Meet Sarah Campbell: Owner

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

Hi Sarah, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
After working for other small businesses for the first part of my career, I was driven by the satisfaction of steering the direction of the business, it’s interactions with customers, offerings, etc. I stayed home with my kids when they were little and started a small business sewing nursery decor in my guest room. The opportunity to affect your own bottom line and make your own rules felt amazing. Once the kids were in school I knew I wanted to continue in that fashion, but on a much larger scale. I was buying a lot of fabric online and saw an opportunity in my local market to provide a retail location for people that were interested in shopping in person for the modern, quality fabrics that I was drawn to. I knew that fabric stores are hard to keep afloat in the traditional brick and mortar arena, so I decided to combine the local business with a sewing studio to teach sewing to kids and adults, thereby increasing my customer base and selection of offerings. I also put a lot of effort into selling fabrics online to further diversify the business.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I opened Sew Sew Studio in August of 2018. It is a fabric store and sewing studio. We sell modern, quality fabrics, notions, sewing machines, and more. The studio teaches sewing classes to kids and adults in the local area. We also sell online through Etsy and our own website. I dreamed of opening a fun, inviting space that has a very nontraditional feel. The space feels homey and inviting, which is great for classes. In the beginning I sought only to stock enough fabric and notions to support the studio but quickly realized the online and local market needed more selection, so we’ve been expanding since day one. I also did not intend to sell sewing machines, but there was definitely a need for a quality machine shop in the area. We now sell and service machines ranging from $350 to $13,000. We’ve outgrown our space already and plan to move to a larger suite this spring. The thing that I learned most along the way was that it’s okay for the business to be fluent. Listen to the customers and steer growth in the direction that makes the most sense for the current market. Flexibility and diversity are the keys to success.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
For daytime outings, I love the GA State Botanical Gardens in Athens, touring the campus and stadium, and hopping around downtown Athens for the shopping and people watching. There are lots of amazing places to eat – lunch at Cali n Tito’s or DePalmas, and dinner at the National or Donna Chang’s. This is a football town, so fall is focused on game day tailgating and seeing old school friends.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The UGA Small Business Development Center is a free resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Mike Myers, a counselor with the SB Center was a huge help to me when I was just getting started with the idea. I spent a couple of absolutely essential hours with him learning how to design a business plan, research the market, organizing as an LLC, setting up accounts with the Revenue department, etc.

Website: www.sewsewstudio.com, etsy.com/shop/sewsewstudioathens
Instagram: Instagram.com/sewsewstudio
Facebook: Facebook.com/sewsewstudio

Image Credits
Please feel free to crop the photo. I could not get some of the others to upload.