Making A Nontraditional Retail Pivot with Stacey Pecor - podcast episode cover

Making A Nontraditional Retail Pivot with Stacey Pecor

Nov 03, 202437 minEp. 125
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Episode description

What if the key to thriving during tough times was simply reimagining your business? 

Join me as I chat with Stacey Pecor of Olive & Bette’s, a powerhouse retailer who did just that. 

One of the things I love most about Stacey is her superpower for innovation. She’s always thinking ahead, taking smart risks, and knowing exactly when to pivot. In this episode, she’s pulling back the curtain on her decision-making process, showing us the inspiration behind her bold moves to reinvent her business. 

And here’s the best part—it’s like a mini masterclass on social media! Stacey shares the tools she uses, what she’s watching in her metrics, and her approach to captions and advertising. 

It’s all here, and it’s working. With over 10,000 followers, Stacey is actively selling through her social channels and connecting with her audience every day. Let’s dive into her story!

[05:32] The major pivot Stacey made in her business

[11:58] The new concept store in Greenwich

[14:52] Stacey's advice on listening to your gut

[16:38] What the biggest hurdle in the transition was

[22:55] The strategies behind her social media impact

[26:08] What type of content is working best right now

[28:32] Why Instagram wants creators to use trending media

[33:34] Stacey's resilience round


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Join the Rooted in Retail Facebook Group to continue the conversation

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Show off your super fandom by getting your Rooted in Retail Merch!

Transcript

Making a Nontraditional Retail Pivot with Stacey Pecor

Crystal Vilkaitis

Today's episode is an inspiring story of how a very successful retailer pivoted during challenging times and what she did to really re imagine her business. Today, I'm joined with the owner of Olive And Bette's, Stacey Pecor. I just really love this woman, she is a powerhouse business owner. And something I think that is Stacy's superpower is being more innovative and forward thinking and not afraid to take some risks and pivot when needed.

And, uh, she's breaking it down in this episode today, really pulling back the curtain on her decision making formula or framework, like what made her really re imagine her business and how she decided to move forward. I love this story. Now this episode, you know, you could tell Stacey invests in herself in business classes, in social media training, and she's bringing that education to you here today. So that is such a gift for our listeners. I'm really grateful for Stacey.

I also feel like this is sort of a a mini masterclass in social media. You get to hear how Stacy is using social, like she's tactical today. She shares the tool she uses, what she's looking for with her metrics, she talks about the captions, she talks about advertising. It's a mini masterclass and it is working. She's selling through her social media. She has over 10,000 followers. You've got to go check her out on Instagram.

She's Olive and Betty's NYC, which of course we will also link to in the show notes, but you are going to love this conversation with Stacy. So let's dive in. Welcome to Rooted in Retail. I'm your host, Crystal Vilkaitis. Here, we have engaging and informative conversations with successful indie retailers and industry experts. Together, we learn, connect, and grow. Don't miss our live after the show every Tuesday night in the Rooted in Retail Facebook group. Alright, here's today's episode.

Stacey, welcome to Rooted in Retail. I'm thrilled you're here.

Stacey Pecor

I'm so happy to be here, Crystal. Thank you for asking.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yes, so we get to be in person. We're here in NY Now if you sell gifts, check out their market. You could check them out online as well, nynow. com. Stacey, before we dive in, share a little bit about you and your retail journey. That's a big question. Yeah, so I grew up in Burlington, Vermont and my mother owned a Papa Gallo shoe store and she would take me on buying trips to New York and come to trade shows like this. Love it. And I fell in love with the city and sort of the glamor of retail.

Yeah, and so when I graduated from college, I came directly to New York City. I worked for a textile company who sold fabrics to manufacturers. And I met a girl around my age, 20 something, and she owned a sachet company called Touch of Ivy. And I said I had this idea to put scarves in a tissue box. And the next day she sent me a form to fill out to start my own business. Wow.

Stacey Pecor

You know, as luck had it, I put these scarves in a tissue box and sold them to stores for holiday. And I sold them to Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus and Barney's and then sort of my wholesale retail journey began. Yeah, and I had a friend in Burlington, Vermont who was like, would you open a store with me? I was like, okay. So we opened a store in this old wool and mill. Oh cool.

