If you’ve noticed people moving around the old storefront for Burlap and Lace on 2nd St., then you’ll be happy to see it opening soon as an extension of the Seoul Sisters Boutique. Owner Kourtni Rader has leased the space to create sarangHEY –sarang means love and adding HEY which makes the name read “I love you” in Korean. This store will carry Kawaii and anime vibe offerings. Check out their selections on their Instagram at love_saranghey, or come to their grand opening October 2 at 221 NW 2nd St. – next door to Peak Sports.
Correction: The original story about Seoul Sister’s expansion contained inaccurate information, now corrected.
Beaver Community Fair: Wondering how a fair designed to let new students to Oregon State University meet one another might benefit your business? The Fair is set up to not only let students meet students, but to let students meet the City of Corvallis.
Dozens of businesses and organizations will be out on campus – specifically at the Memorial Quad & SEC Plaza, located at 2501 SW Jefferson Way. The goal for each organization differs from making sales over the course of a student’s time in our fair city, to added members to a club, to finding a new employee.
If you didn’t get a chance to wrangle a spot as a vendor, then check out the fair as recon for years to come or to meet other businesses in the area. You can check out who will be there at this link.
Beaver Community Fair runs from 12:00-4:00 p.m. on September 30.
A Return for Willamette Innovators Network: We sat down with the new head of the Willamette Innovators Network (WIN), Aaron Moore, to discuss their return to events post-pandemic.
If you’re interested in his “street cred,” Moore is Founder and President of Revolution Robotics, which operates engineering services to Engineering, Accounting, Research, and Management sectors. He graduated from Oregon State University with a dual BS in Computer Science and Computer Electrical Engineering.
WIN is a non-profit organization that focuses on making connections between the innovators, entrepreneurs, and behind-the-scenes people who are continually focused on how to grow a technology sector business in the Mid-Willamette Valley.
“Our circle was mainly in Corvallis, but also the surrounding areas,” Moore said. “We are a networking organization, so we put on networking events.”
In the past, WIN put on events with speakers to talk about specific issues they’d encountered, the manners in which things were accomplished in a specific business, and a way to pitch new ideas to a “panel” of business people ala Shark Tank.
Moore became the head of WIN in early 2020, and as we all remember that was a time of staying home and keeping as far away from others as possible. This made WIN’s goals a bit harder, although not impossible, to manage. They did meet online, but taking a moment to break away from the group dynamic and have a one-on-one is awfully hard on Zoom.
Recently, WIN had a meet up at Old World Deli to test the waters of meeting in person again, and they had about 40 people show up. A good start to getting back to normal. Coming up next? Kevin and Joseph Sullivan – brothers who have created over four businesses in the valley to date – will be coming to talk about how they’ve been successful.
Check out this column for future WIN events.
How Small Businesses Can Rock the Current Market: Over the past decades, there have been two wars going on in the business world.
The first is one you’ve heard of – Amazon versus the rest of e-commerce and all of the brick-and-mortar stores. It’s been fairly clear as we enter the second decade of the 21st Century that Amazon is winning that war – regardless of how any other business may view their battle tactics.
So what’s the other war? Big stores versus small stores.
Traditionally, stores like Macy’s, Nordstrom, Wal-Mart, Target, and yes, even now-defunct Meier and Frank have been the winners in this battlefield. They had more money to buy larger varieties of stock. They also had the funds to buy advertising space that was out of the market for Main Street America.
Then came the pandemic with its supply chain bottleneck, major shift in consumer spending habits, and what we’ve all been holding our breath over, inflation. Now, the experts say it’s nice to be small.
According to a report from CNBC, the new economy has taken its toll on large retailers who have built up an inventory of merchandise that just isn’t selling because they don’t actually know their shoppers. “In fact, small business owners, being closer to relationships on both the supply and customer ends, may be able to more nimbly manage a fast-changing environment.”
“I actually see this as a tremendous opportunity. I really do. Especially for small businesses,” said Nada Sanders, Northeastern University distinguished professor of supply chain management, in the CNBC report.
Sanders went on to highlight three areas where small businesses should focus to take advantage of their current competitive advantage.
Focus No. 1: Talk directly to your customers. Ask them what they want and need you to bring in, and then order those items. Once a shopper feels listened to and appreciated, they will return. And that immediate payoff will far outweigh all of the “futurists” the big stores can hire.
Focus No. 2: Learn how to set prices for a recession. In a recent survey done, 57% of small business owners said that the recession has already begun, and 14% said it will start before the end of the year.
One key benefit to being smaller is that you get to determine the prices you charge without having a slew of VP’s and Directors weighing in and causing delays. Also, the traditional way of setting prices – by waiting to see what everyone else is charging – needs to go to the wayside for now and be replaced with a serious look at what the costs are to make the merchandise and get it into a store.
Focus No. 3: Maintain close ties with your suppliers. Sanders told CNBC “the data shows that, on average, 80% of a company’s spend goes towards about 6% of their suppliers.” That 6% should be your main focus when it comes to building strong, friendly relationships with those businesses you buy from. Always remember that big companies can’t form the same close ties that become a small business’s bread-and-butter.
So go out there, businesses of Corvallis and Benton County, and find your way through the battlefield to keep local customers coming through your doors. Because, as Sanders summed up, “Large companies are dinosaurs. … They’re very heavy, bureaucratic. As a small business, you’re very limber.”
Chamber Events: Coming this week from the Chamber of Commerce…
Greeters this Tuesday, September 27, will be hosted by Corvallis Public Works. The chance to chat will be held at the Corvallis Museum, located at 411 SW 2nd St., from 8:30-9:30 a.m.
On Saturday, October 1, from 12:00-3:00 p.m., you have a first opportunity to make a preorder with Fill Your Pantry – a one-day farmers’ market held every year in November. You can make an order between October 1-23. “This event offers bulk quantities of beans, grains, storage crops, meats, and preserves. We believe this is a great way to encourage local eating throughout the fall and winter months. It also allows our local food farmers, ranchers, orchardists, and beekeepers to move large quantities of produce before the slower winter season. Pre-ordering is encouraged for best availability and is required for orders of 100 lbs. or more. SNAP welcome!”
Also on Saturday, October 1, is the Embracing Brave Art for the Heart Gala, from 6:00-9:30 p.n. at the Corvallis Community Center located at 3601 NW Tyler St.
By Sally K Lehman
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