Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Espinosa
Hi Chelsea, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My sister and I created Vinnie and Velvet out of a shared love for thrifting and reselling. We’ve always enjoyed reselling items from our own closets, though we never felt like we were earning what our items were truly worth, or found the process of reselling frustrating and overcomplicated. Chloe had started a thrifting/reselling business on the side back in 2020 which had proven to be successful and quite popular with locals–We set out to rekindle that business, but in a new way and on a larger scale. I have two young children and was looking for an opportunity to work for myself in order to have the flexibility needed to be home with them. We began putting pen to paper and dreaming up what is now Vinnie and Velvet. Since then, we’ve never looked back!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think all small business owners would agree that owning a business is truly a roller coaster ride. Every single day is full of ups and downs. While it certainly hasn’t been a smooth road, we’ve been blessed to have far more ups than downs! We chose to open our storefront in the downtown area of our hometown, which was set to undergo a year-long construction project beginning about 8 months after our grand opening. In addition, we opened a seperate, adjoining soda shop 6 months after the opening of V&V (2 months prior to construction). It’s difficult to put even put the magnitude of this into words. We knew the challenges that lied ahead of us, but felt that if we could get established and survive the year, we’d have a home in the heart of our hometown forever. Our incredible community continued to visit and support us throughout the construction no matter how difficult it was to get in the front door. We fought hard through that time and are now excited for the years to come in our beautiful downtown that is now ripe for new businesses to flourish.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Vinnie & Velvet is, as we like to call it, a boutique thrifting experience. We pride ourselves on empowering our sellers to earn top dollar for their gently-loved, quality and name brand items, while giving our customers the opportunity to shop incredible items at amazing prices. Our sellers love the fact that they can set their own prices, and rest easy throughout the duration of their booth rental, knowing we’re pushing their items out not only to our local crowd, but also our audience of shoppers all over the country, whom we ship to! Our shoppers love that our inventory is always fresh, and enjoy visiting us on Saturday mornings (new booth day) to check out our new items.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My biggest piece of advice would be to find a gap in the market and try to fill a need. We “struck out” with several other ideas that just didn’t stick because they didn’t feel unique enough. Once V&V was on the table, we knew it was a winner!
Pricing:
- Booth Rental Cost – $20/week
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vinnieandvelvet.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopvinnieandvelvet?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vinnieandvelvet/
