Today we’d like to introduce you to Carrie Hadley.
Hi Carrie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve been blessed through personal and professional travel to be able to visit a number of really interesting places in the world. I have always loved fine fragrances was always so amazed by how many incredible luxury fragrance brands are available in other countries. My suitcase and budget were never big enough to bring them all home so I started contacting some of the brands and asking if they would allow me to carry them if I opened an Atlanta-area store.
Around the same time, I had the opportunity to take a workshop with my daughters in Grasse, France where we made our own perfume. It was such a great experience that I had the idea to add a studio space to the boutique so that guests could come and learn about fragrances and even try their hand at making a unique personal scent. I found the perfect space in Fall 2019 and we were ready to open in March 2020……and then actually opened the boutique + Studio concept in June of that year.
To date, we have had over 4500 guests in our Scent Blending 101 workshop from all over the Southeast and are starting to get calls from potential guests in places like Boston and Chicago! We have had a surprising number of guests take the class again with a different group of friends or they will bring their employees/co-workers for team building events.
Those luxury niche fragrances that we import were more popular than I had ever dreamed, so I just opened a small second Atlanta boutique at Westside Provisions last month and were able to bring in 10 new brands, taking the total number of niche brands we offer to almost 60. I am hopeful that we can expand the workshop experience to the Midtown Atlanta area in the coming year, stay tuned!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s the little shop that almost wasn’t! After working for 18 months to plan and build out the space to launch a brand new concept, our grand opening was scheduled for March 15, 2020. Two days before our grand reveal, the COVID shutdowns occurred, so we never actually had a grand opening for that Alpharetta store.
Because we were not open before the shutdowns we did not qualify for any assistance and I had worked so hard to build an amazing in-store experience that I did not have any online customers. So the bills just kept stacking up. It wasn’t until the vaccines started that business picked up and it started to look like we would make it.
We’ve been impressed with INDIEHOUSE, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
INDIEHOUSE modern fragrances is a women-owned new concept start-up launched June 2020 in the fine fragrances industry. We are an edutainment company centered around the discovery of niche & luxury imported fine fragrances. Guests to our Alpharetta studio can also try their hand at creating their own personal fragrance in a two-hour workshop where we cover the art & science behind fragrance creation before we turn you loose to make your own! In 2021 we introduced our ORGANIC blending bar, a walk-up experience that allows guests to mix and match two different blends to customize a body or home product.
We got our second boutique open over at WESTSIDE PROVISIONS in time for the holiday season and have been so excited by the warm welcome we are receiving from the in-town community. The INDIEHOUSE experience will change from location to location, so while you can only take a workshop in our Alpharetta studio at Westside, you will soon be able to sit down with a perfumer for a bespoke perfume creation or a personal concierge shopping experience. If you have a passion for fragrance and are really looking to stand out from the crowd, you need to come and spend some time at INDIEHOUSE!
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Such an easy question – the HUSTLE for sure! Everyone has a passion that they are bravely putting out there, so the level of compassion for other small businesses is extraordinary. For me, INDIEHOUSE was a really cool idea that everyone told me would never work, so it sat in my head for a few years before I finally just got started. And it’s been a bumpy ride! The business is a constant work-in-progress and I am amazed by the grace and goodness of our amazing guests who are willing to forgive just about anything because they understand that we are doing the best that we can. It’s such a great community to be a part of, I’m grateful every day.
What do I like least? Crime and traffic – both stress me out.
Pricing:
- Luxury niche imported fragrances range in price from $89-$500+
- Our walk-up ORGANIC blending bar customizable products are priced from $16-$36 (includes scent)
- A 2-hour Scent Blending 101 class in our Alpharetta Studio is $89/pp + gratuity, taxes & fees
Contact Info:
- Website: https://indiehousefragrances.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indiehousefragrances
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indiehousefragrances
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@indiehousefragrances
Image Credits
First two: Raphael Miller and then the rest were captured on-site with photo release forms.
