The Power Up ⎯ SN.02/EP.04
Laurie Carter's Playbook For Small Town Stores
Apples to Oranges has reinvented its product line several times in the past decade. In fact, Laurie opened the store wanting to share her passion for yarn and knitting, but knew that probably wouldn’t be enough to succeed, hence the name “Apples to Oranges.” Now Laurie carries looseleaf tea, 3D wooden puzzles, and chocolates as well.
Laurie explains, “I cut way back to the yarns that I had experience with and that I knew would sell well. I’ve been selling jigsaw puzzles and the looseleaf tea but I added children’s toys and that brought in a whole different market.”
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About The Business
Business name: Apples to Oranges
Founded: 2013
Owner: Laurie Carter
Location: Silverton, Oregan
Website: https://applestooranges.net
Sales diversification strategy: Storefront, e-commerce
About Our Guest
Laurie had always been a passionate knitter and active member of the Silverton community. When she noticed all the locally owned stores downtown began shutting their doors, Laurie wanted to change that. Even though she had no prior retail experience, she had a close knit group of friends that would support a yarn store.
Quickly on, she realized that yarn wouldn’t be enough to become profitable. She began bringing in more product categories to the store that she enjoyed and found missing from local shops. Laurie is proud of what she’s been able to build over the years and that she has remained (mostly) profitable while representing her hometown.
Full Transcript
Sean (Thrive): Hello everyone, it’s Sean from Thrive with another episode of The Power Up where I meet with successful small business owners and operators to learn about their business strategy so you can take their insights and level up your own business. Once your business is ready to expand, knowing where to start can be overwhelming. Our guests have some creative solutions for how they’ve tackled tricky problems and turned them into growth opportunities. Now, let’s dive into today’s episode.
Our guest today is Lori. Lori is the owner of Apples to Oranges, a brick-and-mortar shop on Main Street in Silverton, Oregon. They feature yarn, jigsaw, and 3D wooden puzzles, children’s books, toys, loose leaf tea, and they’re focusing on creating one item out of another. An example of that would be yarn to scarves.
The shop was opened in July of 2013 when Lori became concerned that all the retail shops in downtown Silverton were closing. Although she had no experience in retail, she thought a yarn shop was something she could do. She had doubts from the beginning whether yarn alone could succeed as a business model, hence the name Apples to Oranges.
Thanks so much, Lori, for joining us. We’re happy to have you.
Lori (Apples to Oranges): Thank you. This is interesting to be here.
Sean: Well, first question for me is, how did you get into yarn? You have a long history with it, sounds like that’s the origin of your kind of business. What’s the background there with you personally?
Lori: Well, I’ve been a knitter for a long time and I do love the fibers and the colors. There was another yarn shop in Silverton and when it closed, it was kind of the last of the retail shops in town. I happened to be on city council at the time and that was a real factor in wanting to try. I had encouragement from a lot of the knitters in town that it could be successful, so I went for it.
Sean: Wow. How did you feel when you first started it? I know you said, or at least I mentioned in your bio, you had concerns. Talk to us about what that first year was like. Were you nervous? Where was your head at?
Lori: Yeah, I made every mistake in the book but I was learning as I went. I started by learning from the shop owner that closed that she really didn’t carry very much stock. So I overbought at the beginning, and that was a mistake because it took a while for people to even realize I was there. To have all this stock was just very counterproductive and costly. That was a big mistake the first year.
Also, yarn itself — there’s a reason a lot of yarn shops have been closing, especially in Oregon, but California too, as far as I know — is that everybody is just working on the margin: the farmers, the weavers, the spinners, the yarn companies. It’s a tight, difficult market. To sell yarn, you have to order in quantity, a lot of different colors and products, many of which don’t sell. It took me a while to realize that was a mistake.
The second thing was that I started out thinking I had to have two employees in the shop at all times and that I didn’t want to be there very often. Big mistake because that was very costly. It took me a while to figure out what my best practice was.
Sean: Got it. Definitely something I hear pretty commonly with folks in our audience. You mentioned right off the bat that you had a lot of surplus in your shop. That was painful. How did you course correct and hone that in over time?
Lori: Eventually, what really helped me was the pandemic, which was not exactly the way you want your business to go, but it forced me to furlough employees. I ended up with just one employee while I was able to stay open. I also gave away yarn, had big sales on yarn, and cut way back to the yarns I had experience with that I knew would sell well. That made a big difference.
