With the launch of the Button Factory coming up this Thursday, I thought it was high time I shared with you the story behind our little shop and our big dreams for it. We have both loved vintage since childhood (you can read my vintage story here) and the small step we are taking this week towards opening a boutique is a testament of our commitment to achieving our dreams, and a testament to our friendship. Let's start at the beginning though...
It all started about two years ago when Ryan still worked at a coffee shop. While working at said coffee shop he met and befriended a guy named Bentley. Bentley introduced Ryan to his brother Austin, and Austin introduced his girlfriend Katie. We started hanging out around one another a lot because our boyfriends liked each other so much, but both Katie and I are a little socially inept and we were just too shy to actually talk to one another. Surprising I know, but very true.
Enter Randy Newman, sort of. Sometime two winters ago Ryan, Austin, Bentley, and some of our other friends started a now defunct band called Death Newman. Death Newman was a hard rock Randy Newman cover band. They started playing a lot of shows, and Katie and I started spending a lot of time awkwardly sitting next to one another.
Before one of the shows a bunch of people were standing outside talking when Katie and Austin arrived. Katie was wearing the cutest little jumper ever and I suddenly blurted out, "Did you get that Red Velvet!?" And she looked at me with the biggest eyes and said "Yes. Do you read A Beautiful Mess?" That was the moment we instantly became friends; similar taste in blogs and clothes have started many a friendship. We started talking more and more and found a common theme in all of our conversations: vintage, local, art, blogs, and passion.
Since that day we've shared a lot of our dreams and goals and found that they are so similar it's scary. Our backgrounds and passions compliment one another and we've both been inspired by a lot of the same people. We individually came to the conclusion that owning a small business was our goal in life, and we came together understanding the importance of this partnership in achieving those goals. Reading about the success of others through blogs only helped to keep our dreams alive while we waited for the day our shop could become a reality.
Now the time has come for us to launch the first chapter of our dreams online. Each sale will immediately go to making the next chapters possible, not to our immediate personal gain. We are determined, focused, and ready to act. You can get a sneak peek of what we'll be listing on Thursday by liking us on Facebook right now! I hope you'll join us on this journey. big kiss, bekuh
