Sure Things

Some Hesse titles with book covers designed by Milton Glaser for Noonday Press.

Summer is coming to an end and so is our Friday Happy Hours. Womp! ☹️ But this also means you have one last chance to snag what you’ve been eyeing at the shop at an even better deal… 20% off everything, EXCEPT for a coupla things (yes, there’s always an exception) 1) our softcover books and mass market paperbacks because y’all know those already come cheap, and 2) all the items from our Makers Collection) But really, everything else is 20% off!

Plus, we are joined by fellow Filipina small biz creative 🇵🇭 who will be making some real fun bevies available for purchase! Yeah It’s like a sip and shop event but like way cooler and more fun. So celebrate the last days of summer with us this Friday only, 5:30-8pm!

September shop views ✨🍂✨

Couldn’t resist these 1950s/60s cookbooks 👩🏻‍🍳⏲️

Couldn’t resist these 1950s-60s cookbooks 👩🏻‍🍳⏲️

Haven’t posted a shelfie in a while. Here are a few as of late 🤎 (Can you tell I restyle the shelves too many times a week? 😅)

Photos 2 & 3 by our pal

Thanks for all the love in the DMs about our old school/new school bookcases! We are obsessed! 😍 Also picked up this damn good hand-painted PRINT sign at an estate sale today. Someone put legs on them and turned them into a bench but we thought it deserves to be hung! It looks even better in person ♥️♥️

Hope to see y’all in the shop soon 😊

Weekend shop views 🌞

Join us for our next installment of WAYE: A Poetry Reading Series on Wednesday, June 26th.

OUR FEATURE
This month, WAYE proudly welcomes Evie Shockley to our humble stage. A poet and literary scholar, Evie thinks, creates, and writes with her eye on a Black feminist horizon. Her books of poetry include SUDDENLY WE (winner of the NAACP Image Award; National Book Award Finalist), SEMIAUTOMATIC (winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; Pulitzer Prize finalist), and THE NEW BLACK (winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award). She publishes widely and has been translated into French, Polish, Slovenian, and Spanish. Among the honors for her body of work are the Shelley Memorial Award, the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Holmes National Poetry Prize, and the Stephen Henderson Award. Her joys include participating in poetry communities like Cave Canem and collaborating with artists working in various media. Evie is the Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University.

FOR THE OPEN
Sign-up for our open mic sessions begins at 7:30 PM. Once you arrive at Sure Things, please print your name on the list, which has an initial cap of 15 poets to ensure we are done with our evening by 10 PM. Each poet will have 5 minutes to showcase their work.

Be sure to arrive at 7:30 PM to ensure a spot on the list, since it does fill up rather quickly.

Also, this is a poetry open mic, which means poetry, spoken word, slam, performance poetry, short prose pieces, and similar forms of poetic expression are welcome. As much as we love music and comedy, this is not the venue for these forms of expression.

SOME QUICK SHOPKEEPING
First, the shop is small and seating is limited. If you want a seat, please arrive early to claim one; otherwise, it’s standing room only.

Second, there is a $5 CASH ONLY cover, 100% of which goes directly to our feature. Please bring cash; NO VENMO, CASHAPP, or ZELLE.

Third, mask at your own comfort level and that, if you’re not feeling well, to please sit this one out.

As always, We Appreciate Your Enthusiasm and look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!

This Friday, join us for our first summer happy hour at the shop. Y’all know we’re usually closed on Fridays, but for June 14th only, we will be opening our doors from 5:30 to 8 PM, at which time all objects (pottery, pillows, lighting, etc…) are at happy hour pricing—that is 20% off!

And what’s a happy hour without something to sip on? Also on tap will be some beverages—boozy and buzz-free—and sweet treats to enjoy while you shop.

So if you’ve been eyeing any of our smalls at the shop, now is the time to snag them at a deal!

*(Excluded from the sale are books, wall art, furniture, and items from our new Makers Collection.)

Mini pottery refresh. Just put out the greiges and the greens for spring 🍃👒🏞️

Currently redecorating in our living room and looking through photos of the shop basically shopping and seeing which pottery prices I want to bring home 🛒
👁️👄👁️

Join us for our next installment of WAYE: A Poetry Reading Series on Wednesday, May 29th!

