Business Spotlight: Savants

When new customers walk into Donna Johnsons store, Savants, the first word out of their mouths is usually Wow!

The first thing they say is Wow, and This is wild, and This is great! Id say 99 percent of the feedback is all positive, said Johnson, who opened Savants at 212 E. Commercial Street in November 2000.

Johnsons retail store specializes in items from the 50s, 60s and 70s, many customized with her own creative flair. Beaded and feathered lampshades, mirrors, mannequins, masks, beaded curtains, zebra-striped upholstery, tiki bars, fake fur, and odd juxtapositions abound.

Asked how she would describe her store, I would just say its really funky. Its unique. Its different, Johnson said.

And it has broad appeal.

My best customers are people in their 20s through 50s, Johnson said. Its not just a college kid thing. A lot of people in their 30s, 40s and even in their 50s, now, are going back to a lot of the retro stuff. The 70s stuff.

In some cases theyre redoing an entire room, a game room or a family room, or they just want one really funky, unusual room in their house, Johnson said.

A change of career

Johnson did not come to Savants from a retail background. Rather, she was a counselor at Cox North for 12 years before she made the switch to entrepreneur.

It all started when one of the guys that I worked for he was a counselor too he wanted us to open a flea market booth together. He and I both liked a lot of the same stuff, Johnson said. They went into a booth together, then she got a booth of her own and started making lampshades and covering foot stools in funky chic style. One booth grew to three, and sales were so good that, when she drove by 212 E. Commercial Street and saw the current tenant was moving out, she made the decision to open her own store.

I stayed at Cox for about six months after I opened the store, and my daughter (Amy Andrews) ran it for me. I just did so well, right from the get-go, that I thought, Im going to quit my job and do this, because I really love this.

Its a love affair that continues to this day.

Creativity

Many of Johnsons wares bear the stamp of her own creativity. I upholster most of the furniture, and I make most of the lampshades. She also converts 50s era television sets into fully functioning aquariums, and has a knack for combining colors, textures and objects in striking tableau.

I think Ive always been pretty creative, she said. I taught myself how to reupholster. I just started out with small things, like footstools, and then I graduated up to couches.

Prior to taking on furniture and lamps, Johnson expressed herself through pottery and sculpture, and a couple of her original works can still be found at Savants.

I was a social work major at (Southwest Missouri State University), and I was one of those older, late bloomers who went back to school late, and just for the fun of it I took a pottery class. My instructor, Keith Ekstam, said Youre a natural, and I was selling stuff six months after I started.

The name of her store, Savants, really just popped into my head. It was the first thing that came to me, and I knew it was right. It just fit.

The French translation of the word savant means a woman who has learned much, and I have learned a lot in my life, but they forgot to add that part and has a lot more to learn, she said with a laugh.

Buying

When it comes to stocking her store, Johnson doesnt like auctions or garage sales, so most of her merchandise comes from thrift stores, flea markets and individuals like the woman from Buffalo who came in recently. Shed bought a house and all its contents and told Johnson Ive got some things you might be interested in, Johnson said. I made two trips down there and bought a bunch of stuff from her.

Also, as people have come to know Johnson and her store, they know what I like and theyll call me and say, Hey, I got this.

Johnson used to carry a lot of vintage clothing, but not anymore.

Im just really not that into the vintage clothing thing, so I sold all my clothes to Jacquelines next door to me and Nellie Dunns across the street from me so Id have more room for furniture and lamps. Clothes, they just hang there. I cant do anything with them but sell them. I just wanted more space so I could have more room to create stuff.

A typical day at work

Johnson couldnt be happier with her Commercial Street location, especially the comraderie of the street. She starts each day sitting in a chair outside her store, visiting with friends and neighbors.

All the merchants down here, were all friends, and were kind of like family here in this one big block, in the 200 block. For me its been really good lots of fun. Lots of work, but lots of fun.

The neighborly attitude is reinforced by the fact that three nearby merchants stop in for a chat in the course of Johnsons SBJ interview, along with a couple of customers and the resident of a neighboring loft.

This is how the merchants are down here, Johnson said with a smile. Its good down here.

During store hours 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday if shes not enjoying the company of customers and friends, Johnson is usually working on something for the store.

A lot of times Ill bring projects with me to do because Im not a sit-around kind of person. Ill make lampshades or Ill paint something.

Future plans

The next step for Johnson is an Internet presence. She has hired someone to set up a Web site, which she hopes will go up in the next 30 days, and she is planning to go on eBay as well.

Johnsons husband, William Johnson, is helping out on the Web site project. My husbands doing all that because I dont mess with computers at all. I am a right-brain, not a left-brain person at all, Johnson said.

The Web is Johnsons immediate destination, but more than that I want to open a second store. And I would love to open a second store downtown, but everywhere that Ive checked, rent-wise, its crazy. Its crazy to me. Rents quoted to Johnson have ranged from $2,200 to $3,000 a month.

If she could find a space the size of the one she has now, 1,100-1,200 square feet, for around $1,500, I would open a second store downtown in a heartbeat.

Johnson feels she has an ideal situation right now. I just love doing this so much that if I had a bunch of financial worries like Oh my God, how am I going to pay $3,000 a month rent and worry every month about how much Im going to sell ... that would take the fun out of it for me.

Asked if she would ever consider another career, Johnson is emphatic: Never. This is it.

She added, All my energy just goes right here, to this store. I love coming here. I love being here. I love the customers. ... Working for yourself is just the best thing.