And I opened across this hall from my mother and Sean and I wanted to pick two girls names and we didn't love Stacy and Sean. So we picked Olive Oil and Betty Boop. Love it. And we spelled Bette like Bette Davis, and we did that because at that time there was a brand new snowboarding company starting called Burton Snowboards. And they had an all female team called Team Bette. Oh, and they spelled it like Bette Davis. Okay, and So we opened in Burlington, Vermont. I was living in New York City.

And two weeks into opening the store, my partner was like, I hate this. Oh boy. I was like, what? She's like, I hate the weekends, I hate the nights. She's like, I'm out. And I was like, you can't be out. I live in New York City. Yeah. So, and we had a bank loan. I was like, we owe the bank $50,000. What are we doing? Yeah. So, I moved home. I'm like, "Hi mom, hi dad, this is what you want. You're 20 something back in your house and I need money."

Yes, so That's how I ended up running Olive and Betty's. My wholesale sort of dwindled because I focused on the retail.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Sure.

Stacey Pecor

I was married at the time. My husband got a job in the city and I opened on the Upper West Side.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Okay, and did you move that store from Vermont?

Stacey Pecor

Yes.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Okay, yeah.

Stacey Pecor

Okay. So, yeah, we opened on the Upper West Side on Columbus Avenue. That sort of started.

The major pivot Stacey made in her business

Crystal Vilkaitis

That's kind of your journey. And then we'll get more in because we've had some transitions here, which I want to talk about because you've made a significant pivot in your business. And so will you share what you did?

Stacey Pecor

Yes, so I had four stores in Manhattan and really our little store that we started on Columbus Avenue set up a business model for us because that store was only 300 square feet, okay. So we had a warehouse space right around the corner from it and what would happen was we would deliver Merchandise to the warehouse in the morning UPS would come in. We'd tag it, steam it, hang it, and then bring it to the store, and the store would sell it. And every morning it was a cycle.

Wow. And what it did, was it created within the community of the Upper West Side, they knew they had to come every day. Because there was new product, and if they didn't buy it that day, it would be gone.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah. Oh, smart.

Stacey Pecor

I didn't think about it.

Crystal Vilkaitis

You're like, I'm 300 square feet, what am I going to do?

Stacey Pecor

Like, yeah. Yeah. And so we knew that we had to buy to extinction. I mean, the basics we would keep in stock like an A. G. jean, but all the rest, the fluff and the new stuff and the exciting stuff would come in and go out and we really got to know our clients because they were in and out. They would walk their dogs by, we knew what was in their closet, where their kids were going to school and it was a real community. Yeah. So we thought, where can we do this again?

And we opened on the upper east side on Madison Avenue. And then we opened in Soho. Then we opened on Bleaker Street. And everyone always used to say to me, like, "Why are you only in New York? You need to go outside the city." And I was like, "I want to be like Fred Siegel. I want you to land on your plane and come directly to us because only in New York can you get Olive and Bette."

And we really built a brand like people knew us outside New York, and we wanted to be New York City's neighborhood store.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, love it.

Stacey Pecor

And then COVID hit.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yep and not in New York City.

Stacey Pecor

I mean, I was closed overnight. And we had four stores, we had a warehouse, we had, you know, our offices, we had a lot of employees. And we were done. Yeah, you know it we were just we were closed. The governor said, if you have employees what you have to do really fast is you've got to furlough them because as fast as you furlough them they can get unemployment, okay. So, I furloughed all of my employees but Anthony, who's been with me 25 years.

Who does all my financial things, and I thought, "the two of us are going to have to navigate this." Right. And we have four stores worth of inventory, and what are we going to do? So, that was on a Friday, and on Saturday I had a little pity party for myself.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Uh huh. Yes.

Stacey Pecor

Sunday I called my manager from Madison Avenue and said, "Are you ready for a wild ride? Cause we have four stores worth of inventory and we have to sell it."

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yes.

Stacey Pecor

So, at the time, I had just gotten divorced, I had just sold my house. I was in a little cottage, temporarily to get my son through high school, and I was like, "Let's go." So we started selling on Facebook and Instagram, setting up virtual appointments. We did not have a website. Okay, and we just sort of put our heads down and went for it. And then the city council said, if you've signed personally on any of your leases, you have until September 1st to renegotiate out of these.

And I was like, I'm on six leases, personally. I can't see a way forward. I just couldn't, like none of my employees wanted to commute into the city on the subway. Yeah, and we still weren't allowed to do business. Yeah, we were a non essential business. So I was like, I just have to take this opportunity and negotiate out of these leases. I was in good standing with all my landlords. I've been in most of those buildings 25 years.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Wow.

Stacey Pecor

And they were so cool. They kept saying, well, you can stay. Like, you don't have to pay rent. And I was like, I can't stay. I need fresh inventory. I just could not, for the life of me, see a way out. So I negotiated out of the leases. Janie and I sold through the summer from the cottage. Okay. We couldn't see New York city opening. Like there was no, still no action. So we said, let's look at our 17, 000 clients in our database and let's figure out what the next move is.

And we looked and we were like, "okay, Greenwich, Connecticut is open. Like there's outside dining. Tiffany's is open. Hermes is open. Like that's our clients. How about we pop up in Greenwich, Connecticut?" P. S. Neither one of us had ever been to Greenwich. Wow. So we're like, okay, we found a lease. I remember sitting like having dinner and I was like, "I don't know if I can do this." And my boyfriend's like, "Your client is here, just try it." So I went, I had never seen my apartment.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Oh my goodness.

Stacey Pecor

Straight there. We opened, we popped up and we've been there for years.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Wow.

Stacey Pecor

So, and we started online site to sell merchandise to.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Okay, so you really made that decision to go to Connecticut purely based on where majority of our customers and what's open.

Stacey Pecor

Okay, yes. And there, I couldn't see at that point when New York was going to open. Who knew?

Crystal Vilkaitis

And when it was going to be, what would it be like? You know, that was a big question mark.

Stacey Pecor

And like, even in Soho, there was looting, and we were trying to board up our location so they didn't steal the merchandise, like I just couldn't see a path forward for us.

The new store in Greenwich

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah. Well, so you forged a new path. Yes and it sounds like it's going really well. And so tell us about this store now.

Stacey Pecor

So we were in a traditional retail location on Greenwich Avenue. And Greenwich Avenue, if you don't know Greenwich Avenue, is similar to Madison Avenue. Very, very, very high end. And business was fine and it was getting ready to re sign my lease and I had been driving by this old car dealership for four years and I kept asking my broker, I was like, "I want to be in the dealership, I want to be in the dealership, I don't want to do traditional retail." I'm like sick of it.

Like, honestly, I was just tired of it. And I said, he kept saying, "No, you don't want to be there. You don't want to be there." And he kept showing me these spaces on Greenwich Avenue. And I was like, I really don't want to spend $20,000 to $30,000 a month and be under that constraint, again, of having to do three million dollars just to pay my landlord.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Exactly.

Stacey Pecor

So, I looked at one space, and the landlord then came to look at my store. And he said to my broker, "well, if she's going into my space I want it to look fancier. I want her to look like," and he gave me the name of a store that I was supposed to look at, to copy. And I went to look at the store, and they had the traditional retail fixtures, and the traditional retail floor, and the traditional track lighting.

And I was like, "you're kidding," like this, sorry, old man is going to tell me how to do retail after I've been doing this for almost 30 years. Like this is not going to happen. So I went to the Honda car dealership. I called the number. I was like, I'm not going to deal with these old men. Yeah, I'm gonna do it my way. Yes, and he pissed me off enough. That I took a tour of the car dealership and I was like, it's run down and it's a little It was perfect.

Like I'm gonna do this and my broker I overheard him saying like, "I told her this is a terrible idea. This is gonna be the worst." And I made the deal for the space and we haven't looked back. Actually, that landlord that told me to change went in and shopped with us and said, "I made a mistake."

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, he did. He did. And thank goodness you listened to your gut. I mean, you knew you had a vision, you found the place and it's working so well. So how, if somebody is listening to this, I mean, you really did have to listen to your gut and that takes a lot of courage and you also were kind of pissed off.

Stacey's advice on listening to your gut

So that probably helped, but what advice would you have to somebody listening? That is maybe in that a situation like that, where they really got to listen to themselves and have that courage.

Stacey Pecor

I think that the more I really leaned into taking some business classes and surrounded myself with other entrepreneurs that were taking chances. So I signed up for a class at Wharton. And they have an executive training program. Well, no, an executive like MBA program. And I took one class out of their executive MBA training program. And I was listening to people all over the world doing these incredible things. And I thought like, a lot of them are young and tech startups.

And I was like, they're just going to go for it. Yeah. Like, why am I sitting back in my retail store when I don't want to do traditional retail? When these people surrounding me are willing to take a chance?

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, so you had some massive inspiration.

Stacey Pecor

Total inspiration. And I had these incredible professors from all over the world. Around the world like I mean they were Wharton professors, but they were working within their industry. So one would be from the Silicon Valley, one would be actually sitting at UPenn teaching students. And you know when you think of these MBA programs, and who comes out of them. Yeah, certainly at Wharton like you have Warby Parker, and you've just got these incredible.

It's incredible stories where they've just taken a chance.

What the biggest hurdle in the transition was

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, so you took a chance. I love it, it's so cool. All right. So what was one of the hardest parts of that transition for you?

Stacey Pecor

The hardest part of the transition was really, and I know this sounds ridiculous, and everyone tells you to do it. I really pushed back, was developing my avatar. And understanding who she was and it took a lot of work. You think you know exactly who she is. But you have to be able to close your eyes and see her. And when you see her might not be who that customer is, it might be she's aspirational for that customer.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, very true.

Stacey Pecor

So we would put like, once we started doing Instagram and Facebook ads, we would put the avatar up in what we were selling and then put pictures of our clients up so that we could understand. That maybe our client is 40 plus. Yeah, but the avatar that we're using is 30 and how you meld those things so that you understand that every single thing that you're buying for her and how you're showing it to her is who she is.

Yes. People whip it off like, "Oh, she's well traveled and she's educated and she's this and she's that." But you have to live and breathe her before you can honestly take a chance and feel in your gut. You know what? I know her inside and out. Yeah. I love that

Crystal Vilkaitis

that's actually your answer. That wasn't at all what I was thinking it would be. But I love it because I think that a lot of retailers will, "Oh, I know who my person is. I know who my avatar is." We call them our PCGs, perfect customer groups. But there might be a misconnect that something's not happening. Why are sales down? And they're not seeing who that true person is that they want to be serving or are serving because they can sometimes be very different people.

Yes. And so they won't often take some of that time to step back and make sure that they're really targeting the right people. And then, like you said, the content on your ads and in social has to connect back to the person that you're trying to work with. Like they have to see themselves in that content. And if you're developing content for a totally different person, you're going to, you're going to miss it. So you did the hard work and getting, yeah, yeah. I love it. That's awesome.

Okay, so now were there any questions when you, any moments that you questioned this decision like kind of a, "Oh shit, what did I do time?" Or was it pretty like, "Oh, things are aligned. Things are moving."

Stacey Pecor

I think often. I think every day we're like, we've really embraced fail fast. Okay, like go out there and try it. And if it doesn't work, get out. Yes, and don't make the mistake of hanging on too long because your client is honestly telling you every single day, whether she's opting in or opting out.

Yep, and you have to try like especially if you're gonna go online and you're gonna do Instagram and Facebook ads because it's a lot of money yeah, and you've got to fail fast like we'll throw up an ad and if it's not working, it's coming down and there's another one going up like and don't get your ego Caught in it. in it.

You know, especially, I mean, I've been buying for 30 years and we've totally changed our assortment to, I say emerging designers, designers who haven't yet found their way through the United States and representation. In that, you have to fail really fast at because you're bringing in new designers and it isa struggle for independent retailers because you're putting down a 30 percent deposit when you write the orders. Okay. So you have to be able to say, this one worked and now I'm out.

