In a recent post on Facebook, Ruth Fameree, owner of Smith’s Mercantile in De Pere, reflected on the sixth anniversary of the shop.
“Before opening the shop, I spent years working for major retail companies,” she said. “I watched online shopping explode, and while it brought incredible convenience, I also watched something else begin to disappear – the experience of shopping.”
Choosing to start the store was the result of a family crisis. In late 2019, Fameree’s husband, Chris, needed a kidney transplant. (She was a match and donated a kidney.) That experience changed her outlook; the importance of spending more time with her family motivated change.
“That experience gave me a kick in the pants,” she said. “Why not take the risk of opening a shop? Life is short. I had four small children, and after leaving the corporate world in 2014, had been helping Chris with his business. But retail was in my blood.”
She had an excellent mentor, encourager, and example in her husband. A certified public accountant, he successfully started two companies – Assure Professional and Diligence Solutions Group.
“I saw his spirit and the way he was brave and what he had accomplished and that inspired me,” Fameree said.
Although the storefront she had her eyes on wasn’t for lease initially, one day she noted that the business that occupied it had left.
She said, “I would drive by the building and it was like the building spoke to me. It had been a financial office and was filled with cubicles and had a drop ceiling, but I had a vision for the space.”
Just weeks after her husband’s surgery, a lease was signed. One month after that, the pandemic shut down the world. The ensuing months were spent doing a full remodel of the historic building. When the drop ceiling was removed, they found a beautiful ceiling with millwork that could be refinished. They also put in new flooring and lighting to give the shop the feeling of a general store.
In July 2020, the work was completed, and she and Chris decided to open. The masking and space requirements for COVID-19 set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were followed and customers slowly made their way to the shop. However, Fameree, who had opened as SmithMaker Artisan Company, discovered over the months that the business name was confusing.
She said, “Smith is attached to a maker or creator of some sorts so we did a play on that. I loved that name, but people thought it sounded like a bread-making company. I wanted to keep the name Smith as a maker so I rebranded as Smith’s Mercantile.”
All of the original branding was changed with a new logo, website design, packaging, signs and social media. The business model was defined as having goods that are sourced mainly from Wisconsin, and when appropriate, supplemented with other complementary goods that have been made in the United States.
To select inventory, Fameree said she scours the internet, does research, and shops competitively for items that are a good fit for the store.
“At Smith’s Mercantile, our mission is to celebrate and support the creativity, skill, and community spirit of our artisans by providing a platform for their unique products. We believe in creating a strong connection between consumers and makers (aka our Smiths) while contributing to the growth and sustainability of our local economy,” Fameree says on the website, shopsmithsmercantile.com.
Fameree would love to see those smaller artisans succeed as their items are featured. There is a wide array in the shop including candles, apparel, bath and body products, glassware, and specialty foods. With her decades of retail experience, she does a regular evaluation of inventory to determine which items are winners and losers. Changes are made accordingly.
Her retail experience has prepared her for the task. After graduating from UW-Madison with a degree in marketing, she spent more than a decade working for major retailers like Kohl’s, Belk, and Shopko. Roles included inventory management, financial strategies development, department management, and merchandise planning.
After marrying her childhood sweetheart and transferring together to Charlotte, North Carolina, they moved back to the area in 2014. That’s when Chris started Assure Professional and she took on the role of business development and marketing for his business. That continued until the business was acquired in 2020. Shortly after, he formed Diligence Solutions Group, a consulting firm.
The family defines what it means to be entrepreneurial. Chris has also taken on a new role as co-owner of Turriff Plumbing in De Pere. She has a role there in marketing and administration, and adds it to her list of other jobs.
Fameree said, “At the store, I am the buyer, inventory manager, janitor, toilet-cleaner, accountant, web designer, and social media marketer. I do everything. When you get into this, you have to be a jack of all trades. Running one store in a local town is way different than managing inventory for five, six hundred stores. It is much more personal and there is much more on the line when it is yours.”
Another challenge, she said, is remaining relevant in a world of e-commerce and social media. She does have e-commerce on her site, but the main focus is on having a unique shop that is part of a flourishing downtown De Pere.
She is on the board for Definitely De Pere and credits the group with creating events that bring people to De Pere and for the relationships she has built.
“I am truly fortunate to have awesome business owners to talk to like the owners of Hey Daisy and Puddle Duck where I can share my struggles and get their opinion. My landlord has also been a great sounding board. I love to talk to her about business and what is happening and what will be negative or positive,” she said.
She sees De Pere as having a thriving downtown where shopping can once again be an experience people enjoy and where customers can find truly unique items. To accomplish that, Smith’s Mercantile continues to evolve. Ice cream was added last year, and a line of goods with the store brand will soon be debuted.
The future goal is to be top-of-mind as the go-to place for gifts. With two employees and her children, now ages 10 to 17, helping out, the years ahead are promising. There are hard days, but there is also great joy in stepping back in time to bring back the essence of what retail used to be.
Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is a current volunteer and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Smith’s Mercantile owner believes shopping should be an experience
Reporting by Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt, For Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt, For Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
