Lucille McGillicuddy is my partner at Magpie – Gifts for the Nest, a new boutique in Rockbrook Village, featuring unique gift lines which include Alessi, Jonathan Adler, Mid-Century Modern furniture, Mariana (a hand-made line of gorgeous Israeli jewelry), Nest candles, European Soaps and fun greeting cards.
It has been a long tradition of mine to bring my fur-faced kids to work with me over the years. When I opened my store I had decided I wanted to have a dog with me to keep me company as I knew I would be there many hours. In keeping with my tradition, Lucille, a red-headed Standard Poodle, has joined me in greeting and meeting customers. I find that most customers are dog lovers and are happy to see an animal in the workplace. She’s an instant ice breaker and it opens up conversations about their fur-faced kids as well.
Lucy was one of ten pups. They were all adorable and all were the same color and size. I was having quite a difficult time in deciding which one to adopt. On the numerous occasions I would go to look at the pups, I realized that one in particular always followed me around. Lucille had chosen me. She is just the right addition to the store and to my life. She has endless amounts of love to give and the ability to make my customers laugh, ooh and ahh.
She always has a kiss to offer and a wag of the tail. She arrived at the store when she was only 8 weeks old and clients have had the pleasure of watching her grow from an eight week old, 10 pound pup to a now 23 week old, 35 pound bundle of joy. Lucille doesn’t earn a salary but gets two square meals a day, a warm bed and lots of love from me and my customers. Benefits include the ability to snooze on the job without getting fired and frequent breaks.
Many people don’t know my name but come in just to see how Lucy is doing! I don’t mind sharing the spotlight and find that she is a terrific silent partner. As a “Mom and Pup” store our motto is, “Who says you can’t act like you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Come to Magpie and be spoiled.”