Elon University, with an undergraduate enrollment of about 6,000 students, is a considerably small school when compared to other universities across the country. There is no sprawling city with malls and corporate businesses for students and families to shop at; rather there is downtown Elon nestled next to campus. This downtown strip is comprised of small, independently owned shops. By shopping at these locally owned businesses, students are supporting their community, local girl bosses, and giving money directly back into the town. Two female owned businesses located in downtown, All That Jas and Simply Oak, sat down to talk about what it means to be a small business owner, their shops, and being a woman in business.
Melissa Troutman, owner of Simply Oak, talked to me about her business!
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How did you start Simply Oak?
I start Simply Oak while I was in graduate school at Elon University. One of our final projects before we graduate was to create a business plan: I decided to do mine on a boutique because I thought it was a topic I would be interested in and felt that there was a need in the area.
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What was your inspiration for the boutique?
Mostly from my style! I wanted the store to be calm and inviting, and for customers of any age of stage of life could come in and find something they would wear. I strive to bring different and unique pieces in the store that you probably wouldn’t find anywhere else, all with a little southern flare to it!
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What three words would you use to describe your business?
Southern, savvy, and sophisticated.
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How has the rise of social media impacted your business?
Social media has had a huge impact on how I run Simply Oak. We are able to advertise new pieces and products and let our customers know when we are having sales or special events. We are also able to sell and ship pieces from social media by having our followers contact us about have certain items shipped if they aren’t able to come to the store,
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What does the future of your business look like?
We would love to launch an online portion/website of Simply Oak so that our customers are able to shop from anywhere and we can bring our unique pieces to closets across the US.
Simply Oak is located at 108 W Lebanon Ave, at the corner.
Follow them on Insta! @simply.oak.boutique
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