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To our beloved clients and friends,
On March 30th Zanzibar will celebrate 26 years in business. Alas, it is not to be.
It is with great sadness that we announce the closing of Zanzibar Trading Company's retail store at 1315 Broadway in Sacramento after over 25 years of service. Zanzibar will have a 50% OFF liquidation sale starting Saturday, March 1st, 2025. We will be CLOSED Monday, February 24th through Friday, February 28th for inventory and to prepare for the sale. The sale begins Saturday March 1st at 11:00 AM.
***PLEASE NOTE*** On SATURDAY MARCH 1st a Mardi Gras Parade will shut down Broadway from Riverside (12th Street) to 25th Street. You can easily access parking from X Street and the X Street/Broadway Alley between 13th and 14th. There is plenty of space to park! Simply walk through our parking lot to the front entrance.
Zanzibar has been a beloved icon in Sacramento since March of 1999. We sincerely appreciate all the love and support of our clientele and the community over the years. Your continued patronage has meant everything to us.
Due primarily to the changing way people buy (online vs in person shopping), some competition, and increases in overhead, we must close our retail location at 1315 Broadway in Land Park, Sacramento.
This was never a profitable operation for Josh and Scott but instead a labor of love, and a means first and foremost to uplift and showcase our artisans and their crafts. We brought the world to Sacramento and we feel fortunate for our experiences doing so. Zanzibar has been our privilege, our honor, and our life's work to provide our clientele all these wonderful works of art and the stories behind them.
If you'd like to learn more, read on. Here are the basics:
The store will close for five days, Monday, February 24th to Friday, February 28th for inventory and to prepare for the sale.
The store will re-open on Saturday March 1st at 11am with 50%* OFF all merchandise. We expect normal hours to continue for the near future.
Hours: Monday to Saturday 11am to 6pm, 11am to 4pm Sundays.
Displays and fixtures will also be for sale (net priced to sell - the 50% discount will NOT apply to these items), but these fixtures and displays cannot be picked up until later in the sale.
We do not anticipate offering any further discounts beyond 50%*, as this price reduction already reflects most items being sold below cost. The liquidation includes net items. We hope to complete the liquidation by the time our lease is up in June. Zanzibar will continue in some form in the future, though we cannot currently say what that will look like. Live sales with new merchandise, pop-ups and special events are possible. We do not plan to move or to open another retail store.
Outstanding gift certificates will be honored as long as we remain open.
*the 50% discount is FOR CASH ONLY, so please bring cash if you can. Any and all electronic transactions (credit cards, debit/ATM cards, Apple Pay) will be subject to a 3.5% surcharge at checkout.
No other forms of payment will be accepted (no checks, no Venmo, no Zelle, no PayPal and no Cash App). Sales tax will be collected on all sales. All cash/bills are subject to electronic or other verification. We reserve the right not to accept cash if suspect.
All sales are final. No layaways, no holds. Everything is on a first come, first served basis. Please, no phone, internet, email, or social media messenger inquiries. Our apologies, no shipping available.
We will continue to restock the store with inventory from our warehouse storage. There are many things which have not ever been featured. It is worthwhile to check back routinely, especially after the first week of the sale!
Bags and minimal packaging will be provided free of charge as we have stock, but for anything requiring a box, there will be a box charge of $3-10 per box. Our apologies, no gift wrapping is available. We encourage you to bring your own bags, packing material, and boxes. We are unable to order additional packing supplies such as bubble wrap or tissue. If you will be buying fragile items consider bringing blankets or other material to cushion them. We regrettably cannot provide the level of packaging we have in the past.
We will NOT allow large totes, shopping bags, strollers, or shopping carts in the store during the sale. Please leave them in your car.
Over the years we have made many great connections, and have developed heartfelt friendships and bonds with hundreds of clients, as well as artists and their families across the planet, lifting them up, showcasing their talent and art, and giving them a better life.
Visiting and supporting these families and bringing their amazing works of art to our store to share with all of you, is probably the thing we'll miss the most. The artists have taught us so much about creativity, family, and life. Not to mention the adventures we've had and stories we can tell!
We will temporarily suspend our weekly live sales, but hope to continue them in the weeks to come, and for the interim will retain the 50% off liquidation discount. We also hope in the future to continue traveling and sourcing new handicraft, folk art, jewelry and more for future online live sales.
This store has been Josh and Scott's life for 25 years. This business has not made us financially rich, and we have lived very humble lives over those decades. Literally everything we have was and is in the store. We have successfully supported thousands of individual artisans, small family workshops, cooperatives and women's groups. We could never have done any of this without you, our loyal clients.
So on behalf of the many, many lives touched by Zanzibar, including our own, we humbly and gratefully thank you for the pleasure of these opportunities and experiences, and we hope you will be able to support us as you can during the sale. It's been an honor serving you and bringing the world and the practice of fair trade to Sacramento.
Please share our sale and this newsletter with friends and family. We look forward to seeing you in person for the sale.
With much love and many fond memories,
Josh and Scott.
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