We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katie Chaney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katie below.

Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

This Valentine’s Day, our team offered Goats with Totes, a collaborative experience with our friends at Montgomery Sky Farm. Customers could buy a Hester General Store cake and have it delivered by a GOAT. These moments were so special, and we could truly see that people were in need of some animal TLC. A lot of customers have emailed us pictures or asked for updates on the animals, and even though our days are busy, we make it a priority to slow down and connect with those customers. Goats with Totes was exactly the sort of one-of-a-kind, magic moment we strive for at Hester General Store—we take our time and honor our customers by making sure each experience is heartfelt, genuine, and something that will brighten their day.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Katie Chaney, and I was born and raised in the Upstate of South Carolina. I had a fantastic childhood, but as I grew older, somehow I felt like I never “fit in.” This led me on a worldwide journey after graduating from Wofford College with an Art History and German degree. I moved to the Black Forest region of Germany for two years, then jetted to Austin, TX for a startup employee engagement, and landed in Portland, OR shortly after marrying my partner.

Traveling opened my eyes (and stomach) to so much. I learned a lot about different food cultures both globally and in different pockets of America. Food became a universal language for me, and a way to understand people and their dynamic cultures. I also saw different ways that food businesses were run; from Michelin-star restaurants, to mom-and-pop farm-to-table establishments that popped up seasonally, to ice cream shops with glitter-dusted soft-serve. It impressed me that no food dream was too big or too small, it just depended on a person and their mission.

The birth of our daughter and the COVID-19 pandemic led our family to seek comfort back home in Upstate South Carolina. We moved across the country with hopes of an opportunity to build an enriched family legacy.

When we found the abandoned Hester Store for sale in Dacusville, SC in May 2021, we instantly fell in love. The store, a nationally registered historic landmark, sparked a vision of reestablishing it as a bakery and mercantile that harkened nostalgic memories, and indeed helped make magic moments within the community once more.

The unique challenges that come with restoring a historic property were difficult. Thankfully, the Upstate LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce helped us to meet with an SBA Lender at South State Bank who truly believed in the project and understood our vision. We purchased the building in November 2021, and opened our doors in December 2022 after an extensive renovation. We now serve our community daily as a bakery, mercantile, grocery, coffee shop, and caterer.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There were multiple times during the process of securing funding that the project was dead in the water. I remember walking into a different bank in November 2021 with a stack of papers demonstrating the funds, the work, and the effort I had put into the project. They starkly looked at me and said banks don’t fund dreams, we fund risk versus reward. I left the bank that day with what seemed like nowhere else to go. If I would have believed what that banker said—which I internalized for many weeks as “you and your project aren’t worth funding”—Hester General Store never would have come to life.

However, I continued to pursue funding for the project because I believed in the power of restoration and the value it could add to the community. I believed my vision of creating magic moments for my customers was truly what people needed after a global pandemic. I believed that representation as a female LGBT+ business owner, who was also a mother, mattered. I knew that if I did not push to get this project funded, my dreams wouldn’t die. Rather, it would be evidence that I had given up on everyone who stood by my crazy vision no matter the consequence. That, to me, is true resilience: getting knocked down, but never knocked out.

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

I am very proud of the audience I have built on social media because it has been organic and fueled by authenticity. Someone once told me, “anyone can make a pie. They are buying into YOU and what YOU are building.” That stuck with me and led to my ethos of how our social media should be run: it’s authentic, it has my voice behind it, and it’s engaging. Yes, I have folks help me with social content, but I personally spend more time engaging with our followers than anyone else. They want to hear from me: what do we have in store? Why is it special? What am I thinking about? Taking the time to engage with our customers has never been a “wrong” use of time. It has done nothing but grow our brand and our sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hestergeneralstore.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hestergeneralstore/

Image Credits
Cameron Reynolds