Read The Prescott Woman Article Here

www.prescottwoman.com
APRIL/MAY 2013
SMARTGirls
A Gamble That Paid Off
Subscribe
Today!
Your family’s source for
HOME & HEALTH
Special Edition
APRIL 2013
$4.00
HOME
IMPROVEMENT
32 Prescott Woman • April/May 2013
SMARTGirls Resale Fashion Store
A Gamble that Paid Off
By Monica Kaplan
Photos by Lauren Ristow Photography
It’s been a little more than four years since JoAnne Golleher
and Jamie Goeringer laid their cards down on the gamble of
starting a new business.
Jamie wanted out of the confines of her banking job so she
could spend more time with her grandchildren. Her daughter,
JoAnne, wanted to be partners in a small business where she
had the flexibility a young mom often needs.
Looking back now, they both laugh at what they
acknowledge was pretty idealistic thinking.
“We thought it was going to be this tiny little shop that we’d
run, and I’d do a lot of my work from home so I could be
with the kids,” says JoAnne, pretty and mellow-voiced, as she
sits in the living room of her Dewey home while two of her
children nap, and the oldest plays nearby.
JoAnne’s mother sits next to her. They both have slipped
away from the “tiny, little shop” that has expanded greatly in
four years, added 3,400 feet from its original 1,000; grown
from employing just themselves to four additional staff along
with several volunteers; and has become the largest private
April/May 2013 • Prescott Woman 33
“
Though there
may be little
fingerprints on the
mirror, there’s also
the laughter of
children, and I
think the
ladies like that.
- Jamie Goeringer
34 Prescott Woman • April/May 2013
clothing consignment shop in Yavapai
County.
But starting SMARTgirls Resale
Fashion Store in December, 2008,
happened more on a wing and a prayer
than intense research and planning, they
confess.
“I’m not sure we quite knew what we
were getting ourselves into,” JoAnne
says. “We had never talked about
opening a clothing store; that was never
on either of our radars.”
And amazingly, neither one of
them are “clotheshorses” either, they
laughingly admit.
But they did want to go into business
with each other, and that was their
primary catalyst. Jamie’s husband,
Tim, and JoAnne’s husband, Matt, are
in business together, operating Orkin
Pest Control, in Prescott Valley. Jamie
owned her own daycare for 20 years
before trying her hand in the corporate
world of banking. Then, just when they
were about to close on the purchase of
a small business, some new friends and
owners of a large consignment store
in Phoenix advised them to start from
scratch and open their own.
One of the first things the motherdaughter team did that made a big
difference, they say, was to begin
meeting with SCORE volunteers, the
local non-profit group of experienced
business people who counsel new
business owners.
They started with the consignment
clothes of five friends – two of whom,
luckily, were, in fact, fashionistas. About
five months in, SCORE selected Smart
Girls for a newspaper spotlight article
on a new area business.
“That, I think, was the beginning of
the explosion,” Jamie says. It wasn’t
long before they had racks and racks
of clothes they had nowhere to put. In
less than six months, they were looking
for a larger store. Luckily, they were able
to expand into the unused commercial
space next door, where they still reside in the heart of Prescott Valley, just south
of Highway 69 and east of Antelope
Hills Bowling Alley.
“It was definitely a whirlwind of
activity,” JoAnne remembers, adding it
was actually only a couple of times she
was able to bring clothes home with her
to process them.
“Yeah, that never really happened,”
she laughs.
The two business partners say
putting customer service first, offering
a
spacious,
aesthetic
shopping
environment, and making sure there are
a lot of bargains on the floor, are their
guiding principles.
And the fact that consignment stores
are pretty popular with the ladies, has
helped too, they add.
“It’s a bargain, and most women love
a bargain,” says JoAnne.
“You can get a lot more for your
money,” adds Jamie. “It’s kind of a
recession-proof business. It thrives
when the economy is good, and when
the economy is bad it thrives even more.
“A lot of people – the clothes they
bring in – that’s their gas money,
groceries, Christmas, whatever. But a
lot of them – they leave it here so they
can shop. One of our gals – our 49th
client – she doesn’t shop anywhere else
but SMARTgirls.”
Many of their shoppers are their
best ambassadors, Jamie adds, and will
even carry around Smart Girl business
cards to hand out to people, as well as
volunteer at the store.
