We recently connected with Mary Smith and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Mary thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How has Covid changed your business model?
Covid has forced me to go from a full-time Paint Party business to incorporating multiple streams of income. We’ve changed our model from “DIY” to “DIY or Buy”, adding handmade decor for sale. Facebook Live Sales are a regular part of our business now. We also offer take & make kits for children and adults to create at home.
Mary, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Mary Smith and I’m the owner/operator of Gander Studio, an arts & crafts studio in Alvin, Texas. I studied for a career in fashion retail. Upon graduation, I landed a job with Foley’s Department Stores, and for the next 15 years, I worked in management and buying. It was a fun, exhausting, and stressful place to work! During the most stressful times, I would dream about moving back to my hometown and opening a creative business, where women could come in and unwind from the stresses of work and family. After leaving Foley’s, I worked for a couple of entrepreneurs and small businesses, definitely planting the seed for one day opening my own business. In 2016, Gander Studio came to life as a sister business to an art gallery that friends had opened. When the art gallery closed, I moved Gander Studio into its own space and began offering art workshops and parties full time. Our area was saturated with places offering painting on canvas so we began to offer wood signs and wood decor. In the beginning, everything was rustic. Over time, we’ve evolved with current trends, We’ve added a laser to our equipment inventory, which is a total game-changer. We can now laser cut personalized items along with some of the favorite signs our customers have grown to expect from us. Our best-selling item is our 6 ft. Welcome Porch Sign, which we offer in dozens of styles. We’ve sold a couple thousand of these! We are also a process-art Kids studio, offering weekly Arts & crafts workshops. special events, and Summer Art Camps. My husband has been able to leave “corporate America’ and join me full-time in running the studio. Our daughter has grown up at Gander Studio and is contemplating taking over the business after college if her first choice as an architect doesn’t work out!
Have you ever had to pivot?
In early March of 2020, it looked like everything would be shut down for in-store customers, due to Covid-19. For about 24 hours, I lamented that Gander Studio was 100% an event, (in-person), business. As I scoured the news for the latest regulations, I began to notice that restaurants were going to be allowed to offer take-out, including take-out margaritas and other drinks. I realized that the party or event could be easily be moved to guests’ homes. In addition, parents were scrambling as their children were not going to return to school after Spring Break. The first pivot we made, was to offer a Kids Take & Make Kit, an 8″ wooden Easter Egg with brushes and paints. We sold hundreds of kits, operating much like restaurant take-out service. Our next pivot was with our Adult Workshops. We began offering Zoom Workshops, Take & Make Kits for Adults, and Events within Facebook Groups.
We are so grateful that these pivots worked and not only were we able to remain open, we were able to thrive during quarantine! We did so well, that we were able to purchase a laser machine, originally a goal that we were a few years away from affording.
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Manufacturing our products – In the early days, my husband and I learned to build some of the signs that we offered. I also found several carpenters and would audition each of them for the various projects. Over 6 years later, we’ve added equipment, taken classes, and learned through trial and error. We now build and/or laser cut all of our own products, which is a significant savings. Unfortunately, thanks to Covid, all of those savings have gone into the rising cost of lumber. But we are very proud of how far we have come in our wood working skills.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Gander Studio was founded in the early years of Facebook. I began a business page and began to book paint parties through Facebook events. Most of my target customers were, and still are, big Facebook users. We consistently asked customers to check in when they came to paint parties and to give us a review. That method worked for a long time. It’s more of a challenge to grow a social media audience now but consistently remains key. We’ve added in frequent Facebook lives, an Instagram presence and are slowly adding in Tik-Tok. Other than ads in local high school productions, we’ve never done any print advertising.
Contact Info:
- Website: ganderstudioalvin.com
- Instagram: @ganderstudio
- Facebook: @GanderStudioAlvin