TJ’s Christian Bookstore, Joyce Barbatti, Owner

TJ's Christian Bookstore, in Cedar Falls, IA, is the leading Christian bookstore serving Black Hawk, Bremer, Grundy, Butler, Tama and Buchanan counties and surrounding areas. We offer greeting cards, tote bags, journals, wedding and baptism gifts, bibles and bible covers, home decor, Christian books and jewelry, kitchen items, wind chimes, infusers, candles, essential oils and much more. For more information, visit TJ's Christian Bookstore in Cedar Falls.

HM:  Who is your customer target audience, the ideal customer you are reaching out to?

JB:  Probably it’s going to be the churches, although with all the churches being shut down and everything, it hasn’t gotten up and running as well as we would have like it to be.  And, I would say, people who are already strong in their faith, but also people who are searching.  We’ve seen a lot of young people come into the store and a lot of families in the store too.  There’s not really one particular age group.  I would have expected it to be maybe the older demographic, but that really hasn’t been the case.  It’s been pretty much all across the board.

HM:  What would you say was the greatest impact that COVID-19 has had on your business?

JB:  The store was closed for six weeks.  I furloughed all of my employees.  So I was the one that was running the store, even though it was closed, doing a lot of special orders.  I did a lot of deliveries.  So that was probably the most impactful and the timing of it was not good for us, because it hit right at Easter and Confirmation and First Communion, and then graduations were postponed.  So that timing of it was really difficult and it really has affected our monthly sales and I don’t have anything to compare with last year.  I know that would have been almost secondary to Christmas sales the time that we were shut down.

HM:  What one or two actions have you taken to make a difference in your business?

JB:  During our shutdown I began doing two livestreams on Facebook per week, which I was not crazy about, but my marketing person really encouraged me to do it.  And so I was doing two livestreams a week and we had a feature kind of topic.  One week was a wedding week, another Mother’s Day, things like that.  I actually had the items with me and I did it live from the store.  One thing that we have continued to do is on Wednesdays, we started doing a book reading for kids live on Facebook.  And then of course, we saved the video.  My 10 year old granddaughter, now 11, just last week, has been reading books on Facebook and we’ve gotten some really great feedback from moms reading with their kids.  One of our customers came in and said her girls just love getting the book out that my granddaughter is going to be reading that week.  One of my friend’s son actually was inspired to start his own reading on Facebook.  To that’s been really cool for us. 

HM:  What mistakes did you make along the way and how can other small business owners learn from your experience?

JB:  One thing I learned from last year, we just kind of jumped in and off in the deep end of the pool.  I had practically zero retail experience.  I had a lot of business background, but I didn’t take the time to really analyze, particularly my marketing budget and where that was being spent.  I was very conscious of the fact that we needed to get our name out there and let people know that we were there and that we weren’t where the old Wiley’s Christian bookstore was.  So we did a lot of things and spent a lot of money that some of it was effective, but looking back now, I could been more effective and efficient in where I spent those marking and advertising dollars.

HM:  What is most inspiring to you today and what is keeping you positive going through this?

JB:  Our customers are just so awesome.  I’ve had several people come into the store and just ask for a handful of business cards.  They were giving them to all their friends.  And the online, even though we haven’t been selling online, we’ve been featuring a lot of sales opportunities and things like that on Facebook.  And the willingness of them to not only buy, but one of our good customers that has been out in Pennsylvania for six weeks with her family bought several t-shirts and she shared them with her daughter.  Just the gratitude of our customers that we are there and that they are willing to not only support us, but share with others.  Their willingness to really help us try to stick it out. 

https://tjschristianbookstore.com
tjschristianbookstore@gmail.com
319-260-2160

Basket of Daisies, Carlene Danielson, Owner

Basket of Daisies has been decorating the Cedar Valley with sophisticated accessories and fine home furniture since 1979. We are located on Main Street in the heart of Cedar Falls’ vibrant downtown. We focus on elegant, unique home decor and furnishings. Inventory is constantly changing with the seasons and is creatively arranged throughout our store.

HM:  Who is your customer target audience, the ideal customer you are reaching out to?

