Remodel is finished and square footage has been added. How do we fill out the added space? Good question. We look in the direction of another great Fayetteville brand, High Voltage. Taylor and her great vintage finds have moved in to help us fill the store.
]]>Let's take a two week flashback to bring everyone up to speed. During the remodel, we tore down the wall of the former work room to add extra square footage of retail space. We thought this was a great idea until we realized we didn't really have enough inventory to fill the new space. So what does a small business do? We reach out to others. We ask for a lending hand. Most importantly, we join forces with other small businesses to help increase our chances, and theirs, of succeeding in this market.
Flying Possum fans, let me introduce you to High Voltage. High Voltage is a vintage store that is owned and operated by the most authentic person I've meet in Northwest Arkansas. If you've already heard of High Voltage Finds or ever visited the brick and mortar store formally on MLK JR BLVD, then you already know how awesome Taylor and her product are. High Voltage has filled the void left by the remodel. While doing so, we have formed a partnership that we feel can transcend niches and bring vintage, leather, shoes, purses, belts, hats, cups... well... you get the point... all under one roof. Personally, I find myself walking through the High Voltage area and just start counting all the items I want to buy. My favorite story so far about High Voltage is about understanding expectations. My expectation was time would be needed for the public to hear about our partnership. The truth is the first day we opened with our new partner, the first customers in the store came in specifically for High Voltage. They walked right past everything we have for The Flying Possum and headed straight to the new area. Several sold items later, I text Taylor to let her know and I could hear the excitement in her text, or at least I read it with real excitement.
At this point, we are watching The Flying Possum | Since 1976 transcend niches, develop new relationships, and draw in a new generation of customers from our community. There is a future for this store. The future will honor the past but build toward sustainability with the help of our community.
P.S. The paint is off the floor but we're still working on those outlet covers.
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From remodeling to figuring out how to set up a business, we’ve learned a lot in the past month. Thanks to great friends and family, we are going strong and feel very supported in our adventure.
]]>What a day. Jordan, Lesley, and I set out on our big adventure. Big plans were in place, extra help was on its way (big THANK YOU to Kate, Canon, Kelton, Collin, Madeline, Kim, and many more), wood, nails, paint, brushes, paint pans, and everything imaginable was delivered to the store that afternoon. This was it. We were in the construction business for the next week. Little did we think, none of us were experienced in remodeling. When thinking about this group of people, they never let a small thing like experience stop them before. I’ve known them for years. We’ve collaborated, learned, taught, and succeeded many times in the past. On March 1, we had a plan, a goal, and we did what we have always done. We collaborated, learned, taught, and pulled off a remodel that we are proud of. It may not be “Fixer Upper” level perfection, but it’s perfect to us. It was the beginning of our adventure. Even though their names aren’t on the LLC, they are as much a part of this adventure as Jordan, Lesley, or myself.
This opportunity came to us out of left field. It wasn’t on our radar at all. We heard about it through a friend who heard about it from a friend. Long story short, we made and offer and worked through the details and “wala”, the deal was done. The Fayetteville Institution called The Flying Possum was ours. We just had to wait about three more weeks to be handed the keys. I think at this part of the story, I should mention these three weeks were the fastest of my life. We had countless streetside discussions, dinner meetings, dreams, and sleepless nights waiting and prepping for March 1. When we thought we had everything in place, we quickly found out we didn’t. But that’s fine. We collaborated, learned, taught, and at the end of the week, we succeeded in what we were trying to do.
You may ask what were we trying to do, and that would be a great question. We truly didn’t know. We quickly realized we didn’t know much about a business. How to pay taxes, how to charge taxes, hire employees, and the list could go on and on. What we did know is we wanted to carry on the legacy of the Flying Possum while also leading it into this century. At this point, I believe we are on our way.
One month into this adventure, we’ve been having a blast. We’ve meet many in the community that have thanked us for keeping the Possum open in whatever way it can be. We’ve had people come in and sit down to just hang out. I’m talking about people in the 50s just taking a seat to talk about Bruce Walker and the old days around the store. We had an online order from someone in California that bought some sandals from the original Flying Possum when she was in college and wanted to finally update her sandals. She looked up the Possum to make that memory happen. Being an owner of The Flying Possum, no matter how short of a time period, I’ve learned about our community. I’ve learned that if Fayetteville likes a place, location doesn’t matter. They will show up and support. Lastly, and I can’t stress this enough, I’m honored to be a part of this legacy. I’m honored to carry on The Flying Possum | Since 1976.
If you’ve made it this far on the blog, you are awesome and I’d love to hear from you. Reach out or swing by the store. We’d enjoy getting to know you.
Bryan Allen
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