Owner of Frankfort’s Linen Closet offers ethically sourced & female-owned home goods
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Central Kentucky small businesses
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1) Name: The Linen Closet
2) Owners: Founder and co-owner Brittany Sams and her co-owner Samantha Woods
3) About your business:
Address: 232 West Main Street, Frankfort, KY
Merchandise focus or mission of the company:
“It’s all items for your home. I am an architectural historian, and I’m obsessed with cozy homes and how a place can have such an impact on your well-being. I primarily deal with the exterior of buildings for my job and so, for myself, I want to work on the interior of buildings,” Sams said.
What’s so special or unique about your business:
“The beauty of a small business is you can be really picky with how you source your items. You have oversight and relationships with makers and artists you wouldn’t necessarily be able to have, otherwise.
“I import things from Europe and Scotland, locally made things, items from the U.S. We know who makes it, we know where they make it, and we know it supports a good cause of some kind. It’s ethically-sourced, minority or female-owned, organic, recycled, doing some type of good. My emphasis is really purchasing power for the consumer - what are you buying and what is your money supporting?”
When did it open: October 2023
Hours of operation during holidays: Wednesday – Saturday, 10am-6pm; Sundays 1-5pm. Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
Website: linenclosetco.com
4) What’s your forecast for this upcoming holiday season? Are you anticipating a better sales cycle vs. last year? Will it be tougher? What’s driving this year’s forecast?
“We hope for better sales, always. We had an amazing October. Our fall items were very popular with locals and also with bourbon tourists.
“I look forward to seeing how the Christmas season will shake out. For us, our busiest season by far was the week right before Christmas, with last-minute shoppers who didn’t want to take the risk of having something delivered online and wanted something easy and local.”
5) What’s the mood of shoppers this year? Are they complaining about inflation? Nervous about the presidential election? Optimistic about interest rate cuts?
“The supporter of a small business, in Frankfort at least, tends to be the bourbon tourist, who is there to shop and have some fun and spend a little money, or it’s the local who is very intentionally making a point to shop small.
“So, it’s more than buying an item, it’s putting your money toward something you believe in, whether it’s the person who owns the store or the person who made the item, or the feeling the store gives to downtown. You walk in a big box store and look for the cheapest price, but you walk into a small business and say, what’s the most unique thing I can find?
“We don’t actually get too many inflation (questions). But the season is still young, our busiest season is still yet to come.”
6) Are you trying anything different this year in terms of marketing? New tactics to reach new shoppers?
We are always trying new marketing tactics. We work with a professional photographer out of Louisville, so we’ve had a professional photo shoot, we have a local Santa Clause who is the Santa Clause of Frankfort – he has done photo shoots both years. We want a really professional sheen, but we want locals in the photos, because we want people to feel like it’s our store but that it’s also their store.
I want people to do themselves a favor and make shopping a fun and meaningful activity again, and a way to get to know their surroundings and people. Just skip out on all the big box marketing. Walk your dog, go get a latte, go say hello to your local barista, go to the florist downtown, buy some flowers, and then just pick up a lotion from our shop or a candle to light while you’re cleaning. Then it’s not just the gathering of goods, it’s a curated experience you give yourself.
7) Come early January, you’ll know the 2024 holiday shopping season was successful if ...
Enough cash to get us through the slow winter months. This year it’s going to be even harder because we’re moving down two storefronts, where there’s more space.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 9:00 AM.
