Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Ferguson.
Hi Shannon, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I always wanted to have my own business. I studied small business and entrepreneurship in my brief college experience and eventually dropped out to help the family with the opening of a small business. I ended up taking a more stable job in corporate retail between 2017 and 2020. Because I didn’t have the college education to bring in a hefty paycheck, I spent most of my days off thrifting and finding vintage items for my own personal collection. When my own home was filled to the brim, I started a “going to sell” closet because I just couldn’t pass up amazing pieces even when I didn’t need them for myself. It became a dream of mine to have my own vintage shop. I was 22 when I found that passion and decided I wanted to make it an occupation. The visualization of that dream changed a few times over the years as I navigated what was going to be best for me in different stages of life. I accumulated product but never pulled the trigger. In the Summer of 2020, I moved back to Tulsa to progress in my career due to a lack of opportunity for advancement once the pandemic hit. I specialized in merchandising, and customer service training, and Covid forced most retailers to run slim which eliminated many aspects of my job that I loved. I decided to finally open The Boneyard in May of 2021. It felt like the right time in my life to become my own boss, and I had a vision for something unique to bring to Tulsa as it is such a good city for entrepreneurs. I had initially intended on selling exclusively online, and when looking for storage space to work out of, we found our brick-and-mortar location for a comparable price and decided to dive face-first into opening a physical store. Now we’re a bit over a year into being in business, and we’ve very quickly made a name for ourselves in the creative community for curating playful vintage with brands pushing the limits on colorful maximal style.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Running a small business in this economy is so tough, and every other day seems to have a bump in the road! Finances are always the struggle that I feel after giving up the stability of working for someone else. The main area of our business where that can be tied to is probably the short lifecycle of our products. It’s an interesting business model to buy and resell, and with the increase in vintage popularity, prices are hiking, and there’s a lot of competition. I currently travel nearly every week to source vintage products, clean them, put them into inventory, price them, tag them, photograph them, and list them online. I product plan all wholesale items to match visual concepts that are cohesive with our vintage product. I plan all social media and marketing, sometimes producing large photoshoots for special campaigns. I do all website building and modifications. I merchandise the shop at least weekly. I facilitate all customer communications. I work at the shop nearly every day as a sales associate and perform all operating duties needed to do so. Basically, I’m every job from the creative director down to the janitor. Thankfully, my husband and co-owner file our taxes. An accountant is the one that I happily give up. You have to find enough hours in the day to get everything done while getting the most bang for your buck. Making time and money stretch is really hard because you aren’t pushing as much volume as a larger store, but the customer expects to have the same product flow and frequent fresh content. This is a Lot of work for products that are one-of-a-kind and can’t be restocked. I’m using up a lot of hours (time=money) for a tiny fraction of the profit I would make if I stocked mainly on new items. This prompted us to start carrying more wholesale lines in our store which landed well with some loyal customers and not as well with others. It’s really learning how to adapt and be flexible with what will benefit the business that’s been so important in the creation of this store!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Boneyard mixes vintage goods with brands that are vintage-inspired. We’re becoming most known for how we curate and present our collection of products. I really try to push the envelope with product photography and content creation. I’ve partnered with some really talented people in the Tulsa community to tell a story with our products and sell that story to our customers. Not only do I hope to attract new followers to our social and ultimately make sales, but we’ve been able to create a space for artists to flex their muscles, be involved in inspiring projects, and bring new life to vintage goods. I carry this into our merchandising in the store as well. You walk into a colorful space with an energetic mural, giant cardboard mushroom displays, and styled looks mixing vintage and new. You don’t have to guess how to style a vintage blouse or search forever to find something that matches your style-we’ve already put things that look good together on the shelves!
What makes you happy?
It makes me so happy to have other people find joy in our store. We have customers tell us that it inspires them, that they relate to it on a deep level, and that it helps their mental health to be in such a fun environment! Also, the support from complete strangers makes me very emotional. There is nothing better than receiving an order notification from someone across the country deciding to make a purchase off my website of a product that I ultimately chose to carry. There are cheesy videos or social posts about “small business owners doing a happy dance when you make a purchase” that I hate myself for agreeing with. But it’s reality. The *ding* I get from Shopify at 11 o’clock at night when someone places an order evokes an audible “Heyooo” every single time. I also find so much happiness in working with other creative people in my community. I’m so lucky to have found artists that share a vision and are eager to work on a project they also find joy in!
Contact Info:
- Website: shoptheboneyard.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/shoptheboneyard
- Other: Find us on TikTok! @shoptheboneyard
Image Credits
Tiffany Bruner
Taylor Hernandez
