Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kay Hardeman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kay, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I had been teaching elementary school for 28 years at the time I decided to open my shop. I knew retirement was an option at year 30, so I was starting to think about what I would want to do differently. I love to sew and embroider so I thought I could do something along those lines. My dad had a commercial building that happened to be empty at the time I was thinking of this, so I thought I could have spaces for vendors to rent to sell their items and I would do my sewing while running the shop for the vendors. I did this for the last two years of teaching and had employees run the shop while I was at school. I wanted to make sure the business took off before I decided to retire from my position at school. I opened the shop in July 2020 and it was a very slow start. Challenges I faced were Covid, not being here full time, and the fact that the last tenant in the building had been a funeral home. People driving by did not know that the building was now retail space. Once the vaccine came out and people started venturing out again, business foot traffic picked up. Social media, word of mouth, and paid advertising helped get the word out. About a year into having the shop open, I started adding my own items to the shop. I now have items for embroidery, furniture, home décor, gifts, and paint for furniture renovation, in addition to renting space to local vendors. I fully retired in May of 2022 and I am now able to be at the shop full time and business has grown into having the brick and mortar shop as well as a website to purchase new items.

Kay, 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?

After I decided to open the shop, I then had to come up with a name for the business. I didn’t want to name it after myself or use words similar to other shops like mine in the area. My paternal grandmother lived in the neighborhood, one block from where the shop is located, for most of her adult life. I thought it would be neat to name it after her. This is how I settled on Edith’s Emporium, Vintage-New-Renewed. Edith for my grandmother and Emporium to express to the customers that we have a wide range of items available for purchase. Takeaways I hope my customers have are the personal feelings they get when they come through the front door. I want them to feel like they are coming into my home to shop. Also, we always talk to them and find out where they are from. Chattanooga is a very popular place for people to move to right now. It is fun to either hear why they moved to the area or to find out that they have been in the area for their whole life and we always make a connection to them about someone or something we have in common. I also want them to know that this is a place where they can come get a great gift for someone, a piece of furniture for their home, or they can see the vintage items that remind them of a great childhood memory.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

About 10 years ago I purchased my first used embroidery machine from a friend and taught myself to use it. I began doing embroidery jobs for friends and it grew into a small home business over the next few years. I began to think that I could have a shop at some point when I retired. Then when I got close to retirement and I had the room in the building to have both a sewing space and space to rent to vendors, I jumped at the chance. It has been a big leap going from education to shop owner, with lots of ups and downs, but fortunately as I went through the process, everything seemed to fall into place. The only way I can describe it is when I had something that had to be done, I just focused on the task and completed it before moving on to the next. If I didn’t know the answer, I would find someone who did have the answer to help me.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first had the vision for the shop, I thought my only contribution would be the embroidery and running the shop for vendors. I had no idea that I would have so much involvement in the shop. I now run the shop, do embroidery, paint furniture, go to sales for inventory, and maintain about 30% of the shop with my own curated inventory.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.edithsemporium.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edithsemporium/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edithsemporiumchatt
• Linkedin: Kay (Steakley) Hardeman
• Other: TikTok @edithsemporium