My guest today has one of those origin stories that honestly makes you want to stop asking questions and just listen to it.

Teresa Olson spent her 20s working in a record store, DJing in clubs, earning a speech communications degree, retraining as an interior designer, sitting on the board of the American Society of Interior Designers, endured a stint as a business analyst that she describes generously as having sucked out her soul slowly. And then in 2015, she opened Olson House in Milwaukee. And honestly, she sells the most beautiful things. I'm in Australia. I can't ship them here. But I honestly just go to her website for the eye candy. It is absolutely beautiful. So 10 years, well, 11 years now on the store has survived COVID, her personal health crisis, the tariffs and everything else that has been happening in there. And I think she embodies what it means to be an independent retailer. Welcome to the Bringing Business to Retail podcast, where we dig into understanding what it takes to grow your retail or e-commerce business. And welcome to the show, Teresa.

Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.

I remember when you were telling me how you ended up in retail, I just kept asking questions and asking questions and asking questions because I wanted to know more. So I would love it if you could tell the people who are listening your story of how you ended up in retail. But let's go right back to the beginning.

I really started in retail. Honestly, I worked at a store back in high school called Kmart as my part-time job, which I, you know, don't, they don't exist. I think there might be one left in the world, but I don't know if they were an international, but they were definitely known as like the discount shop before Walmart and Target and all of that. So I worked there as like the checkout supervisor in high school. And I knew that when I went to college the first time, I wanted to work at this record store. And I got that job and I worked the record store while going to college and got a degree in speech communications with a minor in French. And then I got a job working as a business analyst because there aren't a lot of jobs for speech communications. Imagine that. So I did an office job. And as you mentioned, it really, I could feel it sucking the soul out of my life. So it was the quote unquote cube farm of the, you know, late nineties, early two thousands, where it was rows and rows of gray cubicles, solid hunter green cut pile carpeting, an office chair that I threw my back out sitting in because I'd been used to standing and moving around all day. So when I went to a job to sat down, I actually hurt myself sitting in a terrible office chair. So after a while I was like, you know what? I just, I just can't live like this. So I decided to pack up, move out of town and go back to school for interior design all while still working at the record store because they had multiple locations. So that was my part-time job when I picked up and went back to school.

I'm going to cut you in there because two things I've noticed is one, only someone with interior design experience would tell us about the carpet. Did you guys catch that? She talked about the hunter green cut pile carpet. Nobody else would mention that, but I want to go back to the record store because I feel like we are a little bit of kindred spirits. If you had that really cool job in the record store, do you know what my first real job was? I worked in a video shop where I could literally watch movies and eat chocolate. That was my job. Like, do they get any better?

We have the greatest jobs, let me tell you. I don't think those cool jobs even exist anymore.

So tell me, like, how did we go from record store, and I know that you did some DJing in clubs, to speech communication? Because those things feel very out of alignment.

Well, so, you know, I needed to have a major when I was going to college. And speech writing was actually one of my best classes in school. And I am one of those weirdos that likes standing up in front of a crowd and doing a speech. I like that more than small talk, honestly. So it kind of just made sense at the time. I wanted to do interior design. But I was in the age of where my father who worked in like, he was a worked for a hydroelectric plant power plant. And he's like, you need to be an engineer. You could write your ticket as an engineer. You need to be an engineer. And I want to be an interior designer. He's like, that's not a real job. You need to be an engineer. But I did not do either of those. And so I went to a college and it didn't have interior design as a major. So I ended up in speech communications. And that's really, you know, it wasn't an exciting story, but I loved working at the record store. I wanted to own a record label when I graduated or work for a really cool record label. But those started to fade away when iPod came out. So that market shifted. And so that was not the job I was going to take. So I had to get creative and get a job.

The interesting parts of that that I just heard was, one, I have to say, kudos to your dad for back in the... Was this the 90s?

Yes.

So back in the 90s where, you know, girl power wasn't a thing and encouraging his daughter to be an engineer, like again, kindred spirits. I went into arboriculture. I was the only girl wherever I worked. I was the only female in the room. And so it's the same with engineering. I would expect it's a lot different now, but back in the 90s, which is when I was entered the workforce as well, it's quite alienating. So I just have to say kudos to your dad for pushing you into something that he did not necessarily think that there were boundaries for, even if that is not the path that you decided to take.

