We were lucky to catch up with Ed Akers recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ed, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
There are several circumunstances surrounding the formation of Local 636. I have been a self employed business owner (insurance agent) for the last 10 years, which has been a truly great and rewarding career. Being an insurance agent, there are so many rules and so many things you can’t do. Recently I’ve had the urge to do something creative and outside of the box. My college degree is in broadcast journalism, and I’ve always wanted to be involved with television or radio, either on air or in production. Because I’m a small business owner, I know a lot of other small busines owners, and I know they all have stories of how and why they started. Combining these things seemed to make sense, and I had the idea to do a podcast where I would interview them. I had some friends who owned Public Art Company, a design firm who had devoloped a brand called Local 636. They started to make some t shirts and stickers during the pandemic as a way to support local businesses. Because they already had some branding and somewhat of a following, we decided to join forces and The Local 636 Podcast was born! A few months in to doing the podcast, I had the opportunity to host/promote a touring band named Emery. Emery is a post hardcore/emo/screamo/alternative/rock band that gained popularity in the early 2000’s when the scene exploded. The are still together and still tour, but every now and then they tour with only a few members and do acoustic shows called Songs and Stories. I had actually hosted them before (music is a huge passion of mine) and when I saw they were looking to come to the area again I jumped at the opportunity. This time I used my podcast and the Local 636 brand to promote the show. I was able to interview one of the lead vocalists (yes they have two), sell tickets, and print and sell posters and t shirts at the event. The show went over extremely well and I just was on this high. I came home that night and told my wife I’d like to buy Local 636 from Public Art Company, even though I wasn’t sure what that looked like or how it would even happen. I didn’t say anything to anyone else and just kept thinking about it and thinking about how I could make it work. Less than 1 week later, the guys from Public Art Company approached me and and said they would like me to buy the brand from them and run it! By this time I already had an idea of what the brand could be, we reached an agreement and the brand was mine. Local 636 would make merchandise and apparel that represented Saint Charles County. This is not a new model, if you visit almost any other major city they all have a brand that is similar to this, wether it be Defend New Orleans, Project 615 (Nashville), or Arch Apparel right here in our own backyard (St. Louis). There are so many people that live in and visit St. Charles County that I knew there was a demand.
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?
Local 636 makes apparel and merchandise that represent St. Charles County. We have a t shirt for every city in the county so you can represent no matter where you live. We also have logo shirts and some other designs that celebrate great things in St. Charles County, wether it’s the Katy Trail, or some of our great local microbreweries. We also have merchandise like a St. Charles County Coffee Map, which is an 18×18 print with all of the local coffee shops. Currently in production is a St. Charles County Beer Map. We also co brand shirts and products with local businesses. In April we released our first co branded beer, The Local 636 Hazy IPA by Good News Brewing Co.
We’ve found that residents and visitors are wanting to promote and represent the area and the local businesses they love.
It goes beyond selling products too, Local 636 wants to create a brand for St. Charles. The thing I’m most proud of is 636 day. On June 3rd at 6pm we established the first ever 636 Day. We shut down one of our main streets and had a music/art festival. We had 2 bands on 2 different stages, live, interactive art, and food and beer vendors. We want to establish 636 day as June 3rd every year to create a sense of pride for where we live.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Specifically with Local 636 – I though the easiest way to start would be by co branding shirts with local business owners. We would come up with a unique design, and then print and sell them the t shirts for them to resell in thier business. Along with that we would help them with some social media marketing advertising the shirts, and have them on the podcast to further promote the shirts as well as thier business. The pricing was set up that if they bought the shrits from us and sold all of them in thier business, it would be a break even for them. But then they would obviously have 25 people wearing thier shirts, and have that social media and podcast exposure. It reallly seemed like a no brainer (and still does) to me. We had a few businesses take us up on it, but overall the program was not a success. We still offer the package if people ask, but have turned to focus on our own designs and selling them direct to the consumer.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
I have 2 business partners, both of whom I have known for 5-10 years. After I purchased the business I approached one of them with my plan and asked him to invest and come along for the ride. The othe partner actually owns a promotional products and screen printing business. I called her to ask about pricing for some items, specifically shirts and screen printing. After a few minutes of her asking what my plans were she surprised me by saying “are you going to ask me to invest”? I was caught off guard because I had no intention of asking her that, but it really made me feel validated that she thought it was a good idea.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.local636.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/local.636/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/636Local
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMkeYLvaC3VMshLqctHgSFw