We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelsie Kenney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kelsie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The Little Palm Boutique was purely an idea that came completely from my head when I saw the building for the first time. I thought “why is no one doing something really cool with that unique building?” When I first toured the place I knew instantly that I was going to open my first business and do something that no one has ever really done before in the area. I was going to open a boutique AND a coffee shop in the same building. There really isn’t any coffee shops or boutiques around that area unless you go downtown. With the support of my fiancé and his family I would’ve never pushed myself to do something like this, opening my own business always felt like a faraway dream of mine. It’s wasn’t easy at first to understand what licenses we had to get for both a boutique and coffee shop and had to get creative with our research, going to a bunch of different businesses asking them for advice. After that it all came naturally, we had a great response from the community. People would come by the shop before we were open asking us what were putting in the historic building that use to be a beloved surf shop.

Kelsie, 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?

My name is Kelsie Kenney, I am originally from a small town in Minnesota but have lived in the Fernandina area for the last 3 years. I have always wanted to do something that was uniquely my own since I was young but never had any roll models or influence around me to show me that it was possible. Until I met my fiancé. He runs an Appliance business in the area and is known for his amazing work and is highly recommended in the Nassau area. His entire family are entrepreneurs so when it came to opening the boutique I had nothing but support and encouragement. With our building being so unique we had many different things we could do with the space. We have an upstairs area and downstairs. Downstairs has all of the boutique merchandise and five different local artists that sell their products as well as the coffee bar then upstairs has a bunch of seating for you to sit down and enjoy your coffee like any other coffee shop. There is local art for sale up there as well. We hold workshops upstairs about once a month which can range from, charcuterie workshops, macrame plant holders, seasonal themed crafts, etc. We offer these workshops to give the community the opportunity to learn something new and make new memories in our building. They have been a huge hit for us and is always a good time. We also have food trucks park out front of our building about every other week. We are huge fans of food trucks and love supporting them in any way we can! We love this community and have met so many amazing people through this business and have made so many connections with other local business owners. Supporting small businesses makes a huge impact, more than you know. The entire community can agree that what makes the island so special is it’s small town feel and all of the family ran businesses in it. I believe that for the island to stay like that everyone must support local, as much as they can.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When it came to social media I was very excited to show what The Little Palm Boutique had to offer to everyone in the area. I believe when posting on social media that if you are authentically yourself you will have no problem connecting with people that love your business as much as you do. We also have a lot of fun with it. Making reels has been our new favorite thing to create, we love making other people laugh and relate to us. Making reels gives the audience the opportunity to see a whole different side of us as a business than just pictures.

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

Social media has been our most effective way for new customers to find us! With almost everyone in the area having some type of social media it’s a easy way for us to connect and bring new people in. I believe that businesses without social medias struggle more than businesses that do. it’s important to connect with your audience even when they are not at your business. At the end of the day I have made a lot of great friends by connecting with them online.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Thelittlepalmboutique
• Facebook: The Little Palm Boutique

Image Credits
All images taken by Kelsie Kenney