But the other thing that I just heard, which is something that I really appreciate that you have a skill for, is identifying trends. And again, the fact that you just said, oh, I wanted to own a record label, oh, the iPad. Already back at that young age, identifying what is moving, what's not, what's working. So I just wanted to point those two things out as someone who's standing on the other side of the camera. And so, yes, how did we get to interior design?

So I just always wanted to do it my whole life. And I, after working in an office and doing the corporate job, again, still keeping the record store job on weekends, but I just all of a sudden was like, no, this cannot be my life. And so I picked up and went back to school for interior design. I went to the technical college. They had a great program. And I knew I wanted to design offices after working in the most horribly designed office of all time. So I think that was like, yeah, I'm going to do that. And so I did. And I got an internship and I got a job as an interior designer working for Herman Miller office systems like space planning, corporate offices. So because let's not just start down the bottom or anything. Let's go straight to the top with Herman Miller.

Well, it was a dealership that sold Herman Miller. So it wasn't, you know, I didn't go directly to like Zealand, Michigan or anything.

I know, but you know, what I'm trying to lay the foundation for, for people who are listening and who maybe aren't in the architecture and design world, Herman Miller, beautiful products and let's just say not so cheap. So you were fancy right from the beginning.

I was pretending to be fancy. So, you know, I'm learning because, you know, working at a record store, as you learn how to, you know, live off of $4 an hour. So, you know, it's like, you know, you're learning to be fancy.

I hear a lot of passion here. It's like, I'm prepared to sacrifice for the love of something. And then by the same, on the other hand, though, it's like, I kind of like to surround myself with nice things.

Absolutely. The world is too short to not have beautiful things.

Yes. Life is too short for beige and life is too short for not having beautiful things once in a while. So even, even if it's small and affordable little things.

Which we'll get to because we're not at the store part yet. Okay. So we do interior design, still working at the record shop. There's a big leap to working for somebody to creating your own business. I know for me, it was a moment where I did have the side hustle. I was bringing, I was importing fabrics and I was importing products because they didn't exist in Australia. And the only way I could get them is if I ordered 10 or 20. And so I would be crowdfunding them in parenting forums just so I could get my one. And then I started making enough revenue that I was like, I got this government job over here, which my boss literally said to me one day, the only reason you're here is because the legislation says we have to have you. And that was the moment where I was like, okay, I need to think about my exit plan. And so, but you were doing something that you loved. You were designing, you're in beautiful, surrounded by beautiful products. How do we go from the leap from that to opening your own store?

Well, I had left the record store back in about 2012, yeah, about 2012, I think, because I had been asked to sit on the Wisconsin chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. And I couldn't do being on a board for a society like that, as well as being a full-time interior designer at an architecture firm and working at a record store. So something had to give and sadly, I had to let go of the record store at that point.

And then my father passed away all of a sudden, unexpectedly in 2013. And it really had me rethinking life again and remembering how short it is. And he had always said, you know, as I would be talking about various things that I would do differently in various places I worked, he was like, why don't you just do it for yourself?

And I realized that I really did miss the record store. I miss that interaction that you don't get on government jobs. Great as the design projects that I had were, there's something about that face-to-face quick interaction, but it's also not quick. You get repeat customers and you really develop relationships in a different way.

So I realized that life is really short and I'm going to try this dream of bringing Scandinavian and Nordic design to my little corner of the world and bring in like sustainable materials as well. And just kind of do my own little lifestyle.

Sure. And she's understating this. So you are understating not only how beautiful your products are, but I think also the journey to get there because you didn't just open a catalog and say, I'm going to fill my store with these beautiful things, did you?

Oh no, I had to go to Scandinavia and do my market research.

Yes. So tell us about that because I mean, this is, again, you are making decisions, which it probably in the moment didn't seem so big. But as somebody who is sitting on the other side of the story, you have made a lot of really big decisions and life-changing decisions. And even something like, I'm going to go to another country to look at furniture before I open my store. It is something many retailers don't do. Many retailers literally just open a catalog and say, I'm going to stock these things. So tell us about that journey. First of all, I would love to know what made you think that I'm just going to go there. I'm just going to go to Finland and have a look around.

