We were lucky to catch up with Lourdes Edridge recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lourdes , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.

When opening Wirewood Market with my daughter and both of our husbands, I did not know what to expect. My daughter and I have had a good relationship throughout the years but have never attempted to work together. Starting a business from scratch has tremendously stressful moments and those are the moments that test any relationship! However, these moments are also a testament to strength, flexibility and the willingness to compromise. Our Market has been up and running for over 5 years now and having gone through some epic events such as Covid and all of its trials, I feel that the experience has certainly solidified our family ties.

Family businesses bring a level of comfort, personal attention and closeness to the market that I feel most large conglomerates cannot achieve. Your customers become part of an extended family to whom you matter and who matter to you more than you realize. In a world where so much of what we do is automated and impersonal I think family businesses are a sanctuary for those seeking personal contact and interaction with one another.

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

Wirewood Market is a multi-vendor market providing antiques, decorative items, custom orders, furniture painting services as well as paint classes. Our vendors bring a different style and personality to our shop while remaining true to the general vision of our Market. Most of our vendors have been with us since the beginning and have become members of a tight community where caring and concern for each other is evident in all they do.

As a child, my parents and grandparents were avid antique collectors and my siblings and I were forced to spend endless hours pursuing the perfect piece for this or that room. I made many vows while walking the miles of rows at the many shops or sitting quietly and virtually motionless at the auction houses, that I would never purchase one single antique or any “used” item for my home, when I had one.

Life has a sense of humor and tends to love to torment us with it! It just so happens that as a young adult, going through an expensive divorce and having to move into a new home on a budget, the only thing I could afford and where so much stored knowledge lay dormant, were those dreaded antiques residing in those detested shops! So as life would have it, life repeated itself and again I found myself wandering the endless rows and sitting quietly in front of the auctioneers!

The pursuit of antiques is like the love of hunting. Much as I couldn’t take the life of any creature, hunting for antiques is nonviolent and completely bloodless (except of course, when you stub your toe while moving large, bulky pieces)! It is a love which borders on obsession. With this obsession living inside of me for well over 30 decades, it was clear that opening a shop was on the horizon and with the immeasurable support of my daughter, we did.

When the decision was made to open the Market certain things were of paramount importance. It could not be one of those places where I was made to feel like a pest as a child. It had to be a place where everyone would be greeted warmly no matter what and all were made to feel as part of the in crowd! I think that is the signature of Wirewood Market. When you walk through the doors expect to become our friend, as if you had walked into your neighborhood pub or sat on your hairdressers chair, expect a hearty welcome and an ongoing relationship that will endure for as long as we do.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Wirewood Market opened its doors for the first time on June of 2018. It has always been my belief that a new business requires thorough market research, extensive experience in the field and a healthy dose of luck in order to flourish! With the help of my insanely capable and intelligent son in law, the market research was no problem, The experience part I felt I had since I had been involved with antiques and had had a myriad of antique booths at different shops for close to 40 years. When it came to luck, why not?

Life is tricky, it tests and humbles you! Just when you think things are just so, it throws you a curve ball! Such was our experience! We had had an unexpectedly good first year and were steadily growing and becoming known. Our hopes and aspirations were being met and exceeded. We were starting to feel safe and secure when in March of 2020 we were told that there was a “plague” spreading through the world and that literally everything would be closing down! I truly felt like a character in an apocalyptic movie, half horrified and half incredulous! It could not be happening. We are living in an enlightened age where these things don’t happen!

After the shock settled, fear set in. Not just the obvious and initial fear for our health, the risk to our families and friends, the horror that was being experienced throughout the planet but also the fear for the financial well being of our infant business that was being forced to close until the emergency passed. Having not grown up in the age of computers, it was hard to fathom how we would keep our business open but community is the heart of survival as was made evident by the incredible support that our community provided us. One of our computer savvy vendors came through with an internet platform where items could be sold without physical contact. Another vendor stepped up and made videos of the store to keep interest alive, others offered to circulate photos of the store on their personal media accounts to support the Market. The overwhelming love and kindness that came through during that terrible time kept us afloat and set the stage for the tight bond that developed amongst us!

Any advice for managing a team?

Wirewood Market is a community of over 40 vendors. Our group is a very varied one with many different ideas and thoughts on how things should be. I believe that life isn’t about what happens to you but about how you deal with it. That is a bit of a philosophy that we have used to confront our trials as they occur. With the level of different personalities and backgrounds that make our Market the wonderful place that it is, it is important to remember that this somewhat simple but overlooked truth, makes a big difference in how you comport yourself and deal with others!

Those who form Wirewood Market are crucial in determining policy, strategy and acceptable behavior. They take an ownership interest in the wellbeing of the Market and its operation. We strive to consult our community, request assistance when we feel their expertise is needed and praise them for their achievements. Treating others as you would like to be treated is our motto and we try to practice it in our daily interactions with those that we come in contact with. We have a group that cherishes laughter, camaraderie and friendship. When I walk into a business I feel that I can tell immediately whether or not these are important aspects to the management of those businesses since I think that a good attitude trickles down from the top. If management’s attitude is poor, morale will be as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wirewoodmarket.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/wirewoodmarket.com
• Facebook: www.facebook/wirewoodmarket.com