Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke Henze.
Brooke, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
The Swell Shop in Sandy Springs is the brand new flagship store for our first company, Swell Forever. Swell Forever began about four years ago as an online retailer committed to American Made and uniquely personalized heirloom baby and adult sized blankets. Our brand launched with a mission to help raise awareness for children in foster care and support adoptive families while also supporting such efforts directly with a donation from each purchase. The Swell Shop houses our operations for sewing personalized message tags into each blanket, the unique element of our trademarked Forever Blanket collection. We have dedicated the front of the house to providing unique, beautiful and long lasting gifts for baby, kids up to age 6 and women. It is curated to include our favorite designers and brands, many handmade and small batch crafted.
Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely Not! It has been fun, most of the time. Running a business with babies and young children that starts out of your home and operates that way for four years is CRAZY! We finally outgrew our house and the transition to brick and mortar has been ups and downs. We wanted to bring something very special to our hometown of Sandy Springs during a time when so many retailers are closing up. Thankfully our online success gave us the stability to be able to take the risk.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the The Swell Shop/Swell Forever story. Tell us more about the business.
I look at life through the lens of “how can my success help others.” I think that focus and determination as a business owner and founder of our non-profit, Foster Swell, where we support foster families and adoptive families directly, is unique. I have an MBA from Duke and it has helped me think about our brand and growth strategically but at the end of the day I follow my inclinations and in the end, my heart. Our local shop is all about community. From story times (where my dad can sometimes lead the show) to engaging events for moms and kids (Swell Music brings large crowds to our local library), I am very proud that customers love our products, tell their friends and family and help us make a bigger impact on the lives of others through their purchases.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Retail has transitioned to convenience for many shoppers, especially my mom groups. To answer that shift, we have made all of our local shop items available for online shopping. Pick a gift, select your wrapping preference and time needed and you can call to have the items brought out to you curbside. This is great for the elderly, those in a big hurry that still want to support small and local and especially those with handicaps or moms with kids in car seats like me! We hope there will be a stronger push to support local retailers but to survive you have to meet people where they are.
Contact Info:
- Address: 203 Hilderbrand Dr.
Sandy Springs, GA 30328 - Website: www.swellforever.com
- Phone: 470-575-5803
- Email: support@swellforever.com
- Instagram: @swellshopATL or @swellforever
- Facebook: The Swell Shop
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