“It’s a huge help to us,” she smiles.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing,
though.
At about the year-point, as JoAnne
and Jamie were working feverishly to
keep up with SMARTgirls’ growth, they
unexpectedly lost an intimate family
member, Jamie’s other daughter and
JoAnne’s sister, Julie. During their grief,
Jamie required open-heart surgery and
an extended recovery period.
At the same time, JoAnne found
herself in the position of paying a
babysitter more per hour than she was
even taking home at the time.
The onslaught of
challenges
pushed both women to the brink of
reevaluation.
April/May 2013 • Prescott Woman 35
reevaluation.
“There were a lot times where I just
said, ‘I’m done. I don’t want to do
this anymore,’” JoAnne concedes, her
mother nodding in agreement at the
sentiment.
It was their Christian faith that kept
them going.
“Just knowing there are always times
– always a season – no matter what
you’re dealing with, where you just feel
you can’t keep going,” JoAnne explains,
“for us - because we’re believers - we
just lean into the Lord and trust him to
carry us through those times.”
It turns out that year in business
together before Julie died was a big
source of strength for both women.
“I was really glad we had that year
36 Prescott Woman • April / May 2013
together to bond even more,” she says.
“Had we not had this time together, this
relationship…” she trails off. “When
you lose a child it puts an unbelievable
strain on a family, and JoAnne and I had
a bond I don’t think we would have had
if we didn’t have the store together.”
Jamie says she tries to be extremely
intentional about helping her daughter
not feel torn between being home
with her three young children, and
being present at the shop. Since their
growth has allowed them to hire four
staff, JoAnne has settled into managing
the books, marketing, newsletters and
group presentations – three out of four
which can finally be done from home.
Jamie focuses her responsibilities
on being at the shop, often bringing a
grandchild or two with her and letting
them charm the customers, or even
learn the ropes of the store’s lighter
duties.
“I never wanted JoAnne to have to be
in the store for hours and hours; I did it
for 20 years. I raised other people’s kids.
I want my grandkids to see their mom
and dad.”
Maintaining balance is a big issue in
the Golleher home. In addition to being
a co-business owner, JoAnne home
schools the kids, and has sung for many
years in the worship band at the Heights
Church.
“A lot of people say, ‘How do you
do it?’ says JoAnne. “I’m like, ‘I don’t
know.’ It’s the grace of God daily. I’m
still working on organizing schedules
and figuring all that out without
changing who God made me. Life
happens. Sometime’s the kids are doing
their homework at the shop. I feel like
somehow for us it works.”
Still, the inevitable stealth of modern
day life recently caused JoAnne and her
husband to make some new rules about
guarding family time.
“It happens to a lot of families.
Everyone’s running in different
directions; weekends get totally booked
and you end up giving your leftovers to
your family,” JoAnne says.
So for the next year the Golleher’s
have deemed Sunday’s family days –
except for church, outside invitations
will likely be declined.
Jamie laughs as she recalls a recent
week when she and her husband
watched the kids while JoAnne and Matt
celebrated their 10-year anniversary in
Colorado.
“After that, I kept asking JoAnne,
‘What else can we take off your plate?’ I
don’t know how she does all the things
she does!”
Both mother and daughter possess a
great amount of loyalty to one another.
And, their personable ways, no doubt,
have engendered a lot of loyalty from
their customer base.
In fact, they both say their biggest
fulfillment in operating the store is the
relationships they have developed with
their clients.
“That’s the kind of stuff that feeds
me,” says Jamie. “Since Julie died, I
have since met probably 30 women who
have come into the store who have lost
children, and that’s a huge connection.
That’s what gets to me and keeps me
going; and watching Emma today at the
store, and getting to be a part of her life
and spend time with her and the other
kids.
“Though there may be little
fingerprints on the mirror, there’s also
the laughter of children, and I think the
ladies like that.”
JoAnne finishes her mother’s
sentiment: “Life happens there.”
SMARTgirls Resale Fashion is found
at 6616 E. 2nd Street, Ste F, Prescott
Valley, AZ 86314. They can be reached at
(928)772–1227, info@smartgirlsfashion.
com. Their website is www.smartgirlsfashion.
com
April / May 2013 • Prescott Woman 37