We recently connected with Josh Hoffman and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Josh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

We believe that a home comes together over time, building layers with items that are purchased new, found, and handed-down over generations.

We originally started out selling repurposed furniture along with found and handmade items in our garage, back in 2012, under the name “Tattered.” These items had stories and were chosen to be a part of someone’s home. We would host a few occasional sales a year, where we would advertise on Craigslist, FaceBook, and with yard signs and fliers throughout the community. A couple years went by, and we noticed the direction of our brand moved away from the reimagined items to new items like pillows, decor, seasonal items, and home fragrance. Our tastes were changing along with the product offerings. Our products were no longer tattered and used, but new and ready for a new story to tell. These items were still part of our belief that a home comes together over time.

With the change in product offering, we felt we needed to change the name of our brand to something new and something that wouldn’t necessarily pigeonhole us into one direction. Trends, tastes, and looks all evolve, and we wanted to make sure we would be able to adapt with those changes…or, better yet, be ahead of that curve. We looked at the brands we followed like Pottery Barn, West Elm, Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware, etc. for name inspiration. But we also knew it had to be something personal. It had to be fun, timeless, vague — something that made people want to know what it was.

So where did the name “Copper Pony” come from? Well, I wish I could say it’s because I once owned a beautiful, copper-colored pony as a child named Glitter. But the truth is, I’ve always loved horses and I’ve always wanted to have one. As a child (and adult), birthdays came and went without a live pony present. So when it came time to give the dream business a name, it had to be something to do with horses. Pintos are my favorite, but “Painted Pony” just didn’t sound right. While most great inventions often come about as accidents you could say the same thing about us. Copper Pony was a fun play on words to “copper penny” and it was settled, that was to be the name.

Josh, 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?

My partner, Brandon, and I are the boss babes behind Copper Pony. We both have different paths that led us to opening the store, but for now, the focus is going to be on me.

I have always been a shopper. I have always loved retail. I have always been a fan of decorating. I loved art. And I don’t remember a time when I haven’t been obsessed with home fragrance. But I also loved animals. At 15, I started my first job working at a pet store. I worked there until I left for college, where I was determined to be a veterinarian and I quickly realized that was not for me.

I had to rethink my future and went back to my passion for art. I took some art classes and fell in love with design, namely graphic design. I was a shopper and was drawn to packaging and advertising — I am one that would buy a book just for the cover. During college and a bit after, I worked at Gap. I fell in love with the visuals, the product, the way we told a story within each of the sections, product placement, the retail life, the team, everything about it. But, with my major in graphic design, I needed to follow that path.

In 2010, I took a hobby of mine — collecting Breyer model horses — and made a business out of it. It was right at the start of the chalkboard paint craze. I took old, beat-up, plastic model horses that I found while thrifting, sanded any rough spots, and sprayed them with chalkboard paint. I set up a shop on Etsy, and sold the horses there. They were featured in a couple magazines, on an HGTV special, and Barney’s New York wanted to sell them. This was the catalyst.

After a handful of years as a graphic designer, and still missing retail, we started with a sale in our garage with friends and coworkers that consisted of repurposed furniture, handmade items, found items, and some flipped items. I was excited, energized, and I couldn’t stop thinking about my own store. I knew I couldn’t just open my own store, but I wanted to do everything I could to do so. Meanwhile, I was still a graphic designer and was growing unhappy. I also lost my father, and one thing I held on to was that he always had things he wanted to do, but never did them. He died with all sorts of dreams unfulfilled. I told myself I never wanted to look back and wish that I had tried something, but never did. If I opened my own store, and it failed, at least I could say I did it…but failing was not an option. I also couldn’t stare at a computer screen for the rest of my life.

We started to order from some wholesale companies to scatter new product into the mix of handmade, repurposed, found, and flipped items, and found that we really enjoyed that layer in the sales. I also met a man named Ben, who was a baker. He was a friend of Brandon. I told him one day I would like to have a bakery/coffee shop. He told me to let him know when I was ready.

Around 2015, the occasional sales gained a huge following and I wanted to do it full-time. Insert Brandon, on one of our first dates, where he said he would do whatever he could to help my dreams come true. Quick Brandon backstory. When he was growing up, he would babysit, and while the parents were gone, he would move their furniture around and redecorate. Some of the families appreciated it. God bless him because he worked tirelessly on putting together our business plan. That process was much longer and more detailed than we ever thought imaginable; however, we learned so much about our business and its trajectory. We looked at multiple locations in multiple communities, trying to find the perfect location for Copper pony. One space, while it was a huge space and in the perfect location, was not available as the current tenant wasn’t ready to leave. One space had structural issues that we weren’t ready to take on. There were others in a different town that just didn’t work out. We just didn’t know where we wanted to go. It had to be perfect. We needed traffic, the building had to speak to us, and we needed to feel like we belonged to a community. I truly believe in things happening for a reason, because after many setbacks on all of these locations (and the universe telling us these weren’t meant for us), a space opened in downtown St. Cloud that I had fallen in love with. It was a yoga studio where I took classes. By the way, Brandon and I crossed paths when I left the yoga class one night. The yoga studio was moving, and the space became available. With the business plan complete, we were ready to open Copper Pony in 2017. With one giant leap of faith, I quit my full-time job as a creative director.

