We had the good fortune of connecting with Barbara Cooney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Barbara, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The world changes fast, so being able to pivot my business based on current trends, global economy, social media, and the pandemic keeps my business nimble and thriving. It sounds cliche’ and we have all heard it, but those of us that are truly not afraid of failure can grow a business. When you pivot, you try something new and when you try something new you often fail. I don’t see them as failures, only lessons to take away that help grow my business. Taking risk when pivoting does not mean betting the farm or pushing all your chips in on one idea. I have always experienced with A/B testing without too much expense to see what works. The Spiffy Brand has been through a metamorphosis. Starting out as a small staging company out of my garage and five years later growing and investing in a new staging/retail space with a 25,000 square foot showroom. I have tried online sales, sales out of homes, pop up sales with little traction. During the pandemic i hunkered down and pivoted to all online sales spending night and day inputting inventory on our site. I have come out of the pandemic in a new retail space that offers a once a month “party” retail therapy event that is being well received. Coming out of the pandemic I envisioned a happy space that everyone wants to be a part of. I invite other small business to come to my space and sell their merchandise. We have food trucks and free margaritas. It’s a party and everyone is excited to be there post pandemic.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I have always wanted to do things differently in my business. I never wanted a brick and mortar furniture store. Just writing that sentence makes me want to take a nap. When expanding my business from just staging to staging and retail, I wanted something that had not been done before in my city. Post pandemic, I wanted it to be happy and a point of destination. I wanted to draw crowds and support other small businesses and entrepreneurs. We hold a once a month Shopping Shindig that is drawing crowds and people are loving it. Sales have been phenomenal, but perhaps the most exciting thing about the expansion is the overwhelming consistent response I get from my customers: “this is my new happy place”. Our return rate for customers is 38%. That means a third of the people who came to the first two events, came back the second and third month because it is their happy place. I designed the space with color (PINK especially) a huge interactive mural on the side of the building and fun food and drink. Easy? NO! Trying to message a new idea to the consumer is never easy. For entrepreneurs who are floating new ideas and veering from the way things used to be, it is never easy to market your message to the consumer. I have learned you push the message over and over and over until the consumer has an AHA moment and they say ‘oh that is cool’ instead of ‘now, what do you do?’ Getting the message right has taken years. Knowing your audience is key.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Funny you ask! ha! We have a ‘roadtrip’ marketing campaign running at Spiffy. You start the weekend on a Friday at noon with the So So Spiffy Shopping Shindig. (only offered the first Friday and Saturday of the month) Buy something fabulous for your home at crazy great prices. Have a free marg while you sip and shop, then grab a snack at the food truck in our parking lot. Take a selfie in front of our amazing mural and then take a stroll down railroad park or grab a bike to toodle around the city and pop in one of the dozens of microbrewery’s around town. Check into your hotel at The Elyton (just two blocks from So So Spiffy) and get spiffied up to go to dinner. Start on 2nd ave north and take your pick of at least 9 restaurants on our street. Conde Naste just named Birmingham as one of the top 22 places in the world to visit. Yep, and all of those restaurants mentioned in the article are just blocks from So so spiffy. Take your pick on food, because in Birmingham, you can’t go wrong on the food. Head back to your hotel, because you need to be up and ready to participate in soso spiffy’s free workout before the saturday shindig. We offer new merchandise on Saturday’s for returning customers. After the workout, shop til you drop then head to a BHAM Squadron game, a Legions game, the botanical gardens or visit Vulcan. You can even circle back to Spiffy before we close at 3 on saturday to see what’s new on the floor since morning!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Female entrepreneurs are typically strong and assertive and need a confident man or partner to support them. I credit the entrepreneur spirit in my father who passed away 20 year ago. I also credit my husband who has supported me along the way. Both men has shown me that it is ok to be strong and assertive to get what you want. As a southern woman in my 50’s I was raised in a time where women stay home and the man brings home the bacon and the female cheered him along every step of his career. My dad raised me to think outside the box, be self sufficient and at the end of the day only rely on myself and my instincts. My dad was a physician but had so many ideas he persued outside medicine. He was a potter, a painter, a farmer, a builder. He has endless energy and was alway dabbling in new ventures. That is how I was raised, and I just thought everyone was supposed to try a new ‘thing’ once a month. He failed equally, but enjoyed the journey. My husband is a corporate guy and just the opposite. He is not a risk taker, he has always worked for a large corporation but he supports my business ventures whole heartedly without envy or jealousy or machismo. I am so fortunate to have these two strong men to support strong female ideas.

Website: www.sosospiffy.com

Instagram: @sosospiffydesign

Linkedin: Barbara Cooney

Facebook: @sosospiffydesign

Yelp: Spiffy Staging and Design

Youtube: Spiffy Staging and Design

Other: Tik Tok @sosospiffydesign

Image Credits
So So Spiffy

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