Yeah. And this one worked and now they're being representative in the United States. So. Where are we getting the next one? Yeah, yeah, you've got to be agile. You have to be, yeah, yeah. Really agile, and I'm not scared to fluff that up with my American designers that I'm always in stock in, whether it's AG or Perfect White T. Okay. But putting the new designers from Columbia and Greece, and this designer's from London.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yes, yeah, you're bringing in, I love your Instagram. Like, it's just so fun to see everything that you have in store because it is unique. It's not what you see. It's so like, just different and fashionable and just like I hope our listeners go follow you. Man, you've got great style too. Like, I just feel like, are you traveling to these places to find these?

Stacey Pecor

Yeah, yeah. I am trying to travel to as many places I can. And actually I really like to go there first. Like we went to Mexico City first and shop all the stores. Okay, and then try everything on. I did the same with Columbia go into the stores and when you get out of the US to some of these countries, they love their concept stores. Okay, and not every local street looks the same and you're seeing new brands.

But especially with the, well, Greece had its moment and now all those Greek designers have representation in the U.S. Then Columbia had its moment and now they're representative in the U.S. So it's always a little heartbreaking when you're like, oh yeah.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah. But like you said, ego is. You know, you're moving on with that. You're not getting romantic about the fact that that happened or the ad didn't work or whatever it is. Like you've just got to, you've got to be agile. Such good advice. That's so good, stacey. Oh my goodness. Well, so speaking of social media, you're doing a great job.

Stacey Pecor

Thank you.

The strategies behind her social media impact

Crystal Vilkaitis

What's working for you?

Stacey Pecor

Well, again, surround yourself, take as many classes as you can if that's something that interests you because social media is a big time drain. I mean, you know, you're constantly looking for content and if you're going to post a reel or any content for that matter, you're committing to like two or three hours of your time. I worked with Merchant Mastery. Do you know that?

Crystal Vilkaitis

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Stacey Pecor

Okay. So Merchant Mastery was sort of my first toe into Facebook and Instagram advertising. And I really leaned deep into them for about six to nine months. Okay, and once I got to a point where my ROAS on my Instagram and Facebook was hitting two to three consistently. Yeah, I was like, okay now what lever am I pushing next actually to bring in my sales? And I work with Retail Orbits and Dan Holman is my planner.

Awesome. And I said to him, I think I'm gonna go into a little social media and really push. I said, but it feels weird to have me as the face of the social media and he's like, "I want you to rethink this. When you were in New York City and you are on your sales floor. You are working with your community constantly and you were the face and you were talking to her directly. This isn't about you. This is about the brand.

You're representative of the brand and you need to develop your community online. So I was like, "okay, I'm going to think about that." And there's a bunch of people online who teach online classes. And again, I went on there. There's a woman called Professional Traveler. She's got a beautiful site. I mean, beautiful. So I started there and kind of felt like that wasn't like she was so aesthetic. And I was trying to buy the right camera and I was trying to do my editing.

And I was like, "okay, this doesn't quite feel perfect, but I love what she has given me. Where am I going to find my next person?" And so there was a woman called Caroline Flett. I recommend everyone look at her. And she just sort of talked to me and every two weeks she does sort of like a Zoom and so you can get on with other content creators and hear the struggles they're having. So you don't feel like you're alone.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, exactly.

Stacey Pecor

Because the algorithm is changing all the time.

Crystal Vilkaitis

All the time.

Stacey Pecor

And one month you're getting 4,000 views and the next month you're getting 1,000. Yeah so at least you're on with a community of other people that are going through the same thing as yeah.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, awesome. Okay so you've got some good support. You had a good pep talk from Dan. Yeah, I love that he said that because it is true. This is still your community. They're online. They're on Instagram. So it feels not as connected because you're not in person, but they want to see you. They're probably so happy to see you.

Stacey Pecor

And we try to go live once a week and talk good to them.

What type of content is working best right now

Crystal Vilkaitis

Awesome. What do you feel like from a type of content is working well? Lives, photos, reels, all of it?

Stacey Pecor

Reels are definitely number one. Okay, and you know, we're data driven. So I'm looking at the statistics on what is working and what isn't working and for you you, have to decide. Like for us, maybe watches aren't the most important thing. We're looking for interaction and engagement. So we're hoping that every reel that we post has like a hundred and fifty comments, likes, shares. Okay, and once it drops to below that, we're trying to figure out what content is resonating with them.

But still saying, because a lot of times it's not the fashion content that's resonating. They want to hear the story. They want to hear the behind the scenes. And you're thinking to yourself, again, putting your ego in it. Like, really? They want to hear this? And I'm saying, okay, well, we'll give them one of those every week. We'll do some fashion. And just watching what your customer is saying to you constantly.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, yeah. You're listening. You've got to be listening. It's not about like just me, me, me, I'm posting, posting, posting. Like you're really listening and understanding. And that's why it's working well. Like I see it, I see your engagement. You're getting good engagement. You have great content. You got to listen.

Stacey Pecor

And like I said, if you think, "Oh, there's so many content creators out there. This is going to be easy." It is not. Like it takes a couple hours and I'm learning every day. I've only really been at this three months. We've grown our following to just over 10, 000 and it's work.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, it is. Do you use anything like CapCut or like an app that helps with some of the reels?

Stacey Pecor

And yeah, I use Splice.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Okay, Splice.

Stacey Pecor

Yep, I know everyone uses CapCut. Splice is easier for me. Okay and looking at what Meta's pushing out there all the time. Number one, I have a Meta rep, which is really important. And I meet with my Meta reps like every week. Okay, now that's more on the paid advertising side, but you're still trying to pull out any information you can from them.

Why Instagram wants creators to use trending media

Yeah. For like the organic reach. And I use CapCut, but the thing that I'm finding works the best, and you can hit it or not hit it, is using the templates within Instagram, okay? Okay, so Instagram wants you to use their templates. Yeah they want you to use trending media. Yep. So, like I said, Caroline Flett, she sends out trending media for the week. It might not match your content, but you have to use the trending media.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah. Well, and I feel like there's often a way that you can tweak it to match for you, right? Like even if there's a trending audio or song and you just pair that with some pictures of new arrivals or a video that you do in store, right? Like there are ways that you can totally tweak it and then sometimes it's like, "Oh, this trend is so perfect for what I do," but you've got to be listening.

You've got to be paying attention and then acting on it quick because those trends can last a couple of days and then they're done. So leverage.

Stacey Pecor

Her trending audio usually has under 2000, like uses, okay, but those uses might be in the millions. So yeah, I think that trending music fast like you said, and you're out. Yeah, and I like you honestly have to do your research. Like I'm on Instagram reels, I try to do it every morning for a half an hour, 45 minutes. Just to go through content within your space. Yeah, and really following people and engaging with people within your niche. I don't do enough of that.

They're saying you should be reaching out to 20 people a day. I just haven't done that yet.

Crystal Vilkaitis

That is hard. That is definitely hard. But I love that you're blocking in the morning to at least be a part of that conversation. Again, you're listening, you're researching to keep up. And it's a matter of just scheduling that time and creating the schedule around doing it. And I think that can be the hard part. Sometimes we won't make social priority.

But it can be one of the best ways for you to connect, and sometimes free, I'm all about ads too, ads are gonna, that's gonna be fast track, it's gonna really help you get there. You've got to pay attention to this organic content and see what's working. And then when you find that organic piece, you can also then advertise it and yes, then it's extra like you're amplifying that so.

Stacey Pecor

All your content, you're gonna try to use three times. Just like you said, I'm gonna use it in my email marketing. I'm gonna use it in my Instagram. And then I'm gonna try it in my paid advertising And making sure that when you're creating the content, it's the captions below that you really want to focus on. Because what Instagram right now is looking at is, say you're posting a 10 second reel. They're looking to make sure that your readers are staying on for 10 seconds.

Yeah, and usually they're not. Like if I post a longer one, they're staying half the time. So you need them to get into the captions below. Comment, share, like, and stay in your content.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yep. And you're right. The captions, they're reading. You have a call to action to get them to engage like you're working at this. Yes, yes. And testing. But it is worth it. I mean, and I'm assuming you're seeing traffic and you're selling through and yeah.