This was the perfect location and it was just the right size with beautiful late 19th century architecture. We brought in unique everyday and seasonal home accessories, creative giftware, quality bath & body products, and luxurious home fragrances for both your home and for gift giving. We were in the middle of downtown, so there was traffic, and most importantly, we had other businesses around us. I forgot to mention that we live in the country so people literally had to go over the river and through the woods to attend one of our occasional sales. Downtown St. Cloud wasn’t a place that Brandon and I would visit that often. We asked ourselves why that was. We realized that we didn’t go downtown that often because there wasn’t a place to shop for things that we wanted. That was about to change. Many people said downtown wouldn’t work out for us, but again, failure wasn’t an option. We opened the doors to that store in May of 2017, with hopes of long lines and selling out of products, like our occasional sales had proven. It didn’t quite work out like that, but slow and steady was going to win this race.

I worked alone most days, except Brandon would help on Saturdays. He works full-time at St. Cloud State University. We also relied on friends and family for bigger event days. After a year and a half of being open Tuesdays through Saturdays, and taking off one full day and two half days, we brought on our first employee. Yep, I worked by myself that long for fear of the business not being able to support an employee, who trusted that we would be able to help them financially. I wanted to make sure we could support that person, Dillon, who is still with us today.

We truly believe in a quote from Paul Wellstone that “we all do better when we all do better.” We were so excited to be a part of a community. We created events where we would partner with our business neighbors, or we would bring in outside vendors. One time we hosted a ladies night event that had a tarot card reader for any of the guests that wanted their cards read. We had gingerbread cookies to decorate and apple cider during our Holiday Open House. We did whatever we needed to do to drive business. And we knew that foot traffic in our space meant foot traffic in our neighbors’ spaces as well.

The years continued and we saw growth. Customers would come in with coffees and shop around. It was everything we wanted. We had wanted to add an online component to our store, but we didn’t think that was the direction we wanted to go because customers couldn’t feel the quality of the products, they couldn’t smell the home fragrances, they couldn’t hear the music we were playing, we couldn’t build those connections, and we couldn’t compete with Amazon and the like. Then 2020 hit. Everything we had was in that location. While our story isn’t any different than other retailers, we really needed to dig deep. Luckily our POS platform had an e-commerce component to it and I had the graphic design background. Within 1 week of shutting the doors, we had a fully operational online store. Our customers really stepped up and helped us through that difficult time. We adapted, survived, and thrived. Over the next year, we saw so much growth. So much that we needed to expand and that was not possible in our current space.

Our friend, Dana, was helping at one of our events. We mentioned that we were thinking of relocating and that there was a space we really wanted, but it was not available. She works for the city of Sauk Rapids and spoke with the mayor and the city planner. Well, that space was one of the first that we had wanted back in 2016, but we weren’t ready for it and it wasn’t available. But we were ready now, and we found out it was available as well. This new location was 3 times our current size, and we would have our own parking lot and deliveries would be done easily. Downtown St. Cloud was on a busy road with little parking, the doors into the building wouldn’t allow for pallets, and the alley was too small for a truck to fit in. We would have to process the pallets on the curb or have the trucks deliver pallets to our house, where we would trailer everything in to the downtown store. So this new space was appealing for the logistics alone! But it also meant we would need to hire a lot more, and remember, I had wanted a bakery/coffee shop. If customers were carrying around a coffee while shopping, why not that coffee be one we sold them? If someone comes in for a gift, and smells the cookies baking, they’re going to want one. If someone comes in for a mocha, and remembers they need a gift for their friend, why not take care of that while they’re in. It was a one-stop shop for living and giving.

We called Ben. Brandon worked on the business plan again, and this time it was even more difficult because banks weren’t handing over money as easily because we were in the middle of a pandemic. But again, failure wasn’t an option, and we knew this was what we needed to do to grow the business.

We opened in the new location right after Labor Day in 2021. In addition to expanding our retail footprint, we have a fully-equipped commercial kitchen. Along with Ben, we added a chef, a baker, and baristas. We offer a full menu of coffee and tea drinks, along with made from scratch cookies, bars, scones, cakes, salads, sandwiches, soups, and flatbread pizzas. The bread for the sandwiches is made by another fantastic local bakery, called Backwards Bread Co. It’s been a crazy ride going from 2 employees to 30 in 2 years and not knowing how to run a coffee shop, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. We must be doing something right over the years! In 2017, we earned the St. Cloud Zonta Christmas House award for Best Decorator. In 2018, we were named a Retail Star for Creative Excellence by Home Accents Today. This award goes to only 50 home décor retail businesses in the entire country. In 2019, we received the Heart Of Downtown Award from the St. Cloud Downtown Council. We were named a Retail Star for Creative Excellence by Home Accents Today again in 2021. We were voted the 2021/2022 Best Of The Best of Central Minnesota for both Home Goods/Decor AND Specialty Shops.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Consistency in customer service. You have to treat each customer, whether they come in an hour after you open or 5 minutes before you close the same. You have to welcome them in. That customer chose to shop with you rather than your competition, and they need to feel that they made the right choice. Energy, whether good or bad, likes company, so make sure everyone is in a good mood. In our store, if an employee is in a bad mood, we tell them to go home and come back for their next shift in a better mood. Customers are not afraid to let their friends and family know if they had a stellar or horrible experience.

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

Consistency is key. We post daily to both Instagram and Facebook, and we post in our stories as well as the feed. There are definitely days when I have nothing to say, but your audience needs a reminder that you are there. It’s free to post, and we have found that it is invaluable. When we post a product, it sells. We also found that our customers like to see us. Whenever we post employees, the number of likes and interactions are exponential.

You may not think people are paying attention, especially now in a world where we just scroll to scroll, but people still pay attention. As viewers, we aren’t liking and interacting with posts as much as we used to. When someone does comment or interacts, you have got to engage with that person. If they ask a question, answer it.

Contact Info:

• Website: copperpony.com
• Instagram: @copperponymn
• Facebook: @CopperPonyMN

Image Credits
Josh Hoffman