It all began with 2 pair of shoes......
Before I get to the 2 pair of shoes story, let me first introduce my sister, Chris Force and myself, Karen Hauswirth. We are 17 months apart (the latter being the younger) we are highly competitive with each other however still manage to get along, somewhat, well at least enough to think going into business as partners is a good idea. Now that you know who we are, let me tell you about the Blu Gypsy name, "Blu" was our grandma's middle name. A grandma that always went above and beyond, she shared her love unconditionally with everyone she met, would give to others even if it meant she may go without and she had more swagger than any woman I have ever met. Grandma will forever be, in our hearts and cherished in our memories. "Gypsy" because we really didn't know what form this new "store" was going to take, we were and are on a tight budget and did not know if we would ever find retail space to rent that was affordable, if we were going to run the carnival circuit, hit every fair in Michigan or sell out of the trunks of our cars. Essentially our store was most likely going to be a Gypsy.
Now to the real story on how this whole Blu Gypsy Boutique began.
I, Karen was shopping in Gaylord at The Old Spud Warehouse, some of you may be familiar with this adorable little store, the kind of adorable that you basically have to take a day off work and spend it there. Spuds carries everything from purses and shoes to home furnishings, I am sure you know the type, while at Spuds I resisted my temptation to purchase everything I really wanted (due to the fact that I don't have a semi to get it all home in, and yes, that aforementioned budget constraint) and purchased 2 pair of Corkys Footwear shoes. These gems are not just your ordinary everyday shoes but unique, fun and comfortable shoes. (I know, I said fun and comfortable in the same sentence, which should help you understand my desire for more.) Once home with my new little gems facing the predicament of which ones do I wear first, I went onto Corkys web-site just to see what else they might have. Okay, okay, not just to see what else they had but to feed my overwhelming desire to get more. Once on their web-site I discovered Corkys only sells wholesale. Oh-No! what am I to do? I want, they have, and I can't have unless I can buy wholesale. hmph! At this point my mind is going 120 mph, "what can I do to get these shoes?" continues to race in my head then suddenly, SCREECH! it just occurred to me, my sister, Chris is out of work due an accident on her motorcycle and this could be a "great opportunity" here, I can file the necessary documents with the State and we will open a store and she, unable to go back to work as a surgical technician due the accident can run the store, I will invest the money she can invest the time, Perfect!. Ding, Ding I think we have a winner. Trying to contain my excitement to share my new business plan I sit back and wait for the perfect opportunity to present my plan.
Several days pass, my sister sends me a text message "Hey purses are on sale at JCPenney and if you buy two you get a bigger discount, do you wanna go to Penney's?" I quickly reply, thinking this is my opportunity to let her in on "her" new career. "Um, actually I was thinking we should get into the business of selling shoes and purses, so instead of buying from Penney's I am going to file the papers with the State and we can buy our own wholesale and open a store". She hesitates for a short time as if she really needed to think about it, I however know she could have replied right away but wanted to me to think that she actually gave it some thought. She finally replies and agrees that we should give it a shot.
In March of 2014 we filed all of the documents needed and started buying merchandise. In August we displayed our little gems from Corkys Footwear, purses, scarves, sunglasses and anything else we thought people would buy at local fairs and flea markets and finally on October 1, 2014 we opened our doors in downtown Traverse City.
It all began with two pairs of shoes and two sisters too stubborn to quit. I suppose we went to extreme lengths to get the "other" Corkys shoes I wanted!
We are living proof that if you maintain sight of your goal no one can stop you, whether it be shoes or something else, always keep your eye on the prize, eventually you will get there and most often not along the path you had envisioned.
Fast forward to to July of 2016 we made the hard decision of closing the retail space in downtown. We learned so much in our time in the brick and mortar location and found that in today's market online was really how today's shopper shopped. The store now is warehoused in my basement and online orders are shipped from my home and items are sold through the web-site here and Amazon.com as far as the shoe side of the business. I guess now would be a good time for me to let you know why I said as far as the shoe side of the business. During the summer of 2017 I began to watch Pearl Parties live on Facebook. I was scrolling through one day and this caught my attention and of course I had to take a look.
