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

Hi Steven, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I worked at T J Maxx while in high school and always have had a passion for fashion and style. I wanted to influence my culture through creating a retail store where minority small business owners would work together to offer Black owned products in one central location. The Reign Shop is a passion project, fueled by the hope of more collaboration and network among minority owned businesses and creators.

I felt it would work because there was a need for it, the saying goes “stronger together”; this reigns true in mostly everything in life. My idea to bring a sense of culture and pride in the legacies of our ancestors. Our efforts were strategic and full of hope for a stronger, united front among minority business owners.

The problem that The Reign Shop solves is filling a void in support of minority creators and artists cooperatively. Every business that we work with and every vendor in our shop creates art in various industries; from clothes, healthy juices, art work, fashion accessories, jewelry, tea and candles! When we join forces and work in unison, we increase our productivity, we can cross promote to drive more attention to not only The Reign Shop, but also each vendor/business owner that we work with. These creators put their products in our shop and we embark on the journey together, we support each other and most importantly we encourage perseverance and hard work.

We are an eclectic retail shop that wants this business model to spread to multiple cities, igniting a movement of more minority/Black creators to work together. We are excited to build our network and increase the number of vendors that are in our shop. The Reign Shop was created to shine a bright light on the many wonderful businesses owned by passionate people who often are overlooked, our hope is our shop serves as a mega hub for small businesses owned by minority creators.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Steven King, I am the Founder/Owner of The Reign Shop. The Reign Shop is an eclectic retail shop that connects with creatives cultivating artistry. We work directly with vendors and minority business owners to put their retail items in a retail shop. We highlight our partners with events, promotion, networking and collaboration. We have clothing for men and women, fashion accessories, healthy fruit/veggie based juices, teas, handmade jewelry, candles, tea, plants, books, artwork, skincare and beauty supplies for men and women! We are a retail shop that carries just about everything you need!

What sets The Reign Shop apart from others is all of the items in our shop is owned by a Black business owner. We focus on working with minority business owners who dont have retail stores to place their items and products. Our hope is to help these businesses grow through our efforts to promote teamwork and support from other creatives.

I am most proud of our growth in such a small amount of time. We opened 11/19/22 and we have done a great job of connecting with our local school district, the local municipality and the businesses around us. We have be welcomed in our local community and look forward to a long lasting relationship with the small town of North College Hill ( a suburb of Cincinnati,Ohio)

What we want potential customers to know is that when you support The Reign Shop, you are supporting the ambitions of dreamers. We want everyone to know that The Reign Shop was created to fill a void in minority owned businesses; if we can help this business model spread to other cities and regions, we can gain momentum in regards to working together to accomplish more as a people. The Reign Shop is a hub for entrepreneurship across many industries, we promote the joy of partnership and collective work to accomplish the goals of the culture.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The idea of The Reign Shop was a childhood dream, and I had been saving my whole life to make this a reality. Through working as an employee, and my other business; I was able to save the initial capital needed to open The Reign Shop.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

An important lesson I had to unlearn was fear of failure. Nothing great happens without hard work and struggles. I was fearful to open The Reign Shop, but I did it with the fear. Having the mindset to achieve a passion was more powerful than any fears I had. I had to think about what I would be missing if I didn’t try to chase an aspiration. I didn’t want to live with regret and wondering if I should have and if I was missing out on a chance to make a childhood dream real. The fear of failure isn’t a bad thing, it makes you prepare more efficiently, it helps you narrow down your options, it forces you to be methodical in your approach. The fear of failure can be crippling if you are unwilling to be led by faith and ambition. I had to unlearn the fear of failure and use it as fuel to propel my dreams into reality.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thereignshop513
• Facebook: @thereignshop513
• Youtube: @thereignshop513
• Other: Tik Tok : @thereignshop513

Image Credits
Steven King