We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Erica Warfield-Mitchell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Erica below.
Erica , appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I knew I have wanted to own a shop in my hometown since I was in high school. The path however was unknown to me. At that age, I wasn’t sure of where I wanted my life to end up. But after I graduated high school, my mind was bouncing back and forth with what I felt was the “ safe choice” in a career. Finally, after two years of debating with myself, I decided to apply to Ursuline College and enroll in their fashion merchandising program. In which I excelled and felt excited for exploring the unknown. I knew throughout my whole college career the end goal was to have a shop of my own.
Fast forward to graduating, in spring of 2015, from Ursuline College, and I headed out to the real world. At first, I sat at a desk doing administrative work (sometimes dreams take time to manifest). However, one day in 2018, after having an unmotivated day in the career world, my husband and I had a conversation about how we can start something small. So, I started my shop online and with a small selection of styles to start out with. Not only was I online, but I was doing pop-ups wherever and whenever I could! It was a lot but I kept going.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am currently 32 and I live and grew up in Chardon, OH . Both my husband and I are Chardon graduates, class of 2010. We own two businesses, our first business’s we started is a cleaning business, Blue Lake Cleaning, established in 2016, which involves carpet, upholstery, hard surfaces, air ducts and dryer vent cleaning, water restoration. Next, was my dream business, the Collective Rose Boutique, launched online in fall of 2018.
In January of 2022 I had my adorable son Dawson and took a moment for myself from the shop. Then we got a call in March of ‘22, we were asked if we would like to open a shop, in my home town, on Main Street and it would be an upstairs location! The universe was basically kicking me in the butt at what felt like the worst time ever! Through a lot of tears and debate with myself [ my husband was telling me to go for it the whole time] we decided to take the risk and figure it all out! I resigned from my position from work and in May of 2022 we opened our brick-and-mortar shop full of women’s clothing modern meets a touch of boho styles and accessories plus so much more!
The unique-ness and excitement of our spaces offers loads of opportunities, not only do we have women’s clothing and accessories to shop, but we have space to offer other small business vendors to do their pop-ups. We even host events and workshops! Our space creates the opportunity for not only us to grow and meet new customers, but also for those small businesses as well – which is one of our goals as we were given the same opportunities to do so before this space.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
The most effective way to make our “Rose Bouquet”, bigger is ensuring that customer service is our #1 priority. The second a customer walks in, we make it a point to connect with them on a deeper level, without being pushy! Our goal is for them to feel comfortable and relaxed walking into our shop. As crazy as this sounds, making the connection first and maybe a sale next visit with them is more important. We never want a customer to feel pressured into buying something, just to end up in a better mood than when they first walked in. Ultimately building that personal relationship with our Roses keeps us thriving and keeps us excited every day.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Every day I try to be resilient! The truth is, it’s all very hard-work, and I have had moments of struggle for sure. For example, thinking that I wasn’t going to be able to make it through the month! But It always works out and we keep moving forward. There will always be ups and downs and we just must try to stay positive even if it seems unimaginable in the moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.collectiverose.com
- Instagram: Collective_Rose
- Facebook: The Collective Rose
- Other: Pinterest : shopcollectiverose