Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ann Hyett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ann, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?

Habitat Hyett is owned by both my brother and myself. Since day one, it has been us two managing everything but when we opened our retail store doors, we knew we needed authentic staff to help sell our vision. It’s hard to let go of some duties in the beginning stages of onboarding staff, but over time you understand that when you have more free time as the business owner, your able to accomplish so much more both inside and outside the business.

For our hiring journey we used Indeed and right off the bat started interviewing. We knew we had to hire someone who not only had a retail sales background, but also loved vintage. It takes a strong sales person to convince someone to try on vintage clothing that may not necessarily be their style, but can see the vision for the customer.

With vintage sales, the deeper knowledge comes over time, but from the start my brother and I would add in special details for our staff. For example, teaching them how to date a clothing label or differentiate between textile materials are all helpful tools when selling 2nd hand clothing.

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?

Habitat Hyett is a vintage store, located in South Beach, Miami. We specialize in men’s and women’s clothing, home goods, books, furniture and art. Basically- anything we would want in our own Habitat! From designer hand bags to 1800 slip dresses, we aim to have something for everyone. From the start, we wanted to have an array of prices so we could attract the largest following. In store, you will find items starting at $9 and up. We also have a few small local brands showcased in store.

In our storefront, we also host an array of events, from speed dating to figure drawing. We love collaborating with local brands and can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My business partner is my brother! Everyone has an opinion about going into business with their family, and rightfully so. I get to work with my best friend every day, and in my opinion, there is nothing better than that. When you think about who you trust most in the world, it is 9 times out of 10 either your friends or family. If your going to spend 80+ work weeks starting a business, you better make sure that you trust them 100%. When we started the business, we made a few ground rules. One being that the day that the business starts interfering with our relationship with each other, we have to close. No business is more important that family.

We are both big dreamers, and realized we needed one another to make our dreams into a reality. We both excell at different skills, and bring different tastes and styles to our store.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

While I was living in NYC I started selling vintage clothes at local outdoor vintage markets during Covid. What started as a side gig to make a little extra martini money, turned into a lucrative job. I was able to quit my job in production and open my own studio, which I sold vintage directly out of. The markets continued to be great to help market my brand and get people to stoop by my studio during the week.

While I was in NYC, my brother and business partner was in Miami where he was constantly in awe of all of the fabulous art deco furniture he kept finding in his free time. Once he ran out of room in his house, he started selling furniture online. Realizing that Miami was hungry for all things vintage, and that there was a market to fill, he convinced me to move from NYC to Miami to combine both of our skills.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.habitathyett.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/habitathyett/