expand -- our ability to provide a key hangout for customers and community members.

The Annex won't change much. Here's the plan for downstairs:

• We'll be operating with our current food & drink menu through April 30. If you're looking for a last Caffinatrix, now is the time!
• We have no intention to decrease staffing; all of the team members you already know and love have had their positions retained. The only change is what they'll be doing with that time, with a larger focus on providing advice and helping you connect with books, gear and events. We'll be doing even more of what we do best.
• Starting on May 1, the downstairs boutique will continue to be open 6pm - 10pm for retail sales and bottle drinks. (And we'll be expanding our bottle drink service to include iced coffee & other choices.)
• Any support coffees remaining on the board after April will be redeployed to support our scholarship funds for classes.
• If you have a current munch, meetup or gathering, you're already on the schedule and the space is open as always!
• Starting in June, we will begin to expand the downstairs open hours into both afternoon and evening. As always, you are welcome to hang out as long as you like -- bring your laptop, bring your partners, bring your rope if you like to take hanging out literally.
• Also starting in June, we'll start expanding our retail again to deliver on our core promise of offering the best selection of BDSM education books anywhere.

I especially want to extend my deepest gratitude to our long-patient landlords, who have promised to work with us through this transition to allow us to keep the space open to our customers and community. They are truly great people, and we've been lucky to have them.

tl; dr:

Wicked Grounds is going all in on our role as a community educational and community space. Our core space downstairs will have no disruption to operations, and will be expanding for the long term.

However, our drink menu is shrinking by a lot to make this happen. (I'm sad about it, too. And if you've ever seen me drink our iced tea by the gallon, you'll understand why.)

Other news

During the internal meeting yesterday at which I announced these changes for the summer, many of the Wicked Grounds staff made me aware of their plans to unionize. Quite honestly, I think their concerns and the concerns that brought me to this decision are deeply aligned. You can see what they have to say in their own words here.

Obviously, they have my support.

I've made all current staff aware that while we can't bring back to-order food or drink after May, everyone absolutely has a role to play in our continued operations as a retail & event space. We planned this transition carefully to ensure no layoffs, and I'm committed to that.

Those discussions have just begun, but I am excited to see where these discussions will go.

We all encourage you to continue to:

• Sign up for our newsletter and/ or Patreon to keep abreast of all the latest
• Keep signing up for classes & events from Wicked Grounds and Magickal Crossroads.
• Get your gear & books in the shop or online at WickedGrounds.com. I'll be running our Staying the Fuck in Business Sale from now through the end of this month for 20% off books and gear. (To get the sale price online, just use code EFFINBIZ at checkout.) We are going to be making some nice upgrades and expansions to the retail displays, so the more you get now the easier all that is to move!

Questions? Don't hesitate to reach out.

Mir
Owner, Wicked Grounds
Mir@WickedGrounds.com