After celebrating with an open house reception that boasted foot traffic of over 350 people, Hunt & Gather has officially opened for business in a renovated warehouse space at 740 Curve St. SW.
Kelley Howley is owner and interior designer at the "modern-vintage" inspired furniture retailer and shares Hunt & Gather's new 5,000-square-foot space with artist
Jeff Kraus. The two are kicking up the collaborative workspace concept a notch to create a sort of retail-design-showroom-gallery hybrid that still has a clean and simple feeling, thanks to the pair's shared aesthetic sensibility.
"When I was thinking of expanding, I knew I wanted to have more of a collaborative space, and he was one of the first people I thought of," Howley says, adding that she and Kraus signed the lease in November and did all of the renovations – which involved more than 100 sheets of drywall and dozens of gallons of paint – by themselves throughout January and February before it opened this month.
Howley says she started to think more seriously about moving from her Cherry Street storefront last summer, when she realized her growing customer base wasn't necessarily the people who stumbled into Hunt & Gather to browse, but rather a younger, more creatively-inclined demographic that used social media, in large part, to engage with her brand differently than before.
"Obviously social media plays such a big role in businesses now, especially creative businesses," says Howley, who also used the transition between locations as an opportunity to set new store hours that essentially change Hunt & Gather's business model.
"For me, my biggest bottleneck with retail is time," she says. "My husband and I do everything ourselves – both retail and design – so everything else we have to do outside sales is after-hours."
For example, when she is working with a customer to find the perfect piece for their home and it ends up being in a Chicago storefront, Howley has to drive there and transport it back to her store without any major interruptions to her regular workday. So, in order to get those unique, one-of-a-kind furnishings that she knows her customers come to Hunt & Gather looking for, she can't be a full time salesperson - she had to embrace the designer, too.
"If we were strictly a retail store, there's no reason we should have ever had to leave Cherry Street; it's a traditional shopping experience," she says. " But, because a big part of what we do is find items for customers, I just wanted to find a space that would better highlight our design services and…kind of use a new (business) model to give myself a little bit more time so I can provide a way better service for my customers because it means I'm out more, I'm shopping more, bringing more things back – instead of having one dresser available in the shop, you'll have five dressers available."
Now, Hunt & Gather will be open Monday-Thursday by appointment only, with weekend hours for the retail space on Fridays from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.
"We really wanted to set ourselves apart and be an actual brand," Howley says. "For us, we really wanted the space to be a clean canvas. I wanted it to be a place where I could have a blank slate each week to create new designs and do more of those behind-the-scenes things… I've been there for two months like every single day, but it didn't hit me until Sunday how beautiful it is and that it has come such a long way."
For more information, check out
Hunt & Gather on Facebook or
visit its website here.
By Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Hunt & Gather
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