Sloan + Themis: A perfect mix of independence and collaboration

A door squeezed between two businesses on North Main Street in Cape Girardeau opens into a 34 foot long and 6 foot wide room filled with an array of necklaces, brooches and beads.

Claire Bruce, owner and designer of Sloan + Themis, 31 C N. Main St. in Cape Girardeau, didn't begin her career working with beads or designing jewelry. Bruce started in the technical industry after graduating with a degree in engineering from Vanderbuilt University.

When she was working as an associate project line manager for a company that produced equipment for a European high-speed Internet service called Marconi, the economy hit a rough spot and the company shut down its operations in North America. Bruce went on to marketing consumer research and studying people's buying habits and crunched numbers in the food and technical industries.

She found that recording how products were selling and consumer research meant checking more math. Bruce wanted to be more involved in actually designing a product.

In 2004, Bruce started working with beads. She began selling her hand-made jewelry online in 2011. When she received enough traffic, and local people started finding her products online, Bruce decided she needed a storefront.

Beads galore inside Sloan + Themis.

Sloan + Themis opened in April 2012. The boutique sells beads and vintage and artisan-made pieces. Personal pieces also can be created.

"Being face to face with customers is a little different," Bruce said, adding that she was accustomed to interacting with customers through her online store. "Actually being face to face with a customer in a retail setting was new."

Being face to face with customers proved not to be an issue when it came to expanding her business.

Within the first year, Bruce said the store made enough for her to reinvest in her business. As far as the Sloan + Themis website, Bruce said she was able to take it from "an old wiki site" to a site that allows for different customer interactions, such as creating wish lists and being able to "pin" products. She has been able to keep reinvesting in her Cape Girardeau location and online store.

Business has been so good, Bruce said, that companies who use an online international wholesale marketplace called Modalyst purchased some of her products and are demanding more. Modalyst is "the new generation of how compnaies are doing wholesale," she said.

Each week, Bruce pitches her products on the site by submitting photos of samples of her work. If interested in her jewelry, stores and companies from around the world are able to order her creations at wholesale. This method of selling and expanding takes out the extra expenses of traveling to markets to promote her products.

Bruce promotes her business largely through the online pitches. Trying to sell to other companies and buyers online can be tough, but someone's going to bite, Bruce said.

"That's kind of like going out and throwing pennies in a fountain … that wish may come true," she said.

Bruce said if she can reach one or two people out of 6,000 bloggers, then her work is "totally worth it."

The Sloan + Themis location originally started out selling both ready-to-wear and make-your-own jewelry pieces. Customers could come in, select beads and supplies available in the shop and create their own piece of jewelry.

"A lot of people were intimidated by the make-your-own thing," Bruce said. "People get kind of put into buckets. ... people may not feel like they have that creative drive within them."

Her business transformed into a place where customers now come to the shop and perhaps bring a keepsake they want to make into a piece of jewelry, or a shirt for which they want a perfectly matched necklace. Customers then will pick out beads and request a piece be made for them, Bruce said.

"People will come in and they will want something made especially for them," she said.

Jewelry pieces from Sloan + Themis now can be made to order with the customer's input.

One of Bruce's favorite parts about her job is knowing something a woman made in her store is the first thing they put on after getting out of the shower and before leaving for work in the morning. She loves being able to provide women with that little bit of extra strength, confidence or glamour many find through wearing a favorite piece of jewelry.

"Sometimes, it takes that one little thing to make us feel special, and hopefully my store can provide that," Bruce said.

adowning@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

31 C N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO