Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Uniquely Established

        I have always had a deep seeded interest in successful small businesses, especially in that where I live. Louisville, Ky is a very different city, it is comprised of about a million people, but it is small enough for me to have regular serendipitous situations where I meet someone who knows about half of my family and or friends. Louisvillians as consumers are pretty picky, and in the area of merchandise your store has to provide something that we cannot get for half price in a department store or online. I chose to document two very different small boutiques, one of which was just coming in to its own, and the in the stage of buying products to stock.  I wanted to know what the root in their success was, and why they felt that they could do this and be successful at it. Everything has to have a purpose, and I found that individually the shop owners had pretty different purposes overall.

Established Premium Goods

Upon inception after a unsuccessful clothing line store owner's Ronel, Desmond, and Lance discovered a gap in the urban street wear business. They wanted to create a store that was able to sell the most premium of clothing brands such as Stussy and Billionare Boys Club.  Through multiple visits to a local skate shop Ronel picked the brains of shop owners and found a daunting reality in the market.  They found that most shop owners wanted to know two things before they sell you anything: "Whats your shop look like and what other brands do you carry?" 


Shop owners Ronel and Desmond (behind register)


Upon entering Established it is easy to tell that the place is about the grass roots mentality that comes with the urban culture.  Stylistically there is a blend between large modern glass window pane to the dark particle board hardwood floors.  Even more interesting is that the design and re-model was done all by their hands.  



Ronel and company quickly found that the success of their competitors was due to the rise in interest of consignment or limited quantity sneakers.  If getting clothing brands to bite wasn't hard enough, sneakers were even more difficult in that the large conglomerates like Nike and others already had deals with local shop who had a private lock or non-compete contracts set, leaving no barrier to entry for reseller of any others for their limited collection shoes.  What usually brings people in and makes the most money for retail places like this are shoes.  It's that thing that gets people walking in the door, and maybe leaving with a few extra items.  Ronel solved this problem by reaching out to "sneaker heads" in the area who wanted to get rid of some of their limited quantity sneakers on consignment.

Jerseys & Tanks (summer time)


The first big distribution deal that allowed Established Premium to create some distance between competing consignment stores and boutiques alike was when Stussy gave them permission to buy from them.  Stussy is a high end clothing line that retails its T-Shirts in the $30 to $50 dollar range.


The store might seem very skimp on inventory when first arriving, but like the times when department stores kept everything but display items in the back, Established wants reinvent that customer interaction that is missing in modern consumerism.  The idea is sort of daunting to people like me who are so used to going into a store and sheepishly picking something out and paying for it up front. We have lost that harmless "hello how are you doing" in the big box stores.

Shop owner Ronel Brown and Jalin Roze
Established is a shop that really reflects the culture of the surrounding area. Two blocks west of Muhammad Ali on 4th street once was the Galleria, where it was common for people to spend a day shopping and eating. Now the Galleria is gone, but a series of tourist friendly, yet not local friendly stores lie. The hopes of Established is to bring the area that once was full of vibrant lights and attractions, the real heart of the city, back to life again. The resurgence of locally owned retail business, may drive the cost of the goods up a little higher, but the price you pay is worth every penny in the event of real human contact.




Unique Gifts

Founded by Trina Smith, Unique Gifts is a place were artists pay a monthly fee to house their products on consignments.  For the most part the business model is simple, when someone walks in they want to be able to walk out with some customized item.  Trina by trade is a vinyl sign maker and has the ability to customize plates, artisan wine glasses, really anything.  Unique Gifts takes the approach that when you someone comes in and finds a nicely decorated modern dinner she can customize that piece to the customer's liking. 

Front Facade


I was just getting a taste of her shop as she was moving things in and getting the remodel work done.  It was largely different in almost every way from Established in term of style.  The building was originally used as an old diner, and the aqua blue walls and lightly stained wood floors spoke that.

Like with the guys of Established I made a point to ask Trina Smith why she wanted to embark on such a difficult endeavor while she had a fairly stable business of her own already. She said simply, just to do something different.  A friend knew she was looking for knew jobs and said that She had a shop she could rent from her for free for 3 months if she fixed it up. This opportunity sort of inspired her to embark on such a anxious journey.