We were lucky to catch up with Danielle Vergano recently and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

The biggest risk that I’ve taken in my life is becoming a business owner. This isn’t your typical story of wanting to start a business, this is taking over a very well established one in our community. I began working for my previous boss when I was 16 years old, you can say that I grew up with the business. What started as a part-time high school job turned into a post-grad part time job (while working a second job at a big box retail store). As opportunities were presented, I was invited on buying trips–we would go to NYC to do shopping for the store, Atlanta for their big gift market and then being allowed to merchandise these items that were coming in; I was falling more and more in love with the business.

As the years went on I became more of a fixture at the store, I was building my own clientele, becoming friends with some of these customers and watching their lives grow as they had watched mine. Eventually it was time for my boss to retire which is where my risk comes in. My former boss decided it was time for her to retire the same year that I became a mother for the first time; my husband and I had gotten married, bought a house, had a baby and ended up purchasing the store within a matter of a year and a half. Not quite 15 months into owning the business, the pandemic hit and the rest is history. My passion for the business is still very strong despite the challenges we faced. In December of 2021 we had to close and move out of our previous location; it took 6 months to secure a new location, move in and settle all while having my second child. Now we’re in a new town, with a space almost double in size, trying to navigate through hard economic times. Thankfully we have a very loyal following and have the opportunity to meet amazing new people along the way!

Danielle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Roomors opened its doors in August of 1980. Pat Turner, the original owner began this business as a gift shop which featured specialty gifts, fashion jewelry and ladies accessories. As the business grew so did her selection of gifts–they expanded to bridal gifts (such as Lenox and Waterford), an incredible selection of Christmas merchandise (Department 56, Christopher Radko and so much more), gifts for women, men, children and accent pieces to decorate. your home. By this time Roomors had moved into its 2nd location which provided more space to showcase all of the beautiful items. Roomors for me was always a destination shop.

I would always go there for gifts to buy for friends and family and I always looked forward to their signature wrapped gifts for Christmas from my dad. Growing up in a small town you became familiar with most of the local shop owners so it was quite the honor to be asked to work there when I turned 16. I never realized how much I wanted to work there until I started and it was everything I could have hoped for in a job and more! I loved the women I worked with, I loved learning about the business, meeting new people. I gave 100% to getting to know what it was all about. I loved it so much that many years later I ended up buying the store! 23 years later and I’m still at the same job enjoying what I do but this time putting my own spin on things.

We are coming up on 5 years since I officially took over and the last 5 years have proven to be the most challenging. What I’ve learned is that owning a store is different than running it as a manager, tougher decisions have to be made but the hardest of all was having to go through a pandemic and navigating a small business with little to no financial help from the government.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Oh, a time where I had to pivot? I think many people in my position that ran a business through a global pandemic could agree that we all had to come up with creative ways to get by. What this made me realize is that I needed to focus on buying the minimum and do more frequent re-orders rather than over-stocking on items that will sit around. While we were shut down I created a website and delivered orders locally to customers; whether it was a $5.00 item or a $50.00 item I wanted to let people know that no matter the cost, their business was appreciated and I will do whatever I can to make someone’s day extra special.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I have always been running the social media accounts prior to taking over the business, but now I am in full control of what gets put out there. Since I have been working at Roomors for so long many people have seen me grow up from a teenager, to a wife and a mom. Every so often I will share updates on social media of my family and what milestones we’re going through. I like to let people know that we are a family and I find that it helps stay connected and engaged with customers. Advice for social media presence? Someone once suggested to me to follow accounts with a larger following and that are similar to yours and look at their hashtags; take what would apply to your business and use the same. Stay relevant; let them know what’s new, what’s popular–even do a feature of “item of the day/week” and tag people who will repost for you–perhaps a a chamber of commerce page, local news media, etc.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roomorsgifts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roomorsgifts
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-vergano-09049322/