We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jacob McDaniel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jacob below.

Hi Jacob, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

UNCOMMON as an idea sounded quite easy to myself, Kanyon, and Jewelette (co-owners). Selling and sourcing vintage clothing had been something the three of us had been doing for the better part of around 5 years at the time we decided to partner up. I (Jacob) had a decent social media following of our around 12,000 followers and a successful website. While Kanyon and Jewelette, both born and raised in Utah, had deep local ties to the community and had been vending in SLC for around five years at the time. We hashed out the details, found a retail space in the Avenues, and began stock piling for our grand opening in February 2022.

The first few months before opening were tough on many levels. Mentally, it was hard to accept two others into your business space. You have to open yourself to the opinions and creative ideas of others. The three of us, having ran three totally separate businesses, had to learn to incorporate the styles, ideas, and methods of how we sell clothes, how we style our social media, what our pricing will be on items, and so forth. For example, before opening the store, I had never sold a single pair of pants, but Kanyon and Jewelette wanted a strong showing of bottoms, skirts, and so on inside the store. Meanwhile, Kanyon and Jewelette had to adapt to the rigorous social media regiment I had employed through out the past few years, posting twice a day everyday. Adaptation is the best way to describe the mental challenges we’d faced early.

Physically, we experienced many long days and late nights building out our space, all while trying to continue sourcing for product. We had to tear out walls, rewire our building, gallons and gallons of paint and cleaners were gone through in a matter of days. The space we originally rented was a shell of what it was on opening day, and even more so a year from then. The first few months were physically taxing not only because of the work, but also the stress that was weighing on us mentally and financially. The store wiped about every bank account we had. The night before we opened I recall a spat we had because we couldn’t afford to get chicken wings. Each one of us tired, stressed, nervous, broke. Yet, optimistic. We knew the work we’d put in would pay off.

Opening day rolls around and it’s better than we could have ever expected. Family, friends, and tons of new faces, all filled our 700 square foot, wall to wall, the entire day. Suffice to say, we got our chicken wings that night.

As months went on we continued to renovate and upgrade our space. We adapted to each others styles, found our groove, and eventually cruised past our one year anniversary in February 2023. At this point we had maxed out our space in the Avenues. Every inch of space was filled with something. We knew it was time for an upgrade.

Fast forward to the summer of 2023, June 2nd, we closed doors on our Avenues location and opened our new store front in Sugarhouse, located at 2006 south 900 east.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

UNCOMMON is a locally owned vintage clothing store ran by three friends in the Sugarhouse neighborhood specializing in 1960’s to early 2000’s clothing. UNCOMMON is just as the name suggests, something out of the ordinary. Our name can be applied to many different aspects of our business. The clothing may be considered UNCOMMON because of it’s one of one nature. A rare and unique find, faded and aged to perfection, hand selected by one of the three owners. Cared for, cleaned, repaired, and brought to you within our four walls.

However, I like to think of UNCOMMON as the way we hold ourselves as a business. We don’t do things like most. UNCOMMON is made of entirely 100% locally sourced and sustainable product, lessening our carbon footprint. We support our fellow sellers. At the end of every month we host a market over at Publik Coffee where we host 25 other small business vendors under one roof. We care for our community, show up at other’s events, and offer a helping hand to anyone getting started in this field. Every customer is greeted with a smile at the door coming in, and a thank you when they leave. You’ll walk in the doors and feel welcomed every time.

UNCOMMON doesn’t only describe the clothing, but the way we handle our business and the experience of shopping with us.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We care for our customers, our product, and our community. Simple. We gained a solid reputation in the community because we are passionate about what we do. We love building meaningful and lasting relationships, chatting about clothing and stories filled with nostalgia and memories. We want each customer who walks through our door to feel like they’re welcomed, they got a piece that was cared for just as much as the next, and that maybe even they got to learn bit about the clothing, us as people, or us as a business. This has never been a get rich quick scheme, never will be. The fulfillment we get from UNCOMMON is the lasting relationships and getting to share our passion with some many people in our community.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source for new clients is, as crazy as it sounds, talking to people. Going up to someone and complimenting their outfit has lead to more new clients than any advertisement we’ve ever ran. The number of genuine and loyal customers we’ve gained from simply talking with people is astonishing and quite frankly so much more rewarding then any other type of way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.uncommonslc.com
• Instagram: uncommon.saltlake
• Other: IG: sumolmarket (markets)

Image Credits
Sophia Harrison Photography