We recently connected with Lauren Cooley and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

My business originally started as a side hustle, which is common story for many of us small business owners, especially of the creative sorts. I have a BA and an MA in Psychology so was working with kids and families doing job training for homeless youth, providing educational advocacy for youth in foster care and then onto dropout and truancy prevention in the public school system. None of those jobs paid well so using my business to supplement my income allowed me to continue to do work that I loved. However before the birth of my first child, my job moved me from 20 hours a week to 40 hours and that drastically changed the plans. I decided to quit my “real” job to care for my son and that was the beginning of putting my full energy into my business. It was the first time I relied solely on my business for income as opposed to it just being “extra” income to help us get by. I did markets, pop ups, Instagram shopping, etc to generate sales. It was a huge grind but was working and my customer base continued to grow.

My intention was always to go back to work with kids and families but when we moved to Central Oregon it was impossible to find a job in my field. I finally landed a job that was’t ideal but was at least somewhat related to my previous positions but the pay was $15 which was not a realistic wage for me or my family. So then the next big risk presented itself- I gave up my pursuit to go back into that field and put all my eggs in what was then just Peaces by Lauren. I grew my new customer base in my new town the same way I did in my previous places- doing markets, posting on Instagram, opening shopping hours out of my garage, and getting my jewelry into a couple local shops. I finally rented a small studio space to get myself out of the house, around other creatives and it was a great experience to dip my toe into what it would be like to have a space of my own. Then the pandemic hit and everything changed. I moved out of my studio, worked from home as best I could like everyone else and confirmed that I needed community in my life, needed to work outside the home and that I had the track record to support a move to brick and mortar. In March 2021 I opened my very first shop- Gathered Wares, in a 1,000 square foot brick building in the same Arts District where my first studio was. It was wild to make this move with all the lingering unknowns of Covid but I knew I wanted to be in that same location and knew I had to take this leap or I’d drive myself crazy asking all the “what if’s”. Fast forward 2 years and I’ve just expanded my business into a new location, that is 800 square feet bigger and have 3 vendors that rent space from me. It’s a ton of work and there continue to be days that I’m waiting for the cards to fall but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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

Some of the back story has already been told in my last response but there is a bigger back story if you go way back. When I was 4 my family left California on a 41 foot sail boat and circumnavigated the southern hemisphere in roughly a 2 year voyage. One of the ways my sister and I passed the time was making beaded bracelets and anklets. I was also captivated by beach combing- constantly searching for hidden treasure on the many beaches we spent time on. I attribute this trip to cultivating a love of jewelry making and treasure hunting within me that only continued to grow as I got older.

The other thing that was important to how I got into vintage was that I went to Catholic school until I graduated High School. We wore uniforms but I really loved fashion and looked forward to wearing what ever I wanted on the weekends. My Mom was very wise when it came to teaching us about budgeting and money and she put my sister and I on a $40 a month clothing allowance. Even in the late 90’s this was not a lot of money so I began going to thrift stores to stretch my $40 and thus began a love affair of buying used before new.

After I graduated college I went traveling for about a year and while in Central America got back into jewelry making and eventually started selling my things at the hostels I would work at and even would pop up on beaches with my things selling to tourists and locals alike. It was an interesting revelation to realize I was making decent money just by creating. When I returned to the States I kept on making and kept on selling and finally did my first market and I was hooked.

I first decided to combine my jewelry making and vintage finds about 15 years ago when after my first market, only selling jewelry, I felt that my booth really needed something in addition to jewelry. The natural direction for me was to incorporate my vintage collections into my booth and so the next market did just that and had a great response. For me, there is creativity in both endeavors- jewelry is an obvious one but it takes a certain eye to find that gems in the piles of ordinary, it takes some faith to know something has potential if just given a chance, it takes patience to put into the process of seeking out these decades old treasures and then it’s somewhat of an art to show customers how incredible it is that something has sustained it’s beauty after 30, 40, 50 years.

I think what I’m most proud of after all these years of growing and changing is that I’ve managed to really connect with my customers, to cultivate community in the shop and provide other small businesses opportunities to grow their own businesses, that I’m able to offer a shopping space that encourages a more sustainable way to dress our bodies and style our homes and that I’m able to do that in a way that is accessible to everyone with varied price points. It’s a dance but it’s a dance I truly love.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Roughly 3 weeks after the Grand opening of my first brick and mortar, the shop phone rang and I answered the call like I had dozens of times already. On the other end was someone from City, which was surprise to me. I was informed that because I had pulled a sign permit for my business I had been flagged for other permits. I was told I needed to pull a change of use permit because the previous tenant had the use of the space defined as an office and I had it defined as jewelry manufacturing and supplemental retail. The lady proceeded to tell me I would need to hire an engineer to do loads of assessments, etc. and all this would cost me about $6,000. There needed to be sewer use assessments, parking lot assessments, the list went on and it all sounded insane. In addition, I was receiving a ton of pushback from landlord who was not keen on having this done and was toying with idea of me vacating my space to avoid the whole situation. It felt like a nightmare but I met with the engineers, stayed in touch with the city and finally was able to explain to the city that I did indeed use my space as an office in addition to the other uses. But during this time I was awake most nights wondering if the beginning and end of my business was all happening at the same time. It was truly awful. Finally the lady I was working with had me submit some information about how I used the space, etc and then I never heard from them again. I never had the guts to call and confirm it was resolved but I assume it was. But the feeling of wondering if all your hard work and investment is about to go up in flames is not something I’d wish on anyone.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Although I don’t have a true business partner on paper, my husband is absolutely integral to my business. He has helped build out both shops, fixes tons of furniture, builds me whatever I ask for, picks up and delivers furniture, works the shop from time to time, the list goes on.

We met 14 years ago in Seattle and the story is pretty damn good. I was at the Goodwill (of course) and was checking out and happened to glance behind me and there I saw a tall, handsome young man. I was growing frustrated by the lack of dating opportunities at the time so made a game time decision to ask him out. I waited outside the doors in the Seattle drizzle and approached him as he walked out. It was a quick interaction that started with, “Hi! Do you happen to have a girlfriend?” and ended with us going out that night and every other night after that. We still have the coffee cup he was buying that day.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gatheredwares.com and www.peacesbylauren.com
• Instagram: @gatheredwaresshop