CD:  We’d love to sell to everyone, but probably between 40 and 50 with the mid to upper income.

HM:  What would you say was the greatest impact that COVID-19 has had on your business?

CD:  We were closed for over eight weeks.  So that was the biggest impact in that our sales just kind of immediately stopped.  So then we booted our online store, but just the lack of sales immediately.

HM:  What one or two actions have you taken to make a difference in your business?

CD:  Our online store and just communicating with newsletters, making phone calls and just keeping in touch with people and reminding them that we’re here.  Kind of helping them know about the online store, which help us through.  And a reminder that we’re here and now that we are open.  But just keeping in touch with people was the biggest, biggest thing.

HM:  What mistakes did you make along the way and how can other small business owners learn from your experience?

CD:  I said keeping touching people was the best thing .  And I think we could have even done it better.  That’s a hard one.  Maybe talking to other business owners along the say would have been helpful because it kind of felt like we were stuck and it took so much mental energy to get through.  I’d eat dinner and I’d be back to work because you just felt like you just had to keep working and keep things going.  So maybe taking a break and not letting it control so much of my time.

HM:  What is most inspiring to you today and what is keeping you positive going through this?

CD:  One was customers that contacted me and just asked how are you doing?  They called and bought good size gift cards that they could use later because they wanted to make sure we were going to be here in the end.  So that was just really encouraging to hear that they cared that we were still here. 

https://www.basketofdaisies.com
Carlene@basketofdaisies.com 
319-277-3286

Hatchlings & Hens, Katie Bjerke, Owner

Visit us in the historic downtown district of Cedar Falls for a unique shopping experience! We pride ourselves on quality handmade goods that are “grown” close to home. Our shop features the work of several talented makers who create their products in the U.S.A. and most right here in our own state of Iowa. Our inventory is ever-changing and always fresh so stop by often!

HM:  Who is your customer target audience, the ideal customer you are reaching out to?

KB:  I would say primarily, a mom, probably 35 to 45.  It’s hard to put a target market on it, because I have two parts of the store.  So the retail target market looks a little bit different than what the craft target market looks like.  We do get a lot of grandparents that bring kids in and shop for gifts.  So truthfully, it’s probably women aged 35 to 65, which is a huge range.  It’s a wide, wide target market which can be challenging at times when you talk about marketing.  Moms with babies who want to shop for our unique goods and then older moms who want to bring kids in to craft and shop for birthday gifts for their kids and friends.

HM:  What would you say was the greatest impact that COVID-19 has had on your business?

KB:  If anything — positive, I didn’t have much of an online presence before all of this started.  It was really just the storefront.  I had some classes and some very limited items on my website prior and I had always wished I had an online store.  It was just very overwhelming thinking about all the pieces that went into it; taking the photos, getting uploaded onto the site, managing inventory and I’m pretty much a staff of one.  But when my doors closed, it forced me to do it and put some practices in place that I probably should have been doing from the beginning.  Like taking inventory on a regular basis.  And I even applied for a couple of grants and going through that grant process, it really opened my eyes to some processes that I should have been doing.  So I really do think it’s been positive and given me a really good chance to connect with my customers on a different level. I do a lot of social media, so through Instagram stories and Instagram posts, I’ve just been really honest with them of what a struggle it has been, so I shared that with my customers. So it really helped me develop relationships with them deeper than what I may have before; so that has been a huge bonus as well. 

HM:  What one or two actions have you taken to make a difference in your business?

KB: At first it was definitely getting that online store up and running, because I couldn’t have people in my shop.  And my sales were actually some of the best when I look at a year trend.  And Christmas time is specifically a really busy time for retail.  My sales were not quite what they were at Christmas, but very close, which is crazy for March, April, May, the fact that my doors were closed, that my sales could hit that level just through an online scope; that was absolutely astonishing to me.  So I would have to say that was absolutely key in the beginning.  And then once my shop opened, those online orders just fell off.  I was getting four or five orders a day, and I went to getting maybe one a week.  So that really changed and shifted, so I really needed to look at that social media piece and how to build that relationship and just being transparent and honest with my customer.  That has kind of morphed into that from the online presence to now.  I still have that online presence, but I guess because of Instagram and Facebook and keeping that piece out there constant has been key for me.  That whole debate, no matter how you feel bout masks, making the decision to require masks has done nothing but benefit my business.  So if there are any shops out there that are afraid that it might negatively impact them, I’ve seen just the opposite.  People feel like we’re taking care of each other by dong it and they don’t have any hesitations coming into my shop in person because they know that we have that safety precaution in place.

