Lula Vintage (1587 Selby Ave.), has been shut down since the Stay at Home order, losing the majority of its income. Owner Hayley Bush, who operates the shop by herself, is selling items online, through an Etsy shop called LULAVINTAGEMN, and off an Instagram account. She is planning to reopen the shop as soon as the governor gives his stamp of approval.
- How has COVID19 and the Stay at Home order affected your business? Since my store is a retail business, it must be closed during the stay at home order.
This means that LULA has no source of revenue besides online sales which are a very small percentage of our income.
We have an ETSY shop called LULAVINTAGEMN. We also sell items off our Instagram account.
Our main source of revenue is gone, however.
We will reopen as soon as we are given the stamp of approval for our governor.
- How do you see this affecting your industry as a whole and what concerns you?
I am concerned that I have lost my spring business which is my best two months of the year and will not be able to financially rebound.
I am concerned that people will no longer have the financial stability to spend money at small businesses.
I am concerned that people will not want to brick and mortar shop as they now have become accoustomed to online shopping.
How can the community support you?
People have bought gift cards as well as made special orders. People have gone at shopped at my etsy shop as well as just visited it - which moves it up in the search rankings.
Also, I have had cards and gifts sent from sweet, wonderful customers. People have donated clothing as they are cleaning out and just want the items to go to a good home.
I have had people send pictures of lounging at home in items from my shop. It's has all given me a great comfort.
I really encourage people to shop small for real. Not just talk about it and pretend to do it but actually do it. If they don't- only big companies will eventually be available to them who will then be able to charge whatever they'd like.
I read a study where one very small town, in one year, pumped over $300,000 into their own economy by agreeing to support their own businesses. St Paul is a big city- imagine what we could do if we all went to our own grocers and co-ops, shopped our own stores, ate at our own restaurants and hired our own local companies for the work we needed, Not only would our economy flourish but we could really be a great example for other cities.
Thank you for a platform to talk about this situation.
This is why local papers are important as they give voice to local issues.
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