Stacey Pecor

And I also want to make sure everyone is. Like you think you're out there on your own throwing out this content and then someone comes in the store and she's like, "Oh my gosh, you were talking about Scandi designers. Like we want to plan a trip to Scandinavia." So then they're coming in the store again, and you're building your community.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yep, exactly. And you're like, "Oh, you watch that? Like, you listen to it?" Why didn't anyone, like, cause I'm on there on the live. Like, someone comment, please. But they're watching. Yeah they're paying attention. I love it. So what does the future of Olive and Bette look like?

Stacey Pecor

Oof, I don't know. I mean, I love the non traditional. I want to keep learning every day, so I don't know. This social media piece is a huge piece and a huge learning piece for us. I mean, I'd like to be on TikTok. My daughter's like, you have to be on TikTok.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yes. So you would do great, yeah.

Stacey Pecor

So that is definitely in the list of things to do. , I wanna go check out the Scandinavian designers. I want to go check out Japanese designers. What I'd like to do, I just got back from Tanzania and it's really taken me a second to like, get back into it. It was a big trip and it was definitely being up close with Mother Nature. Yeah, so I've taken a little break to like absorb everything. Yeah. But my next trip is Paris fashion week.

And then I think we're going to go on to Greece to try to find some new Greek designers.

Stacey's resilience round

Crystal Vilkaitis

Awesome. Oh, Stacy, if you're hiring, can I do podcasts on the road with you? So good. All right. Are you ready for the resilience round?

Best business book

Okay. Best business book?

Stacey Pecor

I was thinking Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, that's a good one.

Best retail technology

Best retail technology, like an app or software?

Stacey Pecor

I mean, I love Spice and I love Retail Orbits to help my inventory.

How do you keep up with the ever changing retail landscape?

Okay. How do you keep up with the ever changing retail landscape?

Crystal Vilkaitis

Lots of blogs, lots of, not magazines, traditional magazines, but email magazines. But I do love my blogs.

What's a social media foundational best practice?

Yeah. Yeah, to help retailers be stronger, more rooted in success, what's a social media foundational best practice?

Stacey Pecor

Post, post, post, post. I mean, that's the best way you're going to learn, you're going to make mistakes, but you have to do it.

If you had to start your business over, what's one thing you'd do differently?

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, so true. If you had to start your business all over again, what's one thing you'd do differently?

Stacey Pecor

I was thinking about this. If I was starting it today. I mean, it's so different. I don't think that I would do traditional retail. People don't graduate from college right now and say, I want to be in retail. I think I would really focus on going to one of the top business schools, raising outside funding and doing something in fashion tech because that's where people want to be.

What do you think the future of independent retail looks like?

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, yeah. You need smart people around you to build a team. Yeah, so true. It's awesome. Finally, what do you think the future of independent retail looks like?

Stacey Pecor

Well, Fred Segal just went out of business. I think unless we change, like it is not retail as usual. It is bleak, the department stores are just so sad. Yeah. I don't see a lot of innovation in the independent space either. You know, I was thinking about it today when I went and got my Starbucks. I just took a walk up and down Greenwich Avenue and there's very little independent retail left and what is looks like everyone else.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Yeah, yeah, that's a bummer. We need some innovation.

Stacey Pecor

Yeah, we definitely need innovation and it's a big number to get into any sort of business now. So it makes it harder to take a chance.

Crystal Vilkaitis

That's true. You know when I started there were little designers all over the place. Yeah, those aren't around anymore. Yeah, fortunately. Well, yeah, it's very true. How can people connect with you and learn more?

Stacey Pecor

Yeah, definitely Instagram. We're at Olive and Betty's NYC, or you can reach out to us on our website, oliveandbettes.com.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Awesome. Stacey, this was such a good conversation.

Stacey Pecor

Thank you for having me.

Crystal Vilkaitis

Thank you. Awesome, I love it.

Stacey Pecor

Made me think of a lot of things.

Crystal Vilkaitis

I know, I know. I had all my notes. Yes, you did so good. We packed it a lot, that's for sure. Thank you. It was so good. Yeah. Everyone remember that I'm rooting for your success. Have a great week ahead. Bye. Thank you so much for being here. It means the world to me. Don't forget to join the rise and shine newsletter, which is social media news. You need to know sent via email every Monday morning, go to crystal media, co.

com slash rise to join and don't miss the newest episode of rooted in retail, which drops every Sunday morning.

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