We recently connected with Rebecca Sheer and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rebecca, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I was in my late 30’s when I decided to go rogue and start my own store front. I was an Assistant General Manager at a great hotel company. I had the skills, knowledge and experience to continue my hospitality career an move up in several areas. I truly loved working at hotels, but I had just reached a point in my life where I wanted something that was all mine. Baking had gotten me thru some hardships in life and still I couldn’t let go of the procurement side of business that I really enjoyed. A retail shop felt like the answer! Do I wish I had started sooner? Should have, could have, would have-I can’t play that game. I see a lot of young successful business owners and a twinge may happen, but I’m a believer in ‘Everything happens for a reason’. I truly feel that if I had started sooner, I wouldn’t have the business and customer service knowledge that I have now and that sets my shop apart from others like it. On the flip side, I have also seen a lot of great business ideas not succeed because of lack of experience. Even though there are mornings my body feels it’s age, I know I have made great choices and I am meant to be where I am in my career at this time.

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

I have always enjoyed baking, but about a decade ago a friend literally dragged me to a cake decorating class. I had just gone thru some hard times and I had NO interest in her attempt to get me out of the house. She said, too bad, I already signed us up. I remember rushing to get to class because my job was a 24/7 operation and leaving wasn’t always easy. I was 4 minutes late one lesson….FOUR MINUTES and the instructor was on page 6 of the class! I was so upset! I said, couldn’t you have made small talk? It was only 4 minutes. I laugh now, but at the time I was furious, we don’t even start hotel meetings 4 minutes after the start time! What world was this? I ended up loving the art of cake decorating. I signed up for every local class I could find, I met Sidney of Simi Cakes and Confections and started to travel anywhere in the state of Texas to take her isomalt classes. I signed up for shows and competitions in the state and met an entire world of sugar artists! After only a few years of this, I needed more. I certainly did not want to make it my job as I didn’t ever want to feel burnt out and not love every minute. I decided a retail shop would be PERFECT! I could still bake on the side, I could teach (I had always done training throughout my career), I could help others! This was everything I liked about hospitality on my terms plus add shopping?! What more could I want. Sheer Celebrations was born. I quit my job in the summer of 2015, I traveled as much as I could to make more sugar contacts, meet vendors, and introduce myself as a shop owner. In November of 2015 I opened the storefront. I put every minute and every penny I had into my new business. The shelves were not full, but I felt great! Originally I opened as a party and cake supply shop. We boasted that we have everything for your celebration needs. After about a year I realized people either came for party supplies or for baking supplies. Hardly anyone came for both. I needed to shift gears. We clearanced out and donated most of the party supplies and only kept helium balloons as they were our #2 seller in year 1. Everything shifted and soon the shop was FULL of baking supplies.
In 2020 I got my first 3D printer. I had ordered it before the pandemic hit and it came in during our shut down. At least I had time to learn how to use it, right? So, I started making cookie cutters. Soon, I realized this printer couldn’t keep up with the demand or with my busy schedule. I purchased a different printer, it could work without a laptop connected and could print even if I wasn’t in store. Soon a second was purchased. We are hoping to add more as our custom cookie cutter business is in HUGE demand. We design and produce cutters everyday and our customers LOVE it! No more worrying about finding what they need for their orders, they can get them made LOCALLY! Sheer Celebrations currently makes custom stencils, custom cookie cutters, custom font stampers and custom cake/cupcake toppers on top of all of our amazing in stock items. This is certainly the biggest area of the business that I am most proud to have. It not only helps so many of our customers, but it is a true creative outlet for me, too!
We are working hard to build our customers’ brands on our social media pages. Sheer Celebrations has started posting our shout out posts more regularly. We don’t want to just succeed, we want to see our customers succeed, too! The team encourages our customers to tag us in their work so we can see what amazing items they create and then we tag them back to share their items as well as our products. It’s a win win and we LOVE all the creativity shared!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think my hospitality background has helped in building the Sheer Celebrations reputation within our market. I often get feedback from customers who are shopping for the first or the 100th time. They all say things like, ‘You are all so helpful here,” “You all seem to just care, ” “Wow, everyone is just so nice here.” GOOD! We are doing it right. I try to instill great customer service in my team and we really do care! I feel that sets us apart from the competition and I feel that has built our reputation.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

Sheer Celebrations is not only a brick and mortar in San Antonio, Texas, we also have an online presence at www.sheercelebrations.com. During the shutdown at the start of the pandemic in 2020, I opened an Etsy shop. I had never done it before, but without the foot traffic, I needed to get our name out to people who didn’t already know about the shop. It pays for itself, but I struggle to reach out and add anymore 3rd party platforms. The fees are high and though I know the reach is large, I haven’t felt comfortable making that move quite yet. I will continue with the Etsy platform at this time, but we love for our customers to shop directly with us. Third parties are great for exposure, but customers are not our loyal customers and it just a very different feel from the brand I’ve worked hard to create.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sheercelebrations.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheercelebrations/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sheercelebrations
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sugarthecupcake
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtHlzBxTrKMRhynYd_3y4Pw
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sheer-celebrations-san-antonio-2?osq=sheer+celebrations
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sheercelebrations