Paula reports in a comment that the Decatur shop owned by Nelson Mandela’s former corrections minister, Pambili African Artworks, is moving out of it’s current location in the Artisan.

No word yet on where, but recently these “moving sales” have been a “move” to the virtual world.

UPDATE: Nope.  According to Carl, they’re only moving next door.

My wife confirms my weeks-old, peak-through-the-window hunch that a new clothing store had taken over the Eviva space in the 335 building.

The new shop is now open to the general public.  However she can’t recall whether the sign said “Style Revolutions” or “Clothing Revolutions”.

After a very successful, inaugural tree-selling season in 2008, First Christian Church of Decatur is all set to begin tree sales for the 2009 Christmas season today!

According to the church’s website, they again are offering Frasier Fur trees from 3′ and 4′ (“Charlie Brown” trees) up to 9 footers, “along with wreaths, garland, mistletoe and handmade ornaments.”

Trees range from $35-$95 and can be purchased with cash or check OR with a credit card thru Paypal online.

Sale hours are Monday to Friday 3pm-9pm, Saturday 8am-9pm, and Sunday 1pm-9pm. Proceeds Benefit Church and Community Ministries Serving Greater Decatur.

Oh, and did I mention the free home delivery within a five-mile radius of the church?

h/t: DecaturMom

Why risk life and limb at the national chains tomorrow when you can score significant discounts, great customer service – and even free adult beverages – at Fab “Black” Friday in Decatur?

Catherine at The Decatur Minute has done all of the work compiling a smorgasbord of tomorrow’s discounts, so jump on over and check it out!

And just two heads up from yours truly.  First, if you want 25% off at Decatur clothing stores tomorrow, you’ll have to do some morning-ish shopping – 9a-1p.  And secondly, if you get the AJC, there are a bunch of 35% off coupons to Cooks Warehouse tucked into today’s paper.

Know of more Decatur deals for this long weekend?  Comment below!

Wondering why you’re feeling a little extra weight on your shoulders this morning?

It’s because Halloween is over and the “holiday” season has just begun!  Stores are stocking red and green and putting all their shiniest merchandise on the shelves.  That goes for Decatur too.

Over on the Minute, Lyn Menne seems resigned to the noise she will hear from residents as the city’s street decorations start to appear in very early November.

OK, go ahead and vent. Get it out of your system and then just relax and enjoy the beautiful site of holiday decorations in downtown Decatur. Yes, the holiday decorations are going up and yes it’s a bit earlier than we had scheduled. As we’ve explained before, we are a relatively small account for holiday decorating installers so we are given a window of opportunity and then see where we fall in their schedule.

And while some may complain as the “holiday season” dilutes itself by climbing further up the calendar towards the 4th of July each year, few will complain that with November starts the great Decatur tradition of “Terrific Thursdays” (click the the lovely banner at the top of the page for more details).  Stores are open late and offering big ol’ discounts starting tonight!  So get out there are do what the banner says!  “Shop Local. Shop Decatur.”

Full Disclosure: The banner above IS a paid advertisement.  However even if it wasn’t, I’d still be shouting the same thing, as is evidenced by countless posts in previous years!

Mingei World Arts writes in and lets everyone know that Atlanta INTown has a bunch of Decatur businesses on it’s multiple choice list of “Best of the Holidays” survey.

Hoopla, Greene’s, Heliotrope, Cook’s Warehouse and Mingei have all been nominated.

I noticed almost-Decatur Wag-a-Lot on there too.

My wife forwards the note in Daily Candy yesterday that announces that Mama’s Bath & Body and Lotion Bar, has moved to East College Ave at the intersection with Sam’s Street.  Here’s a pic of the new building from her site…

Though she is already open at her new location, Mama will be hosting a grand-opening on October 3rd from 10-6p.  Skirt Atlanta drops the word that there will be…

…complimentary mar-tea-nis by local tea maker Just Add Honey and sweets from the neighboring Cookie Studio. The first 25 customers will get swag bags loaded with Mama samples and goodies. And [owner Emilie] Sennebogen will be giving product-making demonstrations throughout the day in the wide-open workshop area.

Check out Mama’s blog for product announcements, recent press, and stories of her adventures in the new space.  (Looks like one of you crazy College Ave drivers hit her chalkboard sign the other day!)

From the latest Decatur CD newsletter…

As you may have heard, we caused a bit of a tussle on the internet recently by speaking our mind about independent retail, Wal-Mart, Sugarland, etc. Quite a few media outlets (the AJC, L.A. Times, CMT’s blog, many others) picked up the story and the whole thing got blown a little out of proportion as far as we’re concerned. But hey, that’s the internet, is it not? Just to clear the air, Kristian Bush stopped by the store and he was a stand-up guy all around, talking with Warren for a good long while, chatting up customers, and so on. Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of our control, we won’t be stocking the current Sugarland release. However, Kristian did propose working with Decatur CD on a little event this fall. It’ll be fun and we’ll keep you posted when we have more details.

Was there ever any doubt that Wal-Mart wouldn’t allow Sugarland’s Kristian Bush to sell CDs directly to Decatur CD?

The star-struck AJC reported yesterday afternoon that Kristian Bush did indeed stop by Decatur’s bluest brick building yesterday afternoon as promised, but didn’t bring any copies of his latest album, Live On the Inside, with him, due to his surprisingly “ironclad” contract with the low price leader.

Sorry Kristian, Wal-Mart doesn’t care about showing goodwill.  You’re not in Decatur anymore.

To play off the publicity, I think Decatur CD should put up a display of “Alternatives to Sugarland” at the front of the store.  Or if they want to be really snarky – and I hope they do – a “Better Than Sugarland” display.

There once was a band named Sugarland.

Sugarland grew up amongst the rolling hills of Atlanta, feeding off the love and attention given to it by Decatur music mainstays like Eddie’s Attic and Decatur CD.  Then one day, the little country band grew up, moved out and became very famous amongst much greener (ca-ching!) pastures.

Things were fine for a while.  Lord knows Decatur was used to its singing children moving on and succeeding in the bigger world.  But then one day, Sugarland signed an exclusive deal on a new album with Wal-Mart and Decatur (played here by Decatur CD) felt betrayed.

In an open letter on its blog, Decatur CD writes…

About five minutes before we started writing this letter, a customer walked in and inquired about your new CD/DVD release, Live on the Inside. “Do you know if it’s out yet?” she asked. We said that, yes, it was released Tuesday, but that we were not allowed to sell it. She’d have to go to Walmart to get it. “Walmart?” she replied, with an incredulous look. “Really?” She left disappointed, and frankly, we’re disappointed as well.

You guys have been around roughly as long as Decatur CD, and we’ve been supporters of your music from day one. We’ve put your releases on listening stations, given away tickets to your shows and so on. After all, what is a local music scene if not an extended family of sorts? We have to take care of each other.The point is that by shutting the door on independent record stores, you’re in effect shutting the door on your hometown.

Read the full post here.

But this time around, this big-box store eats local store story has a sorta happy ending!  Within two days, Sugarland’s Kristain Bush responded saying…

You are right, and thanks for the suggestion. I am in Houston for a show right now but will come by the store when I get home on Wednesday and bring you a few boxes of discs, We can peel off the Wal-Mart stickers together while we catch up. -Kristian

h/t: Crib Notes