Meet Alicia Clay and Teresa Nowell of Charming @ The Market in Dallas Farmers Market District

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Clay and Teresa Nowell.

Alicia and Teresa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
One night, after I put my son to bed, I found myself sitting on the sofa, alone, watching Desperate Housewives. I knew that this couldn’t be all there is to life. I was working at a Dallas law firm and while I loved my job, my creative side was longing for more. This night of the sofa was my “light bulb” moment. I was having this great conversation with myself – “God’s not going to knock on my door with a successful business to run. If I want it, I have to go get it!”. I had an expertise in event planning from working in legal recruiting, and I had a tiny amount of floral knowledge from working the front of house at a flower shop in uptown Dallas. Granted, I had never made a floral arrangement in my LIFE, but hey, I can do anything I put my mind to, right?!

The next day, July 12, 2012, I researched and hired a branding company. First impressions in the wedding/event industry are so important and I wanted to give the business a fighting chance. We had one month to design a logo, business card, and a promotional piece. It was a hard deadline as I wanted to participate in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Bridal Show on August 12th. I had determined if I booked one wedding, I could reimburse myself for most of the expenses of starting the business, but if I booked none, I would let the idea die as I couldn’t afford to invest any additional funds. I called my Mom and informed her I had started a business and needed her help at a bridal show. Her reaction…“WHAT?!”. She was “in” and she helped process flowers, make bouquets at my kitchen table and off we went to Fort Worth. I remember being so nervous pulling in to the parking lot. It felt like a “do or die” moment. From that show, we booked 25 weddings and received deposits in hand. We have never received a deposit at a show since then, so if that wasn’t a sign, I don’t know what is!

In 2013, we offered Valentine’s deliveries (made in my garage). We got our first corporate account, The Michael Flores Salon at Neiman Marcus Downtown Dallas, thanks to my dear friend, Angela. She was a stylist at the salon and her hubs ordered an arrangement for her. The fact that Michael liked our work was incredibly validating! We had that account for several years and my mom or I would deliver arrangements to the salon before we went to our day jobs. We carried flowers in our high heels up to the freight elevator every Tuesday. We actually booked several weddings on our elevator rides by meeting Neiman’s employees that were brides and from salon clients that saw our work.

Our second year in business, we booked over 50 weddings, various corporate events, and wedding planning services. We hired two contract employees, Sonni and Denise, and had finished out my garage to be a production and office space. At the end of that year, we were a bit burned out and felt like we had just run a year-long marathon.

When 2014 rolled around, I realized that I wanted this to be a full-time gig and focused on how I could get to that point. In December of ’14 my mom, who was an office manager for a law firm in the Bank of America Plaza downtown Dallas, took a centerpiece from holiday-themed wedding to her office and placed it on the reception desk. It just so happened that the building manager was delivering gifts to offices that day. She fell in love with the arrangement and asked my mom all the details of where it came from. The next thing I know, I’m getting a call asking if I’d be interested in quitting my full-time job to open a flower and gift shop in that bottom of that building. A brick & mortar was not in my business plan at all but I did have some knowledge of retail from my degree program, Home Furnishings Merchandising at the University of North Texas. I told her I’d look at the space and we’d go from there. It was hideous. Terra Cotta floors and MAUVE countertops. Who in the world would choose those finishes together?! I told the building that everything had to be re-done in white and once they told me what my rent would be, I said, “well… terra cotta and mauve are just fine”. January 2015, Mom and I were negotiating our lease for space over email while we were at Dallas Market Center writing purchase orders for products. That was such an exciting day for us! The following day I gave my notice at the law firm, which was the most bittersweet thing I’ve ever had to do. I adored my boss – she was, and still is, a dear friend. Remember my thoughts when I first started my business “God’s not going to knock on my door with a successful business to run…”? Here it was, a knock on my little red door with an opportunity greater than I could have ever imagined. The shop has now been open several years and while it’s a small storefront, it’s mighty! We produce a lot of flowers out of that location daily and service the Bank of America Plaza and several other buildings.

Fast forward a few years to 2017, we partnered with Downtown Dallas, Inc. as part of their ArtSee series where a mix of creatives taught workshops over the course of the Summer/Fall. I taught a Fall floral workshop at Iron Cactus and two of the attendees worked for the Dallas Farmers Market management company. They mentioned how they needed florals at the market and asked me to come take a look. For years, I had sketched a “dream space” where we would have enough space for wedding/event production, retail space for flowers & gifts, and a makers space to be able to teach classes. I had ALWAYS imagined it with large garage doors on the front for a true indoor/outdoor feel. When I toured the space, it couldn’t have been more perfect. We quickly got to work on negotiations and build-out for our space. The entire build-out process was incredibly creative, fun, and stressful. We opened Charming @ The Market in November of 2018 and the rest is history! We offer unique gifts that reflect a fun and colorful spirit, a makers space where we teach floral design and tons of other creative classes, beautiful field-to-vase style flowers, and a flower bar where you can purchase flowers by the stem, by the bundle, or in a vase all while sipping on a complimentary glass of spirits.