Well, my dad's side of the family is Norwegian and my mom's side of the family is from Finland. And I really, my grandmother immigrated from Finland, but I knew very little about it. They didn't pass on the language. It was in the generation where when people came to America, they were Americans. They didn't really continue, aside from maybe food, a lot of the like culture, they just decided to become, you know, my grandmother changed her name when she moved here to Betty because she didn't want a Finnish name. So, so it was very, again, that was the fifties probably. So maybe forties, I think so. So it was definitely a different time.

And so I really wasn't connected to what it was like living in Finland and was talking with a friend of mine who was a great business inspiration because she has always owned her own business the whole time. Been friends with her and kind of just bouncing all the ideas that I had and like, you know, talking about the actual, like, you know, feasibility of what I wanted to do. And I was like, and I really want to go and just experience and kind of learn more about the culture and bring the culture back also. Cause I learned all about Scandinavian furniture, of course, working with Herman Miller because they, there was such a huge, like mid-century modern was so Scandinavian design influence. So I've already learned so much about it just from working with Herman Miller for so long and working at an architecture firm. And it was always a passion. I was like, well, I could bring, it's an homage to my family as well as just, you know, like all my passions bringing together. And so I was blown away when I went to Finland, though. It was a different world. And I was like, I need to just bring this lifestyle here, even if it is by beautiful blankets or other, you know, like things for your home. But it's just it was just such an eye-opening, life-changing experience to go to. I went to Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, and Finland was just stuck out as like, wow, this is such an intentional culture.

Is Finland the happiest place in the world?

It was voted for the ninth year in a row, yes.

But you would not know it because they're very stoic.

Really?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

So tell us about that trip. Was it a short trip? Was it a long trip? I'm sitting here. I'm such a logistical person. My brain is going. But even if I like anything here, how am I getting it back to America? Like, you know, the logistics of, we're talking furniture, we're not talking a box of blankets necessarily, because you have beautiful furniture. Did that part ever cross your mind? Like, what if I find beautiful things and I can't get them back?

Well, I was working with brands and meeting brands. So a lot of it was meeting with them, learning about the products. Not buying anything impulsively while I was there was my big lesson was to not until I knew how to convert the euro to the dollar, shipping costs, all of the things I needed to go back and marinate, figure all of those things out. And then I ordered it. And then I learned all about sea freight and customs and all of the logistics that are the least exciting. The bane of my existence has been logistics and getting things from Scandinavia. So that is something I learned after going to that trip.

Oh, we've all been there. This is the stuff nobody teaches you. And it is like sometimes you can like if you're in a situation where you have that network and you did have your business friend. But the reality is I literally remember turning up to the docks with my baby in the backseat of my car to pick up a box and being turned away. And they were like, no, but I've got my little safety vest. And the guy was like, no babies on the docks. I'm like, but she's like a baby baby. Like, it's not like she's getting out and running around. And he's like, no, like go away, come back when there's no baby and you can have the box. And so. I mean, it's a funny story now, but I remember at the time just sitting on the side of the road crying, going, I've had to drive an hour to get here with the baby. Like, take the time out. And nobody told me this stuff. There was nothing on the custom sheet that said, don't bring the baby to the docks.

I know we laugh about it now, but in the moment, it's frustrating. Like having to know the origin of the tree that the furniture was made from. No one told me that when I was opening a cute little Scandinavian design store. So having to figure out all of the genus and species, I would have needed your arbor skills.

Okay, so we've done the trip. We've come back. You've obviously amassed a beautiful collection of things you would like to bring in. Tell us about the opening of the store.

It was slow. You know, it took a while to build the inventory, the marketing, all of the pieces. So it was definitely a slow and steady sort of between 2015 to probably 2018. It was, you know, just very figuring it out as I went along and but also learning or using what I had learned in the record store, which was really bootstrapping and, you know, figuring out things from a small business perspective. So funny enough. Sidebar, there are three of us that left that same record store and now own various furniture stores around the United States and various states. So it's kind of funny.

The person who owned the record store very clearly did a very good job of allowing you to learn. I know that there are some jobs where it's like, just turn up and do what I tell you. But it sounds like you've had a lot of people supporting you along the way, even if it's not in an overt nature. That ability to, it's just like you had, oh, you can learn about this part of the business and this part of the business and, you know, inventory and ordering and POS systems and all those other things where, like, I mean, we had a POS when I worked in the record shop. There's not a lot in horticulture and arboriculture that prepares you for running a business. Especially no retail business.

Yes, it's, yeah, you know, I'm still learning.

We are all still learning. So can I talk to you about when you opened the store? How did you market? Because we're talking 2015, that's 11 years ago now. I sold my stores in 2015 and I just know the difference between where business was at then to where business is at now is so completely different. And I feel like back in 2015, we sound so old, back in 2015, you could put flyers out, you could, I mean, we could post on Facebook and say, I'm excited about this box that just arrived. And all of your followers used to see it.

Oh, the good old days.

Good old days. Yeah, I do regret not investing more in marketing. I think that that's always my number one advice for anyone starting a small new business is invest heavily in marketing because I sort of think it took a lot longer for me to get my name out there as a business because I sort of relied on press releases and getting, you know, an article in the newspaper and things like that. Whereas it was the kind of the early days of Instagram. And I really should have like had someone on staff to really like help me get to the next, because I really, if I had, I invested in social media at that time would have been probably a different game though but it was, I mean, kind of behind the jump on that.

So we can say that because I hear you on that. I remember thinking Instagram's gonna be MySpace. Like it's going to come and it's going to go. And there have been things along the way that I think have very much done that. And we, you know, in hindsight, it's a wonderful thing. But back then, I thought that, like, I just thought Facebook was the place. Because you couldn't have a conversation on Instagram. Like Instagram was just pretty pictures. Obviously, we appreciate things are different now. And same as you, when you have a retail store, I mean, the ability to create content I feel is so much easier because you have so many things, so many beautiful things to actually put out onto social media platforms. But I'm with you. Like I look back and go, why didn't you jump? I mean, I had my Instagram because everyone said, you know, collect your handle, but I didn't post for a very long time because I was just like, this is so MySpacey, like this is going to be gone. This is going to be blockbuster 2.0 marketing.

It's interesting that you say that because I think back to my stores and I, I mean, again, the world was very different when I had my stores in 2007. We didn't have Instagram. We just had meta. A lot of what I did was, you know, the grassroots stuff, the flyers, the A-board, posting in parenting forums, like a lot of, I guess, very time intensive. And I almost feel like social media now gives you that step up. But what I found interesting to what you just said was the part about the press releases. And I have a friend who's an artist and she has been featured in every magazine. She has been, she owns an art gallery and all she says to me is, it looks really pretty. It gets her no business whatsoever. And so it's interesting to hear you say, you know, you were relying on things like press releases. When what I know from the people that I have worked, like I have a lot of friends who are in business who have, I've got another friend who owns a service-based business who has been on, she's on TV every couple of weeks. She now just turns everything down and she's like, it just wastes my time. I get no work out of it.

And so for someone who has so much experience, I would love to hear what you think marketing should look like now?

Oh my gosh, I am the least expert person to ask that question to because I'm still, I feel like every year I'm reevaluating it because what worked yesterday doesn't necessarily work. So I think it's really just having to be agile and figure out what works, and what works for me might not work for someone else because some people social media does work really well. For me, it's a great conversation, but it's not necessarily bringing in sales first. So you just never know, like Google might work for some, you know, Reddit even worked for me for an interior design job. And you just, you know, so I think everyone has different success rates. And so I'm far from an expert for what to do, because I have to kind of like, after each year, I'm reevaluating what I have to do. So I guess be nimble.

I think you're playing this down a little bit because I know something that the listeners don't know, which was in December last year, your online sales went up by 90%. So clearly you did something right. What do you think you did to have such an amazing jump?

Well, I think that it was, I did a lot of Google shopping ads, not Google ads, but the Google shopping ads, which targeted very specifically to what people were looking for, which was some of my brands, as well as some of the vintage that we started carrying, which was a huge pivot last year with tariffs. I'm still getting ludicrous tariff bills, let me tell you. So like more than I were even last year, it's kind of wild how much these are hitting still. So, so we have, you know, we were fortunate enough to be able to pivot and sell, work with someone and to throw a collection that I'm still working through of amazing vintage pieces. And that has definitely not, maybe Milwaukee's a more of a frugal market or maybe just doesn't know some of these brands, but they just get a lot of attention online. So I think that having a Google Shopping vintage targeted ad really, really helped.

Where did the vintage stuff come into it? Because we're talking Scandinavian furniture, which does have that mid-century modern kind of vintage vibe. I love mid-century modern. I just have to say. You skipped over the part about the vintage furniture. Vintage jewelry, sorry.

Yeah, so it's an interesting story that goes back to 2016, actually. So the story goes back a ways. So it's one of those, you never know when you are going to meet people that might affect the rest of your life. And so when you're asked to do an event where you maybe are doing a quick little round table speaking, maybe say yes, is another piece of advice. So I was asked to do, there was this organization here in Milwaukee called Women in Design. So it's women in architecture and interior design. And I was asked to do a Pecha Kucha style presentation on the change I make. I had a, you know, I started mine with an Ikea cash register image and said, I literally make change if someone gives me a 20, you know, trying to be funny. But it's basically a bunch of women talking about how they're making a difference in their corner of the world. Happened to be a woman from the Chicago Architecture Foundation, who was friends with the design curator here at the art museum. And she's like, oh, hey, they're doing a Scandinavian design exhibition in 2020, which at the time seemed very far away. Let me connect you. Turns out that the design curator was one of the coolest people I've ever met in my entire life. I was like, I need to be friends with you. You are so rad. So I was like, and also how can, whatever I can do to help out with this Scandinavian design exhibition. Let me know. I want to assist whatever I can do. Connect whoever, whatever. Like, let me like sponsor, do an event, whatever. I want to be involved because this is so cool that this is happening here. And it's an international traveling exhibition that was supposed to start here. Long story short, the design curator said, hey, how about doing a pop up shop for the Scandinavian design exhibition, which would be three months long pop up shop at an art museum.

Holy crap, that's amazing.

And so that was supposed to have been May of 2020. We all know how that happened. So it really, so it ended up instead of being the kickoff to the international traveling exhibition, it was the last one. So it happened in spring of 2023. So we had, you know, three years to pause. But during that time, she connected me with a couple that have spent their entire lives collecting some of the coolest vintage. Their first date over 50 years ago was antique shopping. Like. They both got married in like beautiful antique outfits that they had found themselves. And they are just a wealth of knowledge of like Art Deco, mid-century modern, just so much cool stuff. Like they are the real deal. And so she's like, hey, you know what? They are downsizing. They're moving from their home to a condo and they might, you know, want to sell some stuff through your shop. Like, let me connect you. And so in 2019, we started selling a few little Scandinavian things. And then, you know, once the tariff thing happened, we were talking much more seriously. It's like, hey, you know, what's not having tariffs? Vintage. And so we started really heavily pushing it. And their collection is just spectacular. And we still have more to go. And so, you know, and we've started doing vintage VIP programs and offering discounts. Like, so you know, the great thing with Klaviyo is you can set up targeted groups of people. So if someone spends a certain dollar amount in vintage, they get thrown into our vintage VIP. So I let them know about things earlier. I let them have a special sale. And that has just been huge. So we just actually Friday did a vintage art show of 17 pieces of vintage art that are like museum caliber art. It's so cool.

And was it a show where you sold?

Yes, we sold four pieces. So.

Oh, that's fantastic. I think that's amazing. By the way, do you remember she just said a minute ago, I'm not great at marketing? And then she's like, oh, VIP show, early access, segmenting my Klaviyo database.

Email is great. So I have, you know, taken time thanks to, you know, the Retail Academy for learning more about the Klaviyo and the segmenting.

So the couple that you're talking about, how, I'm guessing that you took their pieces on consignment or did you buy them?

No consignment.