HM:  What mistakes did you make along the way and how can other small business owners learn from your experience?

KB: Probably the biggest mistake is that whole piece of the process of inventory and treating it like a big girl job.  I sometimes forget that I do have a job, I do have a career;  because it feels fun all the time.  It’s my passion and that’s really awesome that I get to do a job that’s my passion.  There’s still some standard operating procedures that need to happen that I did not do in the beginning.  When I went to apply for grants, or if I want to ask for funding help or loans, that I needed those processes in place for the people that are going to give me the money, they want to see it.  At the end of the day, I would say that’s probably the biggest mistake that I made.  I’m definitely doing a lot more than I was prior to COVID hitting.

HM:  What is most inspiring to you today and what is keeping you positive going through this?

KB: The number one thing that kept me going was that customers supported me.  So sometimes when I really sit down and think about it, I’m like, all these people that care about my success, which is amazing.  I could almost cry thinking about it.  I don’t even know these people on a personal level, and yet they’re so willing to make sure that my business thrives.  And that is everything to me.  That has been hugely humbling.  And then amazed and blown away, although it doesn’t surprise me, the way that other business have supported each other through this. We have a group on Facebook of downtown business owners, so we can have conversations and there’s been some heated discussions about thing, but at the end of the day, we all want each other to succeed. 

http://hatchlingsandhens.com
Hatchlingsandhens@gmail.com
(319) 610-3223

Bike Tech, Cedar Falls, Brent Johnson, Owner

We are still OPEN for business and are ready to help our customers with some changes to our normal operating procedures.  We feel that bikes are an excellent tool for exercise, fresh air, and mental wellness.  It is also a great was to get outdoors while limiting your exposure to larger groups.  Stay healthy, stay active while we ride out these uncertain times.

HM:  Who is your customer target audience, the ideal customer you are reaching out to?

BJ: The target customer is that 34 to 50 year old, kind of family unit, that are looking to ride the George Wyth trails.  Maybe in the future expand into mountain biking or road biking as a second purchase as they kind of grow into cycling.  I think historically, this year we will see a massive uptick in sales and service and accessories.  Our role is a little unique, in that we actually are strong advocates, we actually go out and service bikes for people on the road.

HM:  What would you say was the greatest impact that COVID-19 has had on your business?

BJ: Early stages of COVID was one of the few activities that you could do safely.  It seemed like as a result, our store, or the cycling industry in general, had never before seen growth in sales. 

HM:  What one or two actions have you taken to make a difference in your business?

BJ: I think maybe just over the last 90 days requiring masks in the store, in mid-May.  We were definitely one of the early adapters.  I think that has given some people an additional layer of comfort in shopping with us.  In regards to how we run our business, we will switch modes from looking at inventory in a two to three week window, to now we’ve expanded that window to be looking out to two to three months now.

HM:  What mistakes did you make along the way and how can other small business owners learn from your experience?

BJ:  I would say management of cash flow, inventory, the biggest reasons that we’ve been able to grow outside of COVID, or just in general.  Keeping your finger on the pulse of those two items. 

HM:  What is most inspiring to you today and what is keeping you positive going through this?

BJ: The trails are packed, they’re almost too congested.  You know, we’re seeing people that had to give up their gym routine and substitute it with a cycling routine.  So we have a lot of new people that are getting into cycling, or coming back to kind of getting those bikes out of the garage after hanging there for a couple of years.  So that’s a really cool thing.  You know, both in the now and hopefully for the future is, hopefully you know a third to half of those guys.  This lifestyle or habit kinds of sticks.  The other part of that is the community’s kind of acceptance and everyone is really supportive.  That means a lot to us too. 

https://www.biketechcf.com
brentj@biketechcf.com
319-266-5979