OUR FEATURE
This month, WAYE is proud to welcome reg e gaines to our humble stage!

reg e gaines is a Tony Award winning playwright, Grammy-nominated lyricist, Artistic Director of the NYC Downtown Urban Arts Festival and author of four books of poetry. His latest collection, CIRCLE OF FIFTHS, will be published in the fall of 2024. Current projects include TIERS, premiering in June, 2024 at Theater Row in NY, and his new musical, THE 88, with music by Calvin Gaines.

FOR THE OPEN
Sign-up for our open mic sessions begins at 7:30 PM. Once you arrive at Sure Things, please print your name on the list, which has an initial cap of 15 poets to ensure we are done with our evening by 10 PM. Each poet will have 5 minutes to showcase their work.

Be sure to arrive at 7:30 PM to ensure a spot on the list, since it does fill up rather quickly.

Also, this is a poetry open mic, which means poetry, spoken word, slam, performance poetry, short prose pieces, and similar forms of poetic expression are welcome. As much as we love music and comedy, this is not the venue for these forms of expression.

SOME QUICK SHOPKEEPING
First, the shop is small and seating is limited. If you want a seat, please arrive early to claim one; otherwise, it’s standing room only.

Second, there is a $5 CASH ONLY cover, 100% of which goes directly to our feature. Please bring cash; NO VENMO, CASHAPP, or ZELLE.

Third, mask at your own comfort level and that, if you’re not feeling well, to please sit this one out.

As always, We Appreciate Your Enthusiasm and look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!

Styling with candles and pieces in our storage room. 🥴

Instagram ➡️ Reality
Give me 2-3 feet of space and I’ll prop style the sh*t out of it. 🪄 Teasing you with some 🆕 items we’re dropping soon. 👀

Big 🎨 books added to the shelves 🤓

As part of the Heights Art Crawl on Saturday, May 11th, we are presenting the work of one of our dearest friends MD Khan in our first art show of the year called WALLFLOWERS.

In WALLFLOWERS, MD Khan captures specific moments of time in the short life of a pressed flower arrangement. Sometimes, it’s when the petals, leaves, and buds are at their most magnificent, colorful, and vibrant; other times they are on the verge of transition and their former radiance is only a few days shy of decay. Regardless, showcased here is beauty—fleeting, lingering, ever present and constantly changing.

About MD Khan
Inspired by Bangladeshi folk art and floral embroidery, MD Khan draws from his memories growing up with quilts and saris embroidered with similar motifs. His art is a way for him to hold onto those moments while also allowing them to change with time into something new, but equally beautiful.

MD’s floral art and design work ranges from wedding bouquet commissions to large floral installations. His work has appeared in Chronogram and House Beautiful amongst others. MD lives in Jersey City Heights with his partner Jonas and their lemon beagle Sidney.

Join us for an opening reception with the artist that evening from 7 to 9 pm with a vinyl set by .

📣 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! Just 24 hours after celebrating 2 years of WAYE, we received news that our poetry reading series received a Program Grant Award from the Trust Fund! We cannot wait to share with you what we plan to do with this funding.

Once again, WAYE wouldn’t be what it is without our community of poets and poetry enthusiast. So thanks to all of you! 🤎

And shoutout to our pal for assisting us in getting this grant. 🙏🏽

Thank you for supporting the thriving poetry scene in the city and congratulations to all the other awardees! 🏆

Photos by

Wednesday, 04/24/2024: We celebrated TWO inspiring years of WAYE, the poetry reading series we started on National Poetry Month in 2022. (Yes, in case you haven’t heard, Sure Things is also home to one of the best poetry readings in the city, if we do say so ourselves). We had 10 open mic poets, a 4-poet showcase from our 2023 lineup, and 1 special guest poet! We ate cake, raffled off 2 WAYE t-shirts (new s**t!), and after all was said and done, walked away feeling excited for another year of poetry.

Big love to our community of poets who come out like clockwork every last Wednesday of the month to read, share, and leave something of themselves on the stage, and to the ever enthusiastic audience members who come out to listen and appreciate poetry in all its forms. As always, We Appreciate Your Enthusiasm. 🙏🏽

Love, John + Marinell

Photos by

Wednesday, 04/24/2024: We celebrated TWO inspiring years of WAYE, the poetry reading series we started on National Poetry Month in 2022. (Yes, in case you haven’t heard, Sure Things is also home to one of the best poetry readings in the city, if we do say so ourselves). We had 10 open mic poets, a 4-poet showcase from our 2023 lineup, and 1 special guest poet! We ate cake, raffled off 2 WAYE t-shirts (new s**t!), and after all was said and done, walked away feeling excited for another year of poetry.

