Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Melisa DePaolo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Melisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
My dad nicknamed me Lucy when I was a little girl. At 68 years old, my father passed away from chronic lymphoma leukemia. My sister and I sat with him in the hospital while he was fighting that deadly disease and as I asked him for advice on life he said, “Sell everything you have and downsize as you don’t need all this stuff! Don’t wait till you are 65 till you retire as tomorrow is not granted. Start enjoying your life today and follow your dreams.” So after he passed, I thought long and hard about that statement. What were my dreams? What did I want to accomplish in the next phase of my life? How could I leave my demanding full time job and make my passion happen?
It made sense to me that my business should be named Lucy’s Mercantile. I had no idea of what “Mercantile” meant at the time but as time passed, I began to realize that it encompassed a broad term that would represent all kinds of products that I could bring into my mix… antiques, vintage items, gentle loved items, handmade items, bartered goods, etc. It could become a place where friends could congregate and purchase unique items for their homes or for gifts. I have always envisioned an old barn where men could sit around and have a cup of coffee and catch up on life while women shopped and found treasures for their homes.
I knew that I found the perfect name that would allow me to grow and take my business wherever the good Lord led me.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My Grandma Jeanne had a gladiola farm and also a flower shop in Knoxville, IA. She and my grandpa would trade produce and flowers with people in neighboring towns and I enjoyed riding along in the back of the truck with the dogs.
My grandma would let me help her arrange flowers. I loved going in her flower cooler and smelling all the flowers and seeing all the beautiful shapes and sizes of them! I also loved that she had friends dropping in for a cup of coffee all day and catching up on life while shopping.
My Grandma Lizzie and my mom, Suzanne, also influenced my love of retail therapy as she LOVED to shop! They took me to all of the most hip places around Des Moines and made sure my sister and I had the cutest clothes around. They also loved Jesus and made sure that I prayed daily for God’s leading and direction in all the days ahead.
These three special women were seed planters! This is where I believe my dreams started and where my theme of my life started to develop… creating beauty wherever I go! I’m 60 now and as I look back over my life, I realize that this has always been my mantra. I am a designer, a networker, and an entrepreneur. I dream BIG and am always pushing the limits to do life differently.
I went to college to be a graphic designer and minored in photography. I have held numerous jobs in retail. My favorites were running a hospital gift shop in Charlotte, NC as well as being a Business Manager for Estée Lauder in Phoenix, AZ. The underlying current was gorgeous merchandise and meeting new people.
Lucy’s Mercantile has been my side gig since my dad passed. Within the next few years, I’ll be retiring from my job and putting all my eggs in the Lucy’s basket. I currently have a storefront in Platteville, CO and will be there until the end of January 2025. After that, my husband and I will be retiring near Yellowstone in Clark, WY. I’ll be taking Lucy’s on the road with me and will be placing merchandise in retail stores around the area as well as selling online.
My merchandise is ever changing. I am a picker and love finding unique treasures for my customers homes. My focus will be products that are Yellowstone inspired. I love the western lifestyle and want items that are timeless.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
I have done a lot of craft shows, vendor fairs, and special events over the years while working full time. I had always wished that one day I’d have my own store so I didn’t have to haul my merchandise to all of these events.
This last year, that opportunity presented itself and I was able to open Lucy’s Mercantile in Platteville, CO. I signed a year lease. I have opened on the weekends and lately, I’ve had to scale back to only being open on Saturdays as it is so difficult to juggle keeping a household running while pursuing your dreams of a small business.
Many of my customers would like to see me open every day but that is not physically or financially an option right now.. When people tell you “location, location, location is so important”, listen to them! I’m in a very quiet town where there is hardly any growth happening due to the towns outlook on new business. I should have done my homework and met with the town’s manager and other local business owners before diving in.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Due to not having any foot traffic in the small town that I opened my shop, I had to rely on social media to get my message out. The newspapers are dying off so you have to get creative on how let people know about your business.
My main competitor is Amazon I believe. After Covid, many customers want to shop from home in their jammies 24/7. Many retail stores are failing as they don’t have the traffic anymore.
I’d say knowing your demographic group is super important! According to my FB reports, my following are female shoppers that are 45-70 years old. I knew I’d need to target my messaging and photos to that group.
I have tried many different angles on social media and have come up with the following… people LOVE to read about your life and do not just want to be sold to. We have 4 mini donkeys and my customers are always asking for more videos with them in it. My customers love hearing about funny life stories as well as seeing new products coming into the shop.
Having a website is important but for my current business model, it wasn’t feasible as my products are changing all the time and I just buy one off’s. I am a one woman show and It takes time to upload new content and keep it current. Time was not on my side due to my full time job.
Building a strong following on social media is HARD! You need to post every day and several times a day to keep up the algorithms. I am still trying to figure out how to grow my followers as the app is ever changing and that is very challenging.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Tiffany Castle Photography