Today on Working Lunch we are at the beautiful store front of b.Inspired in the Village of Scotia, NY, owned and operated by Anne Brenner. Back in the 90’s, Anne moved from Scotia to Seattle to pursue a corporate career in Public Health in the field of infectious diseases. When Anne moved back to her hometown in 2016, she changed courses, followed her dream & founded b.Inspired: “An innovative and affordable home décor, gift and lifestyle store” which opened in 2018. You will truly b. Inspired (pun intended) by her incredible story!
Q: Where did you grow up and what did you want to be?
I grew up in Scotia, I went to elementary and high school. I went to college at SUNY Plattsburgh, got married and started my life here. I stumbled around a little bit but I came out of SUNY Plattsburgh with a degree in public health. My mom is a nurse and my dad is an attorney who worked for the state health department so that wove through my thinking. My dad wanted to be an attorney, like him, I really fought that. I guess I would have made a good attorney, but that wasn’t my life path.
I began my career at the NYS Health Department and I was one of the handful that started the AIDS Institute. In my early days I was really focused on HIV and infectious disease and I would never trade that experience for anything because it was in the early days of the epidemic when we didn’t even call it HIV, and I lost so many dear friends. It really became the foundation for my career, helping people and giving back. My husband at that time was offered a position in Seattle, so we took the opportunity in 1996 to move.
We bought a little house that looked over the Puget Sound. I loved that home and that life, my children grew up in a great place and Seattle is very dear to me. It also gave me the chance to restart my career in public health as the kids got older and went to college I went back to infectious disease and was the director of viral hepatitis for that state, working on hepatitis C, the opioid epidemic. That opportunity gave me the chance to travel and work with other health departments.
Q: In 2016-2017 you moved back to Scotia from Seattle and NYC, what made you decide to come back here?
Life changes at different junctures, and I was offered this position when I was in Seattle. They moved me, bought my house… I felt like it was time to come back, this was a sign. I accepted the job and moved. I worked in the NYC market and lived in Greenwich, CT. At that time the job was very stressful, they hired me to navigate the public health world so they could launch a viral hepatitis drug. The drug failed miserably in the market so I was floundering what i was going to do for this company. Eventually I wasn’t feeling well, and found a major spinal tumor that I didn’t know I had, had surgery and ended up coming back up here to recover.
All is well, the tumor was benign. I spent some time taking care of me and realized I was meant to come back here. So I said goodbye to corporate America that was causing that stress and I needed to live a life of purpose. I felt I wanted to give back to the community that gave to me, I would drive by all these empty storefronts and see all this potential. Through recuperating and walking I found the house that I bought and spent a year renovating, I spied my little store and spent time renovating this to open. My journey brought me back home.
Q: Talk about what your surgeon said to you during your last visit?
It was many months of physical therapy and visiting Yale- I’ll be forever grateful to Yale and living in CT, I must have been there for a reason. I was close to the surgeon for a time in my life that was scary. At the last visit, he said “You look well, you look happy. Now go live a life with purpose.”
Those words resonated in a way, I think I had been feeling that but it’s different hearing someone say it. It was my permission to say “OK, I’ve done the career thing, but now I want to give in a different way.” I had honored the academic side, now it was time to do something different.
Q: How did b. Inspired store come to be?
I always had this side. I always loved interior design, home decor, floral design, and incorporated that in my life as a hobby or on the side. When I came back and renovated my house, I stopped one day and said “This is what you really love to do, you love to create and help other people create a beautiful environment.” So I worked on a business plan, did my research- there are 28000 vehicles that drive by this corner every day and they’ve been driving by an empty space for a long time so it’s time for them to see something.
I’m one of the 6 new businesses that have opened on the Ave. We are trying to support whats always been here and bring a different flavor for this walkable shoppable village. That could be my tagline, I’m a cheerleader for that. I’m trying to bring this back to what it once was.
Q: Walk me through what you do to source product and how it lands on your shelf.
It’s a mix of things for the store. I’ve gone to Atlanta, NY, Dallas for the big wholesale/trade shows. I prefer Atlanta because it includes home decor, garden , apparel and its 3 buildings multiple stories of really wonderful stuff. You develop relationships with vendors and around that I work with local makers.
I work with a sophomore student in Scotia that makes wonderful candles, thats a mentoring collaboration for someone who’s just starting on his journey. I’d say 90% of the store is new, but some items are vintage. I have a thing for vintage clothing, glassware, scarves and mid century. Jewelry I try to bring in artisan jewelry. Holiday time the store looks a little different because there are more gift items in here. There’s always home, garden and lifestyle items.
