We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diane Staples a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Diane, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success is defined in different ways for different people. I define success as the ability to make a living doing what I love to do and sharing my creativity with others. I’m passionate about creating an atmosphere in my shops that bring laughter, joy and the appreciation of art to those who walk through our doors. I love carrying artist’s work and being able to talk about their story to our customers. I am so happy when customers share their stories because it means we’ve done our job…engaged with them and made them feel comfortable. Shopping should be a fun experience!

Diane, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Retreat is a keenly curated gift shop that carries mostly handmade artisan items ranging from jewelry, leather good, greeting cards, candles and so much more! I have been a buyer in the handmade industry for over 25 years. I have such a blast finding artisan work that is fun and unusual. I want the WOW factor when someone walks through our doors. Our staff is also what makes the shopping experience so cool. We offer a no pressure, relaxed environment and enjoy engaging withnour customers by telling the stories of the artisans we carry. Cool things like having the only hand blown glass globes in the nation and sand art that has many different types of sand from throughout the world! That’s just a snippet!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source for Retreat is probably the best source for any business owner – Treat everyone that walks through your doors with great energy and attention! Give them THE BEST customer service you can offer whether or not they buy anything! Give them a memorable experience so they WILL remember you and come back not only for the awesome things you carry but also because they know they are in good hands. Word gets out quickly. People Will talk about an enjoyable experience whether it’s an awesome meal, easy car repair, efficient bank visit or in our case, a cool shop to peruse! Great customer service is not the norm these days. Personally when I have a great experience with any business I WILL return and tell others!

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

When I first started Retreat I had a tiny budget…just enough to fill the shop so it looked like a shop. I had consignment items to help the inventory grow. At some point when I couldn’t stretch my budget any further, I started to make handmade greeting cards to fill a niche for what I didn’t stock and couldn’t afford. That taught me a lot. I was selling my cards for a bit less than the cards I carried but the markup was great! I didn’t have to pay anyone to buy this merchandise! Then I thought, what else can I make that I can’t afford to buy? Turns out I had a hidden passion for jewelry making. I’ve been making jewelry for the last three years and that has helped immensely with the margins. In fact, I opened a second Retreat last year because I was making jewelry faster than I could sell it in one location. We still carry over 40 other jewelry artisans work but it is so cool when someone connects to mine.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @retreatlifestyle
• Yelp: Retreat