brick and mortar – Junkin With Jayme

The rezone request for 707 S. Broad Street was approved by the Monroe City Council in March of 2016! Little did I know that it was only the first of many hurdles to overcome when opening a business from a home.

The house is in the historic corridor and no changes can be made to the exterior without acceptance of the Historical Society. Roof, windows, doors, landscaping… everything has to be approved. My biggest priority, however, was the ramp that would need to be built according to ADA standards for handicap accessibility. I couldn’t open without the ramp. Roof, windows and doors would have to wait. I found a builder who claimed to be familiar with ADA standards and could build my ramp. My plans were easily approved by the Historical Society and construction was started.

The ramp project quickly became my biggest headache. I informed my builder, from the beginning, that if the ramp could not be finished by April 15, then I didn’t even want it to start. The Antiques Capital of Georgia was hosting their yearly spring event and I was on the map of the local antique places to visit.

My doors would have to be open, or at the very least, have a tent event in the yard. I was promised that the ramp would be finished in the two weeks before the event. At some point during construction, I realized that the quote included a 10′ wide stairway that wasn’t in the initial plan. I had to go back before the Historical Society for approval. Which wasn’t until after the 15th. Which meant my stairway wouldn’t be complete before the spring event. I was promised (again) that a temporary stairway would be installed before opening and they would complete the project after I met with the Historical Society. I lightly breathed a sigh of relief and we went to Florida for spring break.

Upon returning from vacation, a week later, we drove by the house to check on the process. There were 16 posts concreted in the ground and the floor of the ramp, and that was about it.

It was 5 days before the spring event! There was NO way the ramp, stairway and rails were going to be finished. I was given a long list of excuses about the city requiring more work and material, and it was then I realized their knowledge of ADA standards was much less than they claimed. We started working on the inside of the house, on the off chance that they would finish and also trying to plan for a tent in the yard in case they didn’t.

Long story short, the temporary stairway was installed and I had to block off the ramp section which wasn’t finished and couldn’t be used. We had the event mostly in the yard, although customers were allowed to walk through and “see” the house. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best “soft opening” we could manage. We had a great day and I framed my first $1 made! It was (almost) official.

They finished the ramp (after additional cost) and my stairway was approved. I received my Certificate of Occupancy and on April 22, I was officially open!

My plan is to only be open on the weekends for right now so that I can continue to work on appraisals during the week. I have to pay for the ramp, which ended up costing more than my updated electrical system and total HVAC install combined.

I am still trying to find my niche in this market and need to focus on advertising. It is more work than I imagined, but we are loving it! My kids (who I rarely saw before) come out to help me on the weekends and my husband and I spend a lot of time together working on the house. It makes my heart happy whether I make a ton of money or not!

Come by and see us! Knicknaques 707 S. Broad Street, Monroe, GA 30052

Two years ago I started this venture out of a love for taking something old and making it new. It’s been a hobby for me that has paid for itself and my love for vintage has only grown. Although my taste and style may have changed over the years, my passion for mid century has stayed the same.

From the very beginning I had a vision. It was going to be a step by step process that started in my garage, with some spray paint and a pair of cane back chairs and ends with me opening my own store, Knicknaques Vintage Boutique.

In November of 2013 I opened my Etsy store and realized other people across the country loved vintage and my work. It fueled my fire for more. Pretty soon, I had a garage full of treasures that could fill a store. My ambition to find pieces to work on was much bigger than my time to actually work on them. The next logical step was to find a booth to rent at an antique mall. It was about as much as paying for a storage unit, only it would be open to the public and also generate sales. Knicknaques opened at Cherry Hill Antique Mall at the Cotton Mill in Monroe, Georgia, in March of 2014.

I never made rent with my sales. Hell, I’m not sure if I had more than 3 sales in the entire 4 months I rented there. I sold on Etsy and Craigslist though. Several times a week I would head up to my booth, pick up a piece and either ship it to places like New Jersey and New York, or I would meet in parking lots in Athens and Stone Mountain to deliver items that were bought through Craigslist.

I decided to try one more antique mall and moved my booth down the street to Pickers Paradise in July of 2014. I did much better there. Not only did I have enough sales to pay rent, I also got a check! I was slowly finding my niche and learning about important business strategies like inventory, pricing, marketing and branding. I was comfortable with this stage of my Knicknaques business. I stayed at Pickers Paradise and had 4 booths at one point.

In October of 2015 I was asked if I would be interested in running the mall once a month in exchange for rent. I not only reduced my rent but also learned more about the ins and outs of running an antique mall. I loved it! A whole day filled with being in an antique mall and being around customers that love the same thing I do.

It was at that point that I realized I wanted my own place and started looking for buildings to either rent or buy. Rent was expensive and would really cut into profit, but what I could afford to buy was a little discouraging, to say the least. I found an old home in downtown Loganville. It was right off Main Street and near all the other antique, thrift and vintage stores.

Location was perfect, the house was not. I loved it though. It was a 1 bedroom, 1 bath home built in the 1900’s and was only $17,000! It had beautiful wood floors and tongue and groove walls. It had a gorgeous mantle in the living room and an old wood stove for heat. Unfortunately, it also had asbestos siding and the kitchen area was literally falling off the side of the house. I talked to the city of Loganville about re-zoning to commercial and got quotes for repairs. The process to rezone was going to be fairly simple but the cost to repair was quickly exceeding $50,000. During my decision to make the purchase, the property was put on the blight list. It was deemed dilapidated, unsafe and unsightly. The owner had 60 days to either renovate the property or have it demolished. All signs pointed to walk away. So I did. Two months later the house was torn down. As sad as it was, it was probably for the best. So I kept looking and found a house to rent in Monroe, next to the post office. It was already commercial and available. It was another home built in the 1900’s, had more than 10 rooms and several fireplaces. But I would have to rely on booth rental income to supplement rent and parking was close to nonexistent, so I moved on.

In December of 2015 I found 707 S. Broad Street in Monroe.

Built in 1920, it had 6 rooms, a full bathroom and a half bath. 4 of the rooms had old non working fireplaces with mantles, which were obviously a huge selling point for me.

There was a cute little screened porch off the side and a detached garage. It was within my budget and most importantly, if I stood on the front porch, I could see the antique mall at Walton Mill and the Cotton Mill was 2 blocks down from there. It was right in the middle of the antique mall area and located on a major highway that ran through town. It was zoned residential and I got friendly with the planning and zoning department for the city of Monroe. They indicated that a rezone to commercial in that area would be beneficial to the city plan and was a fairly simple process. I put a contract on the house and applied for a rezone. If the house couldn’t be re-zoned, then we would just rent it out. It was a win-win situation and so far everything was moving smoothly.

I attended the February Planning and Zoning meeting where my application for rezone was to be discussed. Debbie from the planning and zoning office informed me that my application request was first on the agenda and I would need to speak to the committee. Um, I wasn’t prepared to speak! I went up to the podium and told them who I was and what I wanted to do once the property was rezoned. The city of Monroe is trying to revitalize and grow the antique mall business and fortunately my business venture falls in line with their plans. They approved the rezone and will send their recommendations to the city Council who meets on March 8. One down, one to go. In the meantime, I closed on the house and have the deed in hand. The next two weeks will be spent getting the house ready. Hopefully to run my store, but if the rezone application is denied, it will be ready to rent.

I’ll be back with more of the story after the council meeting. See you soon!

Jayme

Tag: brick and mortar

Knicknaques Vintage Boutique Est. 2016

Knicknaques finds a home