Q: Why Scotia?
My house is about 5 minutes from here. I can ride my bike or walk here most days. But mostly it’s about giving back to the community that gave to me. Certainly Saratoga is lovely, the rent is horrible for a new business like mine, and having a business that shines only a couple months of the year isn’t what I wanted either. I know folks up there make most of their money during track season then it fluctuates a little but. That wasn’t for me.
Some people say I should be in Ballston Spa but they have their folks, Schenectady has theirs. To be honest, my store is a little different than the others. All the stores on the Avenue are in a different lane, we can support each other rather than have competition. I see things through a different lens which makes me a different type of store.
Q: What is a home decor tip for someone who doesn’t know where to start?
A lot of people come in wanting to everything at once, which would be overwhelming for anybody. So I often ask them to prioritize. From there we peel the layers back and figure out what’s bothering them, color, needs a remodel, etc.
As part of the B Inspired business model, I offer an in home service and have been doing that since last spring. A lot of the time I will go out and meet with a person. Sometimes just editing or rearranging a room, giving them a design board with a few items to add that takes the feeling of “I can’t do this” away. Then they’re very often surprised a few changes can make a big difference.
Often times we start with the color of the room. That usually serves as a very nice backdrop to whatever you’re going to do. From there, we look at furniture, layout, etc. I’m not the person that cleans out a room to start at square one, I go in and really try to repurpose and create their space that tells their story.
I will often tell people to use Pinterest to get ideas and pin them for ideas because after a while you will pin the same look over and over again which will give you a starting point. I did that with my own remodel. I wanted black windows, I pinned a million of them!
Q: What is your favorite and least favorite part of owning a brick and mortar store?
I love coming in the morning, put the key in the door and I feel happy. I’m not with my earbuds with my coffee on a conference call. I’m going to a store that gives me joy. I love that I’m able to help people. I love that I’m part of a community.
The business side is challenging. There’s some great resources I’ve discovered, but figuring that out, there’s no one to scoop you up and point you where to go. I’ve had to chart that course a little bit.
Q: What are you looking forward to offering this holiday season?
I’m excited to transform the store. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what day it is because I know by the first week of November it needs to be a Winter Wonderland in here. That excitement is my excitement because I’m changing the store into something magical. I hand pick everything that goes in the store so I’m excited to showcase the items I’ve picked, whether it’s garland, ornaments, candles. I tried this year to honor the home decor side.
You can go to many places for gifts and I do have some gift items here, but I really wanted you to come in and add to your home decor for the holiday season. I don’t think there’s one particular item, it’s the whole space that makes me really happy.
I opened the store last year the first week of November and went straight into the holidays, it was crazy busy. This year I’m a deer in headlights wondering if it’s going to be like that again. Something else giving me some stress, in a good way, is Black Friday, Shop Small Saturday and Holiday on the Ave are back to back to back- I’m just not going to sleep for 3 days!
Q: The concept of this store is to inspire others- what inspires you?
A lot of things. Stores that I loved and miss from Seattle. Seattle was filled with little neighborhoods walkable and shoppable. Living in that area inspired me. Stores like Anthropology or Terrain inspires me to want to be something like that. Individuals that have a gift and share. The inspiration to be part of something bigger than myself. Of course I want the store to succeed, but I also want it to be part of what’s happening in the village.
The name of the store, “B” is for my last name, Brenner. The whole idea inspires me and I want to inspire others. Just seemed like a natural name.
Q: What’s next for b. Inspired?
The At Home design services did launch last March. The biggest thing for me is working with the owner of the buildings to move to the corner of Route 50 and Mohawk Ave. It’s a very busy and visible corner that has been empty for so long. It would really be a gateway into the village of Scotia and Glenville. That space is much bigger, so I can bring in more product and expand. I can stage in a way for my customers can see how to use it. I’d love to set tables and have furniture set up.
The goal is to eventually have an online store and this new space has a much larger store room than I have now. For me to have an online store, I need to have a packing station to ship items and have them ready to go.
Q: What do you do for lunch?
I pack my lunch. I usually am standing, eating and working. I’ll run across the street to Storied Coffee and grab something. I don’t go to lunch because I’m here. I have to say that going to lunch is one of my favorite things but working in this type of environment, there’s no scheduled breaks like in an office.
Q: Where can listeners find you online?
