Bye-bye Brick-and-Mortar: Some creative companies ditch the bricks

Mick and Paige Whitcomb have found the past 18 months illuminating. They shirked the trappings of their Nomad brick-and-mortar retail clothing and home store at 318 W. Walnut St. and also rejected the idea of e-commerce. Instead, they loaded up a truck and trailer with handmade turn-of-the-century lighting and furniture and traveled over 200 days this past year to 40 shows in 30 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Kansas City.

Mick Whitcomb said they’re happier and turning a hefty profit from the decision.

“We’ve seen exponential growth in revenues and a decrease in overhead as well,” he said. “We did about 300 percent or more in revenues than we did in the last year of having the retail store.”

The Whitcombs are not alone in considering the brick-and-mortar store a trap of sorts. Rob Hoerr of Moon City Goods and Jason Hooge of Salt River Leather launched their businesses without a physical location.  

No mortar needed
Hoerr started Moon City Goods in a dirt-floor garage using the skills learned as a child from his grandfather. He took the e-commerce leap via Etsy with his handmade products without a large investment.

The interior design graduate from Missouri State University makes custom tables and furniture. But his biggest seller is also his biggest surprise.
 
He calls it the Rustic Phone Speaker. It’s a log he drills out with six woodworking tools to naturally amplify music from a smartphone. He found inspiration after seeing a large Victrola-shaped log and thought he could make one just as loud with more maneuverability. Retailing for $40 in the United States, the worked-over logs now can be found in England, Germany, Italy, Canada and Argentina, thanks to his Etsy page. They also are sold at Five Pound Apparel.

“It’s really functional to have in an office or your dining room. That’s by far our most popular item,” said Hoerr, who left his job as a bartender to pursue his dream.

Eighteen months into business, he doesn’t plan to go the brick-and-mortar direction.

“I like the online store. I get to have a smaller, less expensive space, turn out more product and also do local trade shows,” he said.

He declined to disclose annual revenues but said through the Etsy page alone, the speaker generated about $600 last Christmas season.

Self-made man
In Hooge’s business, a full-time job and growing family keeps his time and financial investment in check.

For two years, he’s manufactured minimalistic leather watchbands and wallets made from reclaimed items, such as baseball gloves. He calls it Salt River Leather.

Hooge’s often asked if his leatherworking hobby turned side business would replace his day job with Digital Monitoring Products Inc. and if he’ll open a physical store.  

“One of the things that I keep coming back to is a brick-and-mortar store would require that I do it full time. Right now, I have no desire to do that,” said Hooge, DMP’s training development manager.

Another common question: What caused his interest in the hobby, originally?

A blog, in 2011: TheArtOfManliness.com.

“Their big thing is for men to get out, get a hobby and become better contributors to society. They had a list of 25 hobbies you could try,” he said. “I didn’t have a hobby at the time. So, I decided to make my own wallet.”

His major initial investment into the company was time. He has several boxes of failed projects.

Hooge is gaining interest through his booth at Farmers Market of the Ozarks.

One repeat customer is Marty Brown, a Rolla-based scouting director for the Washington Nationals baseball team.

“He specifically requests baseball gloves that are made in Japan and takes the baseball glove wallets back to Japan and gives them to prospects,” Hooge said.

He also made a baseball glove purse, now toted by a woman whose husband works for the Little League World Series. He’s expanding into leather items for females, pointing to the volume of shoppers at Farmers Park and on his Etsy page.

Hooge said Farmers Market sales account for half his revenues, currently edging out online purchases. “The thing with online is it can sit there for a while with no traffic and then all of the sudden you get five or six orders,” he said, declining to disclose annual sales. “Online and with the Farmers Market, I think it can naturally grow.”

Little waiting
Nomad was inspired by travel. The travel-loving couple discovered that owning a physical store actually translated into immobilization.

They rarely left Springfield. In May 2015, they traded 2,500 square feet of downtown Springfield retail space for a 200-square-foot pop-up shop in various cities at established shows with plenty of foot traffic. Every inch of the space is planned to display their work and maximize the impact of their Artifacts by Nomad line.  

“All the marketing and advertising, the things that drove me crazy about having a physical location, are all taken care of for us,” Whitcomb said. “The demographics are very affluent. Most of the shows have been going for 50 years. That just alleviates all the frustration.”

With the brick-and-mortar store, he said they waited for people to come in who might have an interest to buy. It’s a similar frustration on the internet, where sellers wait for shoppers to find their site. By contrast, the shows – for instance, one hosted by Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City – have worked to their advantage with regard to sales. He said sales have increased about 300 percent.

“We get to be that groundbreaking, trendsetting force for that three-day period. It creates an urgency to buy,” Whitcomb said. “It flips this whole thing on its head: If you like it, you buy it.”