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Abbadabba's — Follow-Up Sequence

Contact: Abba (Carmichael) — abbacharice@gmail.com (the channel the first touch used; Brandyn also has her number)

Status: No reply to first touch (l5p-batch.md #1, "Following up — want to feature Abbadabba's")

Purpose: 5-touch, value-first sequence. Warm, local, unhurried — not a sales cadence. Assumes no reply.

Lead angle throughout: the store's own story — a family institution turning 50 years in Little Five Points — not a general "film the store" pitch. The first touch already offered a free feature reel, so every touch here delivers something new.

Verification (this session)

- Founded by Janice "Abbadabba" Abernethy (the name is her high-school nickname). The current site spells it Abernethy; a 2014 littlefivepoints.net listing spelled it "Abernathy." Trust the site's spelling.

- Started as a small craft shop near Emory's law school, then a booth at the Atlanta Flea Market — displaced by the MARTA rail station on Piedmont Road.

- Opened the first "real" store in Little 5 Points in 1981 (toys, cards, gifts, jewelry, and a small batch of funky shoes in the back).

- Bill Carmichael (Janice's husband) left a Georgia-Pacific career in 1986 to join full time; the business then focused on footwear.

- Their daughter Abba Charice Carmichael was born September 8, 1988 — literally named for the store.

- In 1998 they converted half the Buckhead store into Georgia's first Birkenstock specialty store.

- Positioning: "Atlanta's Premier Source for Innovative/Healthful Footwear," "Where Comfort Meets Cool." ~40+ brands (Birkenstock, Hoka, Dr. Martens, Merrell, Naot, Mephisto, Vans, etc.).

- Site has a "Sign Up for Our Newsletter" field, a Gift Cards page, gift guides, and a Small Business Saturday page.

Flags — read before sending

1. Who's actually in marketing. Brandyn's recorded warm contact is "Abba," and the first touch was addressed "Hi Abba." The store's own current contact page names Christine Porter as E-Commerce & Marketing (ext 207) and routes media to a Marketing Team address. Two possibilities: (a) Abba (the founders' daughter) now runs marketing and the contact page is just corporate boilerplate, or (b) the right person is Christine Porter. Before sending, confirm which one — if Abba isn't the right person, swap "Abba" for "Christine" everywhere and keep the rest.

2. Channel. abbacharice@gmail.com is Brandyn's own recorded data; I couldn't independently confirm it's live. Verified public fallbacks: the L5P store phone (404) 588-9577, Instagram @abbadabbascoolshoes, Facebook coolshoesatlanta. If the Gmail bounces, move to IG DM or the store.

3. The "50 years" framing (Touch 1). Their own site is running a 50-years banner and their Facebook says "since 1975," so "fifty years" is their current framing. Technically the L5P store opened 1981 (the craft-shop/flea-market roots go back earlier). Touch 1 follows their framing; if Brandyn prefers precision, "40+ years in the L5P store, roots back to the 70s" is the exact version.

4. The "named a daughter after the shop" line (Touch 1). This is a genuinely charming, verified fact — but if Abba is the daughter and prefers not to be the story, cut that clause. Flagged inline.

5. Don't send all five. If they reply at any point, stop and respond directly. This is a conversation, not a drip.

6. Timing. If Brandyn starts mid-September, time Touch 3 (holiday) for early-to-mid November so it lands before Small Business Saturday (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) and isn't buried in the December crush.

Touch 1 — The 50-years legacy reel (send ~2 weeks after first touch)

Subject: The fifty-year story behind the counter

Hi Abba,

>

The offer from a few weeks back still stands, so no rush on any of this. But there's one thing I keep circling back to: fifty years.

>

That's not a shoe store, that's an institution. And the story's got more to it than most people ever hear. A high-school nickname. A flea market booth MARTA pushed out of the way. A husband walking off a Georgia-Pacific career to sell shoes full time. Even a daughter named after the shop.

>

I'd love to shoot a short "50 years in Little Five Points" reel built on that story. One sit-down, you keep the footage and the final cut. That's the kind of piece that lands in November in a way a generic store feature never would.

>

No cost, no deadline. I just want to point a real camera at a real Atlanta story before the moment passes.

~120 words. Distinct from the first touch's free-feature offer — this is a specific legacy/anniversary frame, not a general store feature. The daughter line is verified (Abba Charice, b. 1988) but is the one thing to cut if Abba herself is the reader and doesn't want to be in it (Flag 4).

Touch 2 — The comfort-fit craft idea (send ~1 week after Touch 1)

Subject: What your sales floor already knows about feet

Hi Abba,

>

Quick craft idea, no ask attached. Y'all aren't really a shoe store, you're comfort-fit people — that's a trade, and most of what you know never makes it past the register.

>

One short vertical — "what the sales floor already knows about feet" — could run on your IG without reading as an ad. A Birkenstock footbed held up to the light. What a broken-in pair tells you about the person who wears it. Why the cute shoe and the on-your-feet-all-day shoe are never the same shoe.

>

That's the kind of thing I cut. If you ever want, I can pull it from the same shoot as the reel — the reel's the headline, those clips are what's left over.

>

No rush either way.

~105 words. References their real positioning ("comfort meets cool") and their active IG. Delivers a concrete craft idea: their fitting expertise becomes short verticals. Only offer the "same shoot" line if Brandyn will actually cut them.

Touch 3 — The holiday / gift-card hook (send ~2–3 weeks after Touch 2, landing early-to-mid November)

Subject: A gift card, or a pair of boots

Hi Abba,

>

The next real window for y'all is the holiday stretch, and a shoe store's best trick that time of year is a gift card — or a pair of boots, which is a gift card with a personality.

>

If you want one reel made for that window, something you can run from Small Business Saturday through December, I'd be glad to come shoot it. One sitting, you keep the footage. Boots on the counter, a hand on the box, a quick "let us fit them" line.

>

Figured I'd offer before the season's actually here and everyone's calendar goes sideways.

~90 words. Holiday timing tied to their real Gift Cards page and Small Business Saturday (a real recurring event, not a fabricated date). No invented metrics or dates.

Touch 4 — The cross-promotion idea (send ~2–3 weeks after Touch 3)

Subject: The whole neighborhood walks past your window

Hi Abba,

>

You sit at the corner of Moreland and Euclid, which means the whole neighborhood passes your door and the Halloween parade comes right through it.

>

What if one reel pointed people at the block instead of just the register? A short "shop Little Five" piece that holds your store up as the anchor it is, or a "here's what's new on the shelves" you could run year-round. I'd shoot it and hand it over.

>

No agenda beyond wanting the anchor shops in this neighborhood to have good video. The offer's open whenever.

~95 words. Grounded in their real corner location (421-B Moreland Ave NE) and the real L5P Halloween parade (a neighborhood event, not a store event). Keeps it an open idea — does not name or imply any other shop has agreed to anything.

Touch 5 — Graceful close (send ~3–4 weeks after Touch 4, if still no reply)

Subject: Leaving the standing offer open

Hi Abba,

>

I'll stop nudging. The offer's been open since we first talked and it stays open — the 50-years reel, a holiday cut, whatever's useful whenever there's room.

>

I'll still be around the neighborhood either way. Abbadabba's is one of the reasons this corner still feels like itself.

~50 words. No ask, no recap, no summary of prior touches. Ends warm and leaves the standing offer intact without guilt-tripping.

Sequence notes

- A full "why this store still matters" feature — already offered in the first touch, don't re-offer.

- Sun & Moonlight game night at the shop — too big an ask for email; save for a real conversation.

- Testimonial or referral — comes after they've posted a reel and had a result.