In the heart of downtown Asheville sits a lovely sustainable lifestyle store called Ware that's run by a real cool human named Gillie Roberts. The warm space is filled with all sorts of quality products and we got to speak to Gillie about how the shop came to be! We also asked about her favorite products, what she's been listening to lately, and a whole lot more. Read the full interview after the jump!
I am Gillie Roberts and I own a sustainable lifestyle store called Ware in Asheville, NC
When did you hatch the idea of starting Ware?
That's kind of a whirlwind story, but here's the short version: I quit a corporate gig in DC to launch a program in Nairobi, Kenya with a non-profit I was on the board of. After I left DC, but before I moved to Nairobi, I got a call from the folks in Kenya letting me know that the political tensions were rising and they didn't think it would be safe for me to be there. So I was without a job, but I knew what my eventual goal was - I wanted to work with artisans around the world to develop lines of sustainably-made homewares. I also knew I knew nothing about supply chains or how to sell those products once I got them. So I started that education by opening a store. I'm working backwards as I learn how retail and supply chains function.
How would you describe the vibe of the shop?
It's like a general store was dropped into someone's brightly-lit living room.
Do you have a personal favorite product?
The solid dish washing soap or My Bare Skin face oil. Or the recycled cotton napkins. Or the tea infuser. I know that's not "one", but I did choose literally everything in the place, so it's hard to narrow it down. I use all of those every day.
In another life, if you weren’t running one of the coolest lil shops in town, what do you think you’d be doing?
Most likely, I'd be working in international development with a non-profit in some much warmer corner of the world. (Can you tell I'm ready for summer?)
What’s one of the biggest things you’ve learned since opening Ware?
In the middle of a pandemic, anyone trying to keep a business afloat is learning lessons like they breathe. This is entirely uncharted territory. One lesson that comes in many forms for me and has carried over from the days PC (pre-corona) is this: Your business is only going to be as successful as it is useful to your customers. That applies to everything from products and services offered to marketing materials and content put out on social media. I'll occasionally go through a period on social media where I'm posting or engaging (as Ware) based on what I want to do and say for my own motivations, like it's my personal account. That rarely results in sales or grows Ware's audience by much. On the other hand, when I make the effort to preemptively address questions people ask me in the store or message Ware about, content people are seeking out anyway, the magic happens. When Ware is useful, it is successful.
If you could have any person (living or dead) come help out at the shop for the day who would it be? Ugh. Right now, I'd be delighted to have Honey (my one employee) back in the store, the doors propped open, and customers wandering in off the streets. (Honey is very much alive, for the record.)
Music you've been listening to lately?
I pretty much always listen to a ton of Van Morrison and Paul Simon, but I've been "spicing" it up lately with quite a bit of Tom Misch, FKJ and whatever you'd call that modern genre of throwbackish soul/jazz/R&B/electronic music. But summer is coming, so I'm preparing to listen to strictly Hispanic-Caribbean reggae for the next 4 months. Not kidding.
Favorite food spot in Asheville?
A warm summer afternoon on the patio at Plant with an herby cocktail and their vegan cheeseboard.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Just that my written and spoken voices are SO different, so it's kind of hard for me to force my writing to sound like my speaking. I speak like a normal person, but I write like an English Professor (the subject, not the nationality). I hope I made myself sound cooler and more casual than I am...
Follow Ware on Instagram (@ware.avl) | www.wareavl.com