How good is consignment? The world where someone gives you product to sell and you don't have to pay unless it sells, that is a fantastic world to be in. How did you navigate that journey of, because it's a lot of trust to give somebody your product that they obviously love. You said they're, I mean, collectors are collectors, but it sounds like they're very much enmeshed in that whole vintage art deco world. I can imagine for them the giving over of product to you, there's a lot of attachment there.

Absolutely. And so how did you guys navigate that? You know, it's still a give and take because there have been things where we did a whole big lot last year and there was this gorgeous Art Deco sterling silver and blue topaz ring that I was obsessed with. And I was like, oh, my gosh, this ring is spectacular. I sent a picture and they're like, oh, that wasn't supposed to be in the collection. I need that back. So they took it back. And then two months later, we're like, just kidding. That was an emotional impulse for us to want to keep it. Never mind. Like, here, you can sell that. And then I ended up having to buy it for myself. So it's still something that they can see whenever. But yeah, but it's definitely, there are sometimes emotional attachments, which I 100% understand.

The pivot from vintage, the whole store is not now vintage, is it? You just have the two different arms of the business. Are you finding that the people who come in for the vintage, because you said there's a huge market there for it, and you're also advertising outside of your local area. Are you finding that they also buy things from the other side of the store?

Yes, because we sell, you know, I think that the things that we sell are designed. So whether they're new or vintage, the reason we're selling them is because they're well-designed and really like have a good story. So there's a lot of overlap, especially in the design community of people who appreciate both Scandinavian design, as well as really good quality vintage design. So, so we did, you know, we went through the Scandinavian stuff really early. So we do have a lot of still Danish jewelry. So we're still working through some good cool Danish jewelry. So stay tuned. There's more of that.

Do you think you will pivot away from the, like the furniture and homewares more to the vintage jewelry, or can you see that there is a world where they both work?

Well, I think they both work. The furniture I've pivoted away from because the cost for shipping is more than the cost of the goods. And it just like, I mean, I haven't really, I mean, I think I've sold maybe two chairs in the last 12 months because it's just at least from Scandinavian stuff. And I, and I hate to say it, but it's just, as you know, for me being so small without the warehousing space, it just bringing in the small quantities has just been too difficult at this time. I'd love to change that, but I, you know, I just have a small space and it's just not like I can sell 20 blankets in the amount of time I can sell two chairs. So I realized where I need to focus my space is on the smaller goods, which I sell, you know, lots of blankets. So I think that we'll never stop selling blankets.

So how did you wrestle with that? Because I know that you love furniture. And so what can happen quite, what I see quite often happen is people get attached to a product or a type of product at the expense of something that is actually making them money. Is that something that you wrestled with?

Oh, yeah. Well, I had to sit down and look at the reports and what are my number one sellers are the small goods brands and now vintage. So the furniture just isn't, you know, moving the dollar amounts that they were. And then if, you know, I get hit with a tariff bill that wasn't figured into the cost because sometimes they're not coming until, you know, three to four weeks after I've already like sold the merchandise. And then I'm stuck with a bill I wasn't expecting. Like my margin could be nothing. So I've been learning some hard lessons with that. And I just had, you know, sometimes what is that Disney song? You just have to let it go.

Is sitting down with the numbers something that you do a lot?

I try. I'm not as good as I need to be, but I'm definitely looking at what's selling and maybe, you know, and how much money am I bringing in and how much money do I have to spend? So that's good. That's good.

And what do you see right now in terms of consumer spending? It's kind of like the tariff scenario all over again. There are external economic factors that are completely out of our control, but there are things we can control. So I would love to hear what you're seeing already in terms of spending because fuel has gone up like 30%, cost of living, interest rates are going up around the world. What are you seeing and what is still selling?