Diversifying really helped too. I’d been carrying jigsaw puzzles and loose leaf tea, but I added children’s toys that brought in a whole different market, a different type of customer. Legos were also a good way to get the word out that I was here, but I can’t afford to carry Legos anywhere because the profit margin for small businesses is almost nil. Plus, I found products I was carrying from Lego were selling for much less at big box stores, which was discouraging, so they didn’t do well for me.
Sean: So diversifying your product offering really helped drive folks in. Some listeners hear one side of the argument: shrink your product line and focus on one product or collection to be the best at it.
The other side is diversifying to draw new traffic. You went the diversification route.
How would you help someone decide? What was your decision-making process behind growing the product line outside yarn, tea, and toys?
Lori: First of all, having a lot of excess yarn didn’t give me much choice. I had to figure it out. When they talk about six months and you don’t want it on your shelves, mine was there for three or four years. Not a good business model.
Tea has excellent profit margins and is a constant renewable product. I don’t know what advice I’d give anyone because this is a small town. In a bigger city, focusing on one product might be fine, but things change a lot in a small town. I try to be aware of what the community is interested in.
Sean: Did you do any kind of ticket analysis to see what products sell well with others? Like, every time someone buys a 3D wooden puzzle, do they also buy yarn? Any weird correlations?
Lori: No, I haven’t done anything that scientific. What I carry are things I like. My reasoning was that if it doesn’t sell, I’ll have fun putting it together or working with it. I also carry chocolate truffles, which work well.
My clientele are mostly women who knit or crochet, and yarn and tea go together. I have a lot of men who like loose tea and come in with their wives. I always offer tea samples of my special that day, and I sell a lot of tea that way.
I also have kids who come in to see new toys. Now I’m carrying art supplies too, because I took an art class here in Silverton, which has a reputation as an art town. There is no place in Silverton to buy art supplies, so people go to Amazon or Salem. I’ve been stocking art supplies, and so far it’s been good, but it’s only been a few months.
Sean: Do you have any kind of loyalty program or membership with your customers?
Lori: Thanks to Square, I offer a discount if customers join our newsletter. I send out coupons and have about 4,000 customers on my email list. I try to email about every two months so they know they’ll get a 10% coupon. I advertise new products through that. The integration with Thrive has been very helpful. I appreciate you guys, the support has been excellent.
Sean: Congrats on that list! What kind of discount do you offer? Is it the 10% coupon you mentioned? How do you grow the newsletter list?
Lori: We use Square’s star system: for every sale, customers get a star, and after 10 stars, they get a 10% discount. When customers come in, we ask if they receive the newsletter. If not, I get their email on the spot and explain they’ll get coupons. That helps the list grow.
Sean: Do you type it in right there or write it down to enter later?
Lori: Yes, right there on the spot.
Sean: Do you have a solid customer base of knitters?
Lori: Yes, very supportive.
Sean: Thanks for sharing. Looking ahead 12 months, any goals?
Lori: To make a profit again this year would be major. I try to be as much of a presence in the community as I can. I want to continue on the path I’ve set out and hopefully it will work.
Sean: Great. I have five quick questions: What’s your fastest-growing sales or marketing channel?
Lori: My fastest-growing marketing channel is Instagram. Online sales are in a slump. I switched from WooCommerce to Shopify but haven’t maximized online sales yet. Google AdWords was too expensive; I spent my entire profit on it, so I stopped. I’m trying to grow web sales organically. Ravelry.com, a site for knitters and crocheters, has been good, but sales are random.
Sean: Are you advertising on Ravelry or just communicating with knitters?
Lori: I advertise monthly on Ravelry, which accounts for most web sales, but they’ve not been good.
Sean: What’s your favorite resource to grow your skills or business?
Lori: Ravelry.com again, but only for knitting. I paid for Shopify Genius last year, but it wasn’t helpful. I feel like I’m out in the desert by myself. I’m discouraged. I paid too much for WooCommerce and switched to Shopify for features, but traffic is low.
Sean: Did you pay a Shopify employee or an agency?
Lori: I chose one of their experts from the list. They didn’t help much.
Sean: What piece of technology can you not live without?
Lori: The internet and Thrive. Thrive is essential for reports and integrates well with Square.
Sean: What advice would you give to someone starting a retail shop?
Lori: Be prepared to make mistakes and learn. Know your community and be flexible. Diversify products if needed. Don’t overbuy stock. Use technology to your advantage.
Sean: Thanks so much, Lori, for sharing your story and insights. It’s been a pleasure.
Lori: Thank you, Sean. It’s been great.
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