To make my long story hopefully shorter, I began to watch a girl named Jessica from Texas shuck oysters and reveal pearls that she would then send in to a company to have the pearls mounted onto the jewelry that you purchase from their catalog. I bought a few pieces. OK maybe more than a few. I shared her video and liked her page as she requested and I believe by my doing this, this is how a friend of mine from high school became aware of my new found interest in pearls and she just so happened to work with a girl that was also a consultant for the same company that the girl I was currently buying from worked for.
The random messenger message comes from Kim......"just wondering if you would like to host a pearl party with me?" Well I did! I had a great party, and after she mentioned something about becoming a consultant. I wasn't interested in becoming a consultant necessarily but told her I was interested in starting my own pearl business. Problem was I knew I couldn't touch an oyster! (I knew this because I was just down to Florida with my Best Friend Molly and she had to shuck an oyster from a take home kit that I had purchased for me because I was unable to touch the oyster.) Kim suggested I sit in on her videos to see if I liked it before I made any decisions on what I was going to do. I took her advice. She always had wonderful advice. So from June 2017 until December 2017 I sat beside Kim in her videos and we shucked oysters for the company she was working for. During this time we were getting the starting inventory ordered, the web-site populated with items, documents in order to legally form the Business you all now know as Blu Gypsy Genuine Pearls which was formed on December 2, 2017 under Blu Gypsy Boutique, LLC.
Kim was a tremendous help at getting Blu Gypsy Genuine Pearls off the ground and I will forever be indebted to her for her contributions and am thankful for the friendship we had. She chose to pursue other paths.
Currently, Blu Gypsy is owned and operated by myself: Karen Hauswirth
Jewelry is Primarily set by my Mom Deana Mosley (we affectionately call "Mom Boss")
In February 2020, I stumbled across Sublimation Printing which of course me being me had to give it a try. With the help of Mom Boss we purchased a cheap printer, sublimation ink, paper and some T-shirts. At this point the learning began and Blu Gypsy gained another product line...Sublimation Printed T-Shirts! Life it all about trial and error right? I may try 100 things before I get 1 right, but I will not die saying I did not try. ~Karen
We are thankful for each and every one of our customers new and loyal you all make a difference!
Before I get to the 2 pair of shoes story, let me first introduce my sister, Chris Force and myself, Karen Hauswirth. We are 17 months apart (the latter being the younger) we are highly competitive with each other however still manage to get along, somewhat, well at least enough to think going into business as partners is a good idea. Now that you know who we are, let me tell you about the Blu Gypsy name, "Blu" was our grandma's middle name. A grandma that always went above and beyond, she shared her love unconditionally with everyone she met, would give to others even if it meant she may go without and she had more swagger than any woman I have ever met. Grandma will forever be, in our hearts and cherished in our memories. "Gypsy" because we really didn't know what form this new "store" was going to take, we were and are on a tight budget and did not know if we would ever find retail space to rent that was affordable, if we were going to run the carnival circuit, hit every fair in Michigan or sell out of the trunks of our cars. Essentially our store was most likely going to be a Gypsy.
Now to the real story on how this whole Blu Gypsy Boutique began.
I, Karen was shopping in Gaylord at The Old Spud Warehouse, some of you may be familiar with this adorable little store, the kind of adorable that you basically have to take a day off work and spend it there. Spuds carries everything from purses and shoes to home furnishings, I am sure you know the type, while at Spuds I resisted my temptation to purchase everything I really wanted (due to the fact that I don't have a semi to get it all home in, and yes, that aforementioned budget constraint) and purchased 2 pair of Corkys Footwear shoes. These gems are not just your ordinary everyday shoes but unique, fun and comfortable shoes. (I know, I said fun and comfortable in the same sentence, which should help you understand my desire for more.) Once home with my new little gems facing the predicament of which ones do I wear first, I went onto Corkys web-site just to see what else they might have. Okay, okay, not just to see what else they had but to feed my overwhelming desire to get more. Once on their web-site I discovered Corkys only sells wholesale. Oh-No! what am I to do? I want, they have, and I can't have unless I can buy wholesale. hmph! At this point my mind is going 120 mph, "what can I do to get these shoes?" continues to race in my head then suddenly, SCREECH! it just occurred to me, my sister, Chris is out of work due an accident on her motorcycle and this could be a "great opportunity" here, I can file the necessary documents with the State and we will open a store and she, unable to go back to work as a surgical technician due the accident can run the store, I will invest the money she can invest the time, Perfect!. Ding, Ding I think we have a winner. Trying to contain my excitement to share my new business plan I sit back and wait for the perfect opportunity to present my plan.
