We recently connected with Jennifer Kelly and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jennifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

Working in luxury retail has empowered me to be the business owner I am today. I take so many lessons and skills from my past. For instance, the high level of hospitality – its a standard in luxury, so I took that with me and as a result we stand out as a vintage shop. People from all walks of life and income brackets stop by the shop and automatically feel welcomed and its because they ARE.

Jennifer, 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?

I started in luxury retail, it was my true passion for many years but for some reason I could never “get ahead,” there was always a glass ceiling. Because it was luxury retail and there were rarely people who looked like me in the upper management levels, I always felt like my managers were thinking “well you are a person of color, so you really shouldn’t be a Manager.” Or “you started out in the stock room so that is where you should stay.” And it seemed impossible to get promoted, no matter how hard I worked. So I went from retailer to retailer, always on the Mag Mile, wondering what house I would work for next. From Chanel to Neiman’s to Tiffany’s to Gucci, none seemed to be my forever home. So I chose to leave the industry. Only for the pandemic to bring me back. After being laid off due to the pandemic, I chose to spend the time working on my business plan and decided I would take matters into my own hands and promote myself. Which is something I am most proud of. I didn’t let my lack of promotions in the past define me. Just because people don’t believe in you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t believe in yourself.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

While on unemployment, I took the time to save portions of that money to fund my business. I started sourcing vintage through estate sales and storing them in my home. Because I knew it was expensive to own a brick-and-mortar, I saved and purchased a mini school bus to create a mobile shop. This would be the home of my business for the first year. I purchased a peddler’s license and found areas to park the bus and set out racks of vintage to sell to passersby-s. I also went to vendor shows to sell. There was no miracle funding that came. It was all me and it was little by little. And I think it’s important for anyone who wants to start a business to understand you just need to get started and use the resources you have.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I looked for micro-infuencers and invited them to stop by the shop in return for a store credit. They naturally wanted to promote the shop as it is a very fun environment to explore (color-coordinated cubbies that make vintage shopping a breeze). I learned from jobs in the past that micro-influencers could have a big impact on your local foot traffic so I used that to my advantage. It helped boost my social media followers. We also use IG ads occasionally to help get our shop out there!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vintagefrillschicago.com/
• Instagram: @vintagefrills

Image Credits
Pics of store owner Jennifer Kelly are by: Nina Bloom