Big love to our community of poets who come out like clockwork every last Wednesday of the month to read, share, and leave something of themselves on the stage, and to the ever enthusiastic audience members who come out to listen and appreciate poetry in all its forms. As always, We Appreciate Your Enthusiasm. 🙏🏽

Love, John + Marinell

Photos by 🙌🏽

Didn’t last very long. These 1960s Danish paper cord counter stools have just gone to a good home 🙏🏽 thank you!

/sold

Let’s celebrate two years of WAYE: A Poetry Reading Series at Sure Things in JC Heights!

For this month only, we’re doing things a little differently:

2023 FEATURES SHOWCASE
To celebrate our second full year of WAYE, we are going to have a showcase of four featured poets from 2023: John C. Massett, William J. Van Sickell, John J. Trause, and Rashad Wright.

SPECIAL GUEST POET
This month, we also have a special guest — RADI the poet! Author of ChapBook, One Name, All Caps: RADI is an artist and award-winning writer specializing in spoken word poetry.

She reigns as the four-time Poetry Slam Champion, and now coach of one of the top-ranked poetry slam teams in the nation, New Jeru Slam Team. She is the ONLY Stonewall International Poetry Slam Champion, making her the #1 q***r poet in the world. She is a two-time Black Arts Matter Slam Champion, Bmore & D.C. Pride Slam Champion, and was a member of the 2019 Brooklyn International Slam Team, which was featured at the 2019 Carnival Slam on the beautiful island of Antigua. RADI’s most prized accomplishment, however, was being crowned the 2022 Woman of the World Slam Champion.

FOR THE OPEN
Sign-up for our open mic sessions will begin at 7:00 PM. Please print your name on the list when you arrive at Sure Things, which has a cap of 10 poets (again, this is only for this special evening).

We want to wrap up at 10pm sharp, so each poet for the open sesh will read ONE poem, so bring your bangers!

Also, this is a poetry open mic. As much as we love music and comedy, this is not the venue for these forms of expression.

There is a $10 COVER (only for this special edition of WAYE), 100% of which goes directly to our featured poets and our special guest poet.

RAFFLES:
Your $10 cover will get one raffle ticket good for a chance to win our Poet’s Prize. You can purchase additional raffle tickets for $2 each or 3 tickets for $5.

ONLY CASH will be accepted at the door; no Venmo, Zelle, or CashApp.

Last and never least, We Appreciate Your Enthusiasm!

Let’s celebrate two years of WAYE: A Poetry Reading Series at Sure Things in JC Heights!

For this month only, we’re doing things a little differently:

2023 FEATURES SHOWCASE
To celebrate our second full year of WAYE, we are going to have a showcase of four featured poets from 2023: John C. Massett, William J. Van Sickell, John J. Trause, and Rashad Wright.

SPECIAL GUEST POET
This month, we also have a special guest — RADI the poet! Author of ChapBook, One Name, All Caps: RADI is an artist and award-winning writer specializing in spoken word poetry.

She reigns as the four-time Poetry Slam Champion, and now coach of one of the top-ranked poetry slam teams in the nation, New Jeru Slam Team. She is the ONLY Stonewall International Poetry Slam Champion, making her the #1 q***r poet in the world. She is a two-time Black Arts Matter Slam Champion, Bmore & D.C. Pride Slam Champion, and was a member of the 2019 Brooklyn International Slam Team, which was featured at the 2019 Carnival Slam on the beautiful island of Antigua. RADI’s most prized accomplishment, however, was being crowned the 2022 Woman of the World Slam Champion.

FOR THE OPEN
Sign-up for our open mic sessions will begin at 7:30 PM. Please print your name on the list when you arrive at Sure Things, which has a cap of 10 poets (again, this is only for this special evening).

We want to wrap up at 10pm sharp, so each poet for the open sesh will read ONE poem, so bring your bangers!

Also, this is a poetry open mic. As much as we love music and comedy, this is not the venue for these forms of expression.

There is a $10 COVER (only for this special edition of WAYE), 100% of which goes directly to our featured poets and our special guest poet.

RAFFLES:
Your $10 cover will get one raffle ticket good for a chance to win our Poet’s Prize. You can purchase additional raffle tickets for $2 each or 3 tickets for $5.

ONLY CASH will be accepted at the door; no Venmo, Zelle, or CashApp.

Last and never least, We Appreciate Your Enthusiasm!