How It Started/How It's Going

How It Started/How It's Going

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to {moxie} ! As the shop expands its online presence, I thought it would be useful to start to organize everything on our ever growing website, and have a place to answer questions and give more in depth information about the shop, lifestyle tips and tricks, and some of my favorite things and ideas. Basically answers and thoughts about topics that I get asked about regularly, and things that I talk about in our weekly “Mondays at the Mox” live videos.

Suzanne holding a white mug dressed in a goldenrod "Be Kind" sweatshirt and knit beanie hat

First off, if you don’t know me, my name is Suzanne and I’ve owned this shop since 2008. I was born and raised in Northern Minnesota and left after high school to pursue a career in fashion. I attended the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and Bemidji State University. I studied fashion design, exhibit design, and fashion merchandising, and ended up working 12 years in retail management. 

In the almost 14 years that I’ve been in business, I’ve changed locations, opened and closed a second shop in a neighboring town, added online, added private shopping appointments, and am thriving the best that I can in a tricky environment of big box/Amazon and a worldwide pandemic.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes, trusted the wrong people, and almost closed completely several times. I’ve also made amazing connections with wonderful brands and makers, met like-minded shop owners from all over the country, made decisions that I’m incredibly proud of, and have landed in what will most likely be a permanent location that I absolutely love. Here on Howard Street, in my hometown, with so much space to grow, and create, and truly curate the online/in-store shop of my dreams.

Hands at keyboard working on website

The pandemic was rough. It IS rough. I expanded the shop at this new location in 2019 and had the best sales year that I had ever had. I was so looking forward to growing, to adding fun events, to expanding the online sales and collaborating with a few new brands. I had a wonderful sales associate who made taking days off a possibility, and I was on my way to a solid work/life balance. When March 2020 hit, it was, simply put, devastating. I pivoted quickly to upload as much merchandise as possible, added private shopping appointments, and hoped for the best. Contrary to public opinion, there was no real “relief” for super small businesses like mine, and there were weeks that my sales totals were zero or just a few hundred dollars. BUT, the changes that I made connected me to amazing customers, gradually it got better, and in the early part of 2021, I was able to get a no-interest loan from our local government. I will be building and recovering for quite a while, but I’m so thankful that the past year I’ve been able to get things on the right path again.

As I do, I’ve been rebuilding in a way that feels authentic and fun for me. That ignores the “you have to have multiple locations and be open a million hours a week” hustle/bossbabe nonsense that a lot of us were fed for years. Each journey looks different, each person values different things and needs different things, and the shop as it is now, as it grows, reflects that. Valuing myself enough to set boundaries on availability has been key, because as the shop is growing (more than ever before) I’m doing it in a way that allows me to be mindful about work and personal time and the world around me. I’ve been reevaluating what is truly important, where my time and energy needs to be, and in doing that, I’m slowly curating a shop of brands that are women and minority-owned, that focus on fair wages, supporting women's rights and sustainable ways of manufacturing and consumption. It’s a mix of things, and I won’t always get it right, but I’m trying my best and in these times I feel like that’s the best we can do.

Thank you all so much for your support of the shop, of me, and quite frankly, for being the type of wonderful, kind people that it is a true joy to help dress for weddings and funerals, first dates, and solo nights in, job interviews, and lifestyle changes. I love what I do, and I’m looking forward to sharing behind the scenes details, tricks and tips here.

XOXO,

Suzanne

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