Well, I think that if we had had this art show this time last year, we would have sold more than four pieces because I think that it's hard for people to commit to buying valuable artworks and things that are a little bit more expensive, at least in my area. So people are tightening their belts on us. I mean, I think that there's just so much uncertainty that's going to have to be nimble and creative again. And we'll just keep figuring it out as we go. But that's really all we can do is just, you know, we are so, to throw another curveball, they decided to tear up the street that my shop is on and have no parking from February 2nd until December. So basically the entire year I'll have no parking and also no like it's, you know, it's just a kind of a mess of construction. So some days I won't have a sidewalk. So there's definitely going to be a lot of difficulty. We had people, you know, a woman with a cane, like luckily I have a neighbor who because there's residences above us. So the tenants get the parking spaces in the back of the building in our little alley. Well, luckily, one of them somehow saw one of my customers with a cane and let him park or let her park in his parking space so she could come in through the back door of my store. So otherwise they would have, they drove from out of town and they wouldn't have had a place to get in. So it was just kind of trying to be creative. So what I'm doing next month, they're getting the first year of it. I'm going to do dance party discounts. So if you come in, we did a video on Instagram of just us dancing while everyone's like, what are you doing with the real construction? And we did a video of us just dancing in the store. So if you come in and you dance with us, you get a discount. So we're getting clever.

I hope you're being compensated for this.

Yeah, I don't know. Okay. So it's certainly something I would be talking about. But I mean, that has a huge impact. So you just mentioned, I love the fact that you have, oh, we'll do the dance party thing. But how are you communicating to those locals, like the locals, that you're still open for business? And how are you navigating the fact that some people just won't want to go through a construction zone to get what they want? Are they shopping more online?

Right now, the neighborhood, it will be definitely weather dependent. So when it's nice out, people, it's a walking neighborhood. So luckily I'm surrounded, there's five coffee shops in four blocks, there's restaurants, there's other, there's another, there's a children's boutique right on the same building as me so there are other things that get people out. So right now we're top of mind, I'm kind of worried in a couple of months once like you know it's summertime and school is out and people are just they've forgotten that we're sitting here on you know our little street like with no parking and big earth movers and you know drills and things like that so we'll see what happens.

But, you know, I've offered, I put on all my emails and I have mentioned on social media that honestly, if you want to do an online order for in-store pickup and you can't find a place to park, we'll run it out to your car. So we'll just run it like we'll just help you get it. If you're down the block, we'll just run it out to you.

I love the ghetto nature of that. That is something when I because I worked with in baby products, the amount of times where I would just say to people, just call me and they would call and I would run the EFTPOS machine out to the car with the goods because the baby was asleep in the back.

Exactly. So, so yeah, so we'll just run down the street a ways and that's fine. So even if it's a couple of blocks, if hopefully it's not too terribly raining out. And let's be honest, not happening for you at Target. Like, yes, you might be able to do curbside delivery, but the reality is that's not, it's completely different and it's, it's independent retailers taking a concept and taking it to the next level. So with that, I would like to ask you, what does your next level look like?

Can I say to be continued? Because I right now have a lot of ideas marinating and I haven't gotten them to a point where I'm ready to talk about them, if that makes sense. I have, you know, there's I'm working on some things and we'll see.

If people would like to go and see and keep abreast of all these new things that are happening, where can they find you?

You can find us on Instagram and Facebook, as well as our website. Olson-house.com would be the easiest place. That's where we have our entire inventory on there. And then you can sign up for our email list. And that's where I try to give the most information is through our email list. And even if you are not in the market for beautiful vintage jewelry or Scandinavia inspired homewares, I would say just go there and have a look because I think the website has loads of beautiful things.

Teresa. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. And I am going to sit on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what is the next level for Teresa and Olson House.

Thank you so much. This was a great time. Thank you. It was nice chatting.

So that's a wrap. I'd love to hear what insight you've gotten from this episode and how you're going to put it into action. If you're a social kind of person, follow me at TheSalenaKnight and make sure to leave a comment and let me know. And if this episode made you think a little bit differently or gave you some inspiration or perhaps gave you the kick that you needed to take action, then please take a couple of minutes to leave me a review on your platform of choice. Because the more reviews the show gets, the more independent retail and e-commerce stores just like yours, that we can help to scale. And when that happens, it's a win for you, a win for your community, and a win for your customers.

Teresa Olson’s path to retail is anything but conventional. From record stores and DJ booths to interior design and finally opening Olson House, this episode is a masterclass in building a business around beauty, resilience, and strategic pivots. We talk tariffs, vintage inventory, local retail, Google Shopping ads, and what it really takes to survive as an independent store owner.

You can explore her store online at Olson House.