We are incredibly blessed to have a team of eight amazing ladies that work at our shops and on weddings/events. Most of which are family or life long friends that we trust and love beyond words. We are complete “awe” of how far this business has come. I am so thankful to my Mom for her constant hard work, dedication, tireless commitment, and mostly for believing in me. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have had a fairly smooth road but there have definitely been some challenges and struggles.

Being a mother/daughter team is what dreams are made of. However, we are very different people. I’m a creative, carefree, fly by the seat of my pants type of gal. I also spent a lot of time in corporate so I have a clear understanding of deadlines, processes that make a business run, and know that many small goals and tasks are all check marks to create the big picture. My mom is pretty traditional, very analytical, can see things in a different way than I can, and likes to know things way in advance so she can plan for things. We complement each other pretty well in most cases but inevitably we will sometimes butt heads. It’s a partnership that is both rewarding and challenging and we have to remember to nurture our primary relationship which is mother/daughter. Our secondary relationship of business partners has to come second, always!

We’ve also been challenged in regards to retail since we’ve opened up our Dallas Farmers Market location. At our BOAP location, we know our target market and our customers incredibly well. It’s different at farmers market because it’s a huge melting pot of clientele. The demographics are all over the place which is exactly what a farmers market should attract, but it makes buying product very challenging. We’ve had to really re-think the items that we purchase and the price points. We recently decided that we want to be known as a place where you can find colorful, fun, unique flowers and gifts. There has definitely been a change in our merchandise over the past 2 months and we will continue to create that shift.

Charming @ The Market – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We specialize in several things!

We are known for our beautiful and creative floral design work. Whether that be for a wedding, a funeral, or a delivery to someone’s office.

In addition to florals, we are known for our unique and fun gifts items. People know to come to us for something different than what’s in big-box retailers. We spend a lot of time searching for local, female-owned, handmade, and/or small businesses to carry in our gift sections. We find those items through Instagram, small-town fairs, and word-of-mouth.

Anyone can open a gift store and a lot of people are talented enough to open a flower shop but none of them are, Charming. Our staff and customer service is what sets us apart. As I mentioned, at our Bank of America Plaza location, we truly know our customers. We know they had surgery last week and that little Johnny lost a tooth yesterday. Our customers have become some of our greatest friends and cheerleaders. When we were building our farmers market location, we were really challenged with how we were going to create that same relationship with customers that come once every 3 or 4 months. That’s how our flower bar came to fruition. It’s a space where folks can come in, relax, enjoy choosing flowers and drink a cold beverage while they watch us design their bouquet. We get to have meaningful conversations with them, even when there are 50 other guests in the store. We have super comfy bar stools so they guests feel more relaxed and in turn, stay longer! It’s intimate, it’s personal and the experience of interacting with our staff is why people come back to us.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Hum… there’s so many to choose from.

Our proudest moment was signing with Dallas Farmers Market. The week after we signed, we hosted a small cocktail party in our new space to “Celebrate Charming”. We invited about 50 of our closest friends, family, and those that helped made the deal happen. There was no electricity in the space and it was in December so it was cold and dark. Farmers Market brought in some extension cords and patio lights which created the perfect ambiance. We had some of the plans and inspiration pictures of the space available for people to see. We started off in prayer and said a few words of thanks to some extra special folks. Then, we had a toast and a light cocktail party afterwards. It was such a special night and one that we will never forget. It felt monumental and epic.

Pricing:

• Wedding Florals starting at $3500
• Floral Deliveries starting at $60
• Loose Floral Stems starting at $2.50
• Average Price of Gifts $25
• Creative Workshops starting at $50 per person

Contact Info:

• Address: Charming @ The Market
  1011 S Pearl Expressway
  Suite 150
  Dallas, TX 75201Charming @ The Plaza
  901 Main Street
  Suite C126
  Dallas, TX 75202
• Website: www.youarecharming.com
• Phone: 214.752.4276
• Email: themarket@youarecharming.com
• Instagram: charmingfloralsevents AND charmingatthemarket
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharmingTheMarket-234633057109076/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/charming-dallas
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/charmingatthemarket/

Image Credit:
Fifteen Weddings, Jessica Carlisle

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