Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Pollmann and Jessica Conway.
Hi Kate and Jessica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We met through our kid’s school and immediately bonded over our love of entertaining, hunting for unique vintage finds, and endlessly decorating and rearranging our homes. Our conversations always circled back to one thing- the lack of a spot in St Louis where you could find that eclectic and fun mix of vintage and antiques, fantastic art, lacquer furniture, and exciting accessories with a side of design advice. We were driven by a passion to create an approachable place where you could decorate an entire room or pick up something fun for your coffee table. During one late-night text exchange, we decided to leap of faith. What if we just went for it? If nothing else, we’d find some fun things for ourselves! We picked a name, created a logo, launched our Instagram, and wasted no time filling our garages with merchandise. We sent a little brand video to the antique galleries in town to showcase what we could do, and we were thrilled to get immediate responses. We now have booths at Warson Woods Antiques Gallery and the Hill Antiques. We have an Etsy shop and an e-commerce website, and we are excited to be opening our first showroom/warehouse space in Olivette. We will be open by appointment during some walk-in hours, too.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Starting a business is never easy, and we have learned so much along the way. We have lots of friends and family we lean on for advice and expertise, and we have been amazed at how much we have grown in a year. Our customers are wonderful. They are supportive, enthusiastic, and kind. Without them, we would not be where we are just 1.5 years after launching! With rapid growth come challenges, and our creative brains struggle with the structure of managing a business at times. We are learning every day. Sourcing vintage is hard. The furniture is heavy, the accessories are fragile, and the whole operation requires a lot of logistics and help. Our husbands are saints for all the storage unit trips and auction and estate sale pickups they have done while looking the other way at the hoards of vintage finds in our homes. The sheer volume of things we need to keep our spaces looking great is a challenge. Having all of our inventory in one place at our new warehouse will make it so much easier. We are always on the go, and we are never not sourcing, stopping into a booth with new merchandise, or shipping online orders. Even vacations are an opportunity to bring back finds! It is all worth it when we see our spaces come together in such a beautiful way, and we love seeing where our pieces end up.
As you know, we’re big fans of Sugarcoat Home. What can you tell our readers who might need to be more familiar with the brand?
We source vintage and antique furniture and accessories, and we offer lacquer services for our inventory of vintage furniture. We are known for having fabulous vintage accessories. If there is a fun ceramic animal, you can bet we will find it! We carry a new furniture and home decor selection and will expand this year. We do some design work. We can help you with your entire home or just a bookcase! We are so proud of the brand we have created. We are passionate about helping our customers create a home they love to be in and where they want to spend time with family and friends. Creating this space to live in should be fun. We never take life too seriously, and we love color!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success for us is that we keep moving forward, delighting our customers, and loving what we do!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shopsugarcoat.com/
- Instagram: @sugarcoathome
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SugarcoatHome
Image Credits
Our own and Heidi Drexler Photography (the photos that we are in were taken by Heidi).
