PJP Nifong Is Three!

Today marks our third anniversary at PJP Nifong. We have so many new fans now that a fair amount don’t even know all the days we spent at our Buttonwood location - just around 2,000 or so days that just came and went, despite being some of our most formative days. It was basically a whole life before PJP Nifong, which makes me wonder how long it will be before anyone can believe that we just had one single location in Columbia, rather than two.

At any rate, we opened Nifong on Friday, September 13, 2019. I was vehemently opposed because of the inauspicious Friday the 13th. Jeanne, on the other hand, has no patience for that sort of nonsense. She insisted that if the city issued all the approvals, then we were opening despite a heavy cloud of superstition. And look, minus a looming global pandemic in 2020, it has been just fine. Moving from Buttonwood to Nifong was one of the smartest things we’ve done, though it was tremendously scary at the time.

There are a few things I do miss about Buttonwood, like the easy walk to Starbucks and the knowledge that we basically surrendered our blood, sweat, and tears in that original space. That space is now a boutique for secondhand children’s clothing, but I don’t doubt that it would all feel just the same if I went back in. As in, oh, here is where I cried on the first Thanksgiving. Or oh, here is where I sat on the floor once because I couldn’t stop laughing. I sometimes think of going in just to check it out, but I prefer to keep it in my memory as it was the day we moved out and the space was completely cleared out.

Before that sounds like I am waxing poetic over that small space, just know I really miss it because of the people it made us. I certainly don’t miss the cramped quarters, the lack of a private office, the two ovens (versus the four we have now), or incessant explaining on the phone that we were on the BACK SIDE OF THE COMPLEX.

Overall, I’ll take the larger space, the extra ovens, the office, and the parking lot visibility. I wish I could have had more chill about it all way back then, but that wouldn’t be like me AT ALL. I’m certain the same will be true when we look back on PJP West End, PJP St. Louis, PJP Kansas City, PJP Dallas, PJP Las Vegas, and well, you get the point.

So cheers to PJP Nifong and many thanks to everyone who has stopped by in the last 36 months and helped us remember where we came from…and where we plan to go.