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

Kimberley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Off The Cape came from the idea that I wanted a business that I could run when I was not spending summers on Cape Cod. Summers on the Cape were precious to me and devotiving those few months of the year to enjoying my family and friends. During the other months of the year, life seemed to get in the way of intentionally pouring into those relationships. A T-shirt I saw in a store on the Cape read, “On The Cape” which inspired my “Off The Cape.” I also started doing a lot of my buying on the Cape while I was there. There is a surplus of great antique and vintage pieces on the East coast that we don’t have down south. So many of the items I sell come from Off The Cape. Now with 85% of my business being online I am allowed to do both while summering on Cape Cod.

Kimberley, 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?

The start of my business came from the passion of antiquing and estate sale shopping. I rarely left a sale without items in my hands. I began to pass up items because I didn’t know where to put them once I got home. This challenged my motto of, “If you love something, buy it and it will find a place.” My family suggested that I start selling the things I bought to other people, and this is how I began my journey of starting a website to sell my favorite finds. I had my own website created, (which I chose to close and focus on selling my pieces in an Etsy shop), and I started telling people that I was available to do interior design projects. The interior design part started for me by friends visiting my homes and appreciating my personal style, which is mixing good solid upholstery pieces with a collection of vintage and antique pieces that tell a story. I believe mixing good, quality pieces with accessories that explain who lives there in a story format is what sets me apart. I want my design clients and retail customers to exhibit items in theirs homes that they love. With vintage and antique pieces, they are allowed to showcase their past, their fond memories, their heritage, their passions and who they are. This requires me to get to know my clients on a personal level so that I can help them find items that bring this to life in their own home. I believe this is the secret to not only having a beautiful home, but one that is warm and welcoming to others. I don’t get so hung up on trends or a particular style, but more that a home speaks to it’s occupants and what makes them feel happy there. When this is done well, it all comes together.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I began a website to sell vintage products, custom upholstery, bedding, lighting and rugs. I wanted an all encompassing one stop website. I was told that it typically takes three years for a website to get up off of the ground. It needed a lot of attention and marketing. Believe it or not I had not even been a social media user when I began this journey. I had to learn all of it! I quickly learned that social media was not my passion or gift. I did not have the money to invest in big firms to help in this area. I was making sales, but not enough to justify the expense, or the the courage to gamble on spending a lot of money to do it.

After three years, I wasn’t making the money I wanted to, or spending my time doing what I love, buying vintage and antiques, I was a slave to marketing and social media, which I greatly disliked. I had to re-group and I decided to try opening up a shop on Etsy to sell my finds. They did their marketing and offered easy ways for me to play off their site. They already had a huge following. So, I opened a shop, Off The Cape Vintage, on Etsy. Again it took time to work my shop and to get it to where it got to the top of people’s searches. I spent a chunk of money with Etsy to put Ads on my items. After about a year I was selling hundreds of items, and focusing on the part I love the most, vintage accessories.

My interior design clients just kept coming from word of mouth which, call me old fashioned, but I think it is the best form of advertising.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

I feel such joy when customers contact me with the story of why they bought their vintage piece. One woman wrote me that the Christmas ornament she had purchased was a duplicate of one that she had given to her son when he was a little boy. It was a simple felt Santa holding a baseball mitt. Her now adult son’s house had caught on fire and the original Santa ornament that she had gotten him was destroyed. She had been searching for years for the same vintage ornament to give to him. The ornament I found in a basement at a Cape Cod estate sale was the perfect match!

This type of story has happened numerous times. It makes me feel that I am not just providing frivolous items but sparking old memories and fond recollections.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Off The Cape
• Facebook: Off The Cape
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/OffTheCape?ref=shop_sugg_market

Image Credits
Images by Harrison Ellis