Several days pass, my sister sends me a text message "Hey purses are on sale at JCPenney and if you buy two you get a bigger discount, do you wanna go to Penney's?" I quickly reply, thinking this is my opportunity to let her in on "her" new career. "Um, actually I was thinking we should get into the business of selling shoes and purses, so instead of buying from Penney's I am going to file the papers with the State and we can buy our own wholesale and open a store". She hesitates for a short time as if she really needed to think about it, I however know she could have replied right away but wanted to me to think that she actually gave it some thought. She finally replies and agrees that we should give it a shot.
In March of 2014 we filed all of the documents needed and started buying merchandise. In August we displayed our little gems from Corkys Footwear, purses, scarves, sunglasses and anything else we thought people would buy at local fairs and flea markets and finally on October 1, 2014 we opened our doors in downtown Traverse City.
It all began with two pairs of shoes and two sisters too stubborn to quit. I suppose we went to extreme lengths to get the "other" Corkys shoes I wanted!
We are living proof that if you maintain sight of your goal no one can stop you, whether it be shoes or something else, always keep your eye on the prize, eventually you will get there and most often not along the path you had envisioned.
Fast forward to to July of 2016 we made the hard decision of closing the retail space in downtown. We learned so much in our time in the brick and mortar location and found that in today's market online was really how today's shopper shopped. The store now is warehoused in my basement and online orders are shipped from my home and items are sold through the web-site here and Amazon.com as far as the shoe side of the business. I guess now would be a good time for me to let you know why I said as far as the shoe side of the business. During the summer of 2017 I began to watch Pearl Parties live on Facebook. I was scrolling through one day and this caught my attention and of course I had to take a look.
To make my long story hopefully shorter, I began to watch a girl named Jessica from Texas shuck oysters and reveal pearls that she would then send in to a company to have the pearls mounted onto the jewelry that you purchase from their catalog. I bought a few pieces. OK maybe more than a few. I shared her video and liked her page as she requested and I believe by my doing this, this is how a friend of mine from high school became aware of my new found interest in pearls and she just so happened to work with a girl that was also a consultant for the same company that the girl I was currently buying from worked for.
The random messenger message comes from Kim......"just wondering if you would like to host a pearl party with me?" Well I did! I had a great party, and after she mentioned something about becoming a consultant. I wasn't interested in becoming a consultant necessarily but told her I was interested in starting my own pearl business. Problem was I knew I couldn't touch an oyster! (I knew this because I was just down to Florida with my Best Friend Molly and she had to shuck an oyster from a take home kit that I had purchased for me because I was unable to touch the oyster.) Kim suggested I sit in on her videos to see if I liked it before I made any decisions on what I was going to do. I took her advice. She always had wonderful advice. So from June 2017 until December 2017 I sat beside Kim in her videos and we shucked oysters for the company she was working for. During this time we were getting the starting inventory ordered, the web-site populated with items, documents in order to legally form the Business you all now know as Blu Gypsy Genuine Pearls which was formed on December 2, 2017 under Blu Gypsy Boutique, LLC.
Kim was a tremendous help at getting Blu Gypsy Genuine Pearls off the ground and I will forever be indebted to her for her contributions and am thankful for the friendship we had. She chose to pursue other paths.
Currently, Blu Gypsy is owned and operated by myself: Karen Hauswirth
Jewelry is Primarily set by my Mom Deana Mosley (we affectionately call "Mom Boss")
In February 2020, I stumbled across Sublimation Printing which of course me being me had to give it a try. With the help of Mom Boss we purchased a cheap printer, sublimation ink, paper and some T-shirts. At this point the learning began and Blu Gypsy gained another product line...Sublimation Printed T-Shirts! Life it all about trial and error right? I may try 100 things before I get 1 right, but I will not die saying I did not try. ~Karen
We are thankful for each and every one of our customers new and loyal you all make a difference!