We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Ramey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

In hindsight, buying a business in a pandemic was probably the biggest risk I could have taken professionally and financially. I didn’t have a large bank account nor did I come from money. What I did have was a strong work ethic, a willingness to adapt, and a long history of creative work with fellow artists.

In 2020 I was working full-time in a creative government job and feeling untethered. COVID hit our department hard and further divided our fragmented staff. I worked in a male-dominated field, and I wanted my values of equity and autonomy to be reflected in my workplace. I was feeling cornered and isolated.

During that time I was in an art group with the owner of an Arts & Crafts Supply store. She reached out to our group to let us know she and her husband were going to sell the business. I couldn’t stop thinking about the opportunity. It was at a time in my life when my children were old enough and not as needy and my husband had a stable job. It was a wild idea and something I had never considered. But yet I felt this opportunity was such a good fit for me. We approached a few banks, however, we were not able to secure financing for the whole sum of the purchase. I was sad to walk away from the venture. A week later, the owners and realtor came up with a plan. They allowed us to pay them over time and I dived in head-first to business ownership.

COVID already made huge changes in people’s lives and our changes were not always embraced. COVID made it hard to source supplies. Long-time customers questioned why they couldn’t purchase their favorite supplies. I had to reassure them that I was trying my best to source their supplies and the change wasn’t because of my new ownership but rather supply shortages. Hiring and managing staff was challenging because not everyone was on the same page about updated COVID protocols and vaccines. But with the challenges of the pandemic, also came some good outcomes. Since no one was taking classes or going to events, it made it easy for me to focus on our big systems first and later ease into instruction and activities.

Another large hurdle was turning the outdated systems into an omnichannel system for purchasing and inventory. When we purchased the businesses we were provided with sheets of hand-written inventory. Thankfully I had created websites and worked with spreadsheets before, so I knew that we could create a website where we sell and track exactly what we had in the shop. My husband and teen children spent countless hours scanning all of our products to get them into the new system. After a week of collecting data in our shop, I trained staff on the new system. I boasted to the old staff members how much more efficient our checkout would be and pushed the button to make the system live.

It didn’t turn out as planned. For some reason, only 90% of the items were recognized during checkout even though I knew those products were added to the system. My staff was frustrated and so was I since we put in so much hard work to get it right. Later I discovered the spreadsheet removed all zeros for barcodes that started with zero. I had to find workarounds. Eventually, we had everything online and a system that worked.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Now I can’t imagine being anywhere else than at the Art Department. The Art Department is one of a few independently owned art supply shops. We sell art and craft supplies, curate gallery shows, and teach art classes. While we sell supplies, we think of ourselves as creative matchmakers. So many of our customers come in with a problem to solve and we enjoy providing our knowledge and inspiration to find solutions. We love it when customers show us their final results and share their love for creating.

Our classroom and gallery space is a continuation of our shop. There we can put the supplies to work for us, have tons of fun playing and experimenting, and encourage our students to try something new. Artists are pretty good at that. We grow by putting ourselves out there. We experiment and try new things. We take risks!

I still make art-making a priority and get a rush when I am creative. While I work long hours at home, I only work in the shop twice a week. That allows me time to be a part of an artist community with working studio spaces and a gallery. I lead an Urban Sketchers group, teach, and often take classes from the shop. I continue to grow as an artist and try to not lose myself in my work. My daughter works at the shop while attending a local university and I have the utmost trust in my staff which makes work-life balance so much easier.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

One of the biggest decisions I made for our shop was choosing the right commerce platform. I wanted a system that was easy to use, that looked professional and could grow with our business. I also wanted a cloud-based, omnichannel system so I could update products in one place from anywhere. I ended up choosing Shopify for their ease of use and ability to add on extra features as I needed them. We don’t have to worry about security breaches, manual updates, or lots of code. While sometimes staff gets a bit grumbly about new updates, our system allows us to focus on what we do well… sell art supplies!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Looking back, I never would have expected to be where I am now. Somehow a kid who grew up in a trailer park in rural Maine ended up owning an art supply store on the other side of the US.

I was a good kid who liked school projects and art. I graduated with a fine arts degree and eventually landed a graphic designer job at the university. When my husband and I found out we were pregnant, he settled into his first professional job and we moved to a rural town miles away where didn’t know a soul. I became a stay-at-home parent and kept my design skills sharp by volunteering. Later we moved back to the valley with two children and when they were school-aged, I started a creative reuse non-profit. That work springboarded me to a job in waste reduction where I created TV commercials, print and digital ads, websites, and newsletters to promote reuse and recycling. While I loved all of the creative opportunities my job allowed, I didn’t love feeling isolated in a very conservative environment.

Buying the art store allowed me to work and live my values, set my own goals and standards, and work with people who value art and inclusion. We embrace and empower other creatives, we build community, and we explore new possibilities and create new things. There is nothing as restorative and hopeful as art and it’s a privilege to do this work.

Contact Info:

• Website: artdepartmentsupply.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artdepartmentsupply/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.ramey.359/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-ramey-11ba8234/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy-OdcqDk2-CKDSwVEdFugA
• Other: Pinterest: https://pin.it/56jhE1Fky