We recently connected with Berlyn & Steven Nikolunauer and have shared our conversation below.
Berlyn & Steven, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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?
Junkyard Witch started as just a name. We (Berlyn and Steven) had met working at a record store, and while that sounds cool (it had its moments) the place was owned by an evil corporation that neither of us could tolerate. We were oozing with creativity and enjoyed sharing our interests with like-minded customers, we weren’t fully able to express ourselves within the confines of this business. Once that store closed down, we both made our own Etsy stores, trying to sell handmade items such as hand sewn pillows & purses (Berlyn’s work) or pinback buttons (Steven’s work). Around this time, the name Junkyard Witch came to us, we didn’t know what it was going to be or what we should do with it but a year and 1000 miles later we finally figured it out. After an impulsive move from Los Angeles, to Salem, Oregon, we decided it was time to bring all of our work together and make Junkyard Witch the company we both wanted to create. We began to sign up for local PNW markets as Junkyard Witch and that’s when things started to work out for our entrepreneurial endeavors.
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.
We are proud to offer embroidered and printed fashion and accessories that show off the wearer’s personality. Because of our backgrounds, we know the importance of expressing how we feel about certain issues. We are strong advocates for human rights and educating ourselves on the things that make individuals unique. Our products aren’t just for wearing, but for showing off the side of your personality other brands might not be as eager to embrace. We are here for the folks who love horror, Halloween, witchcraft, queerness, silly pop-culture references and we do all of this with a sense of humor. Our goal is to make our customers laugh or smile at the absurdity of it all.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
One of our biggest pivots was relocating. We had both been living in Los Angeles for a good period of time, doing the LA thing and trying to make our “dreams” come true. When we started our businesses, we were trying to sell at local markets in that area and not having much luck. It was difficult to connect to customers with what we were making and offering. In March 2018 we were desperate for a change o f scenery, so we made the move to Salem, OR. A much smaller town far away from anyone or anything we knew. The drive (that we had to make separately just to fit all of our belongings) consisted of a blinding blizzard through a mountain, that had us white-knuckling our steering wheels until we made it to Oregon.
Once we were safe and settled, we started to find the markets that meant something to us and our brand. The area was brimming with opportunities for darker markets, where our witchy, horror wares would be appreciated and loved.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
Before the 2020 pandemic, we were doing pretty well. We had a small embroidery machine that we made patches and hats on and that seemed like a great direction for our business. But, March 2020 happened and everything stopped quite suddenly. We were luckily, able to start making face masks that kept our business afloat for a moment, but into a few months of the pandemic, we began to run out of fuel. Selling in person at markets and events was our main source of income and excitement. Around the summer of 2020, we struggled with the next step for our business and decided it might be time to shut down and try a new direction. We even announced that we were going to close up our business and head in a new creative direction, whatever that was going to mean. But instead we invested in a larger embroidery machine that would allow us to expand that side of our business. A little while later the wholesale marketplace, Faire accepted us onto their platform and now our patches are featured in stores all around the country and we even started branching out to a few international locations.
Contact Info:
- Website: junkyardwitch.com
- Instagram: @junkyardwitch
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JunkyardWitchshop/