Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Kapp.
Hi Angela, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My husband Keith and I opened and operated several child care centers from 2012 to 2023. When Covid hit we struggled to keep the 4 locations we had open fully staffed. We made the decision to start downsizing in the hopes to get down to one location in Maplewood and do it well. We closed our Inver Grove Heights location in November 2020. The following year we transitioned our Como location in Saint Paul to a new owner. In 2022 we transferred our Hamline location in St. Paul to a new owner. Then in 2023 our daughter Ashley Kapp took ownership of our last location in Maplewood, keeping our name, The Learning Garden. My husband Keith remained on as Finance and Operations Manager and I remained on.part-time as Education Coordinator.
In May of 2023 I started working part-time for the Center for Inclusive Child Care as an Early Childhood Coach. Every morning when I would swim I would think about what I wanted to do next. I knew I wanted to suppoert early childhood teachers in some way, but wanted to still own my own business. When I thought about my passions, thrifting, crafting and supporting teachers, it came to me. CRAFT, Creating Resources And Funding for Teachers. A thrift store with a mission. I mentioned my idea to my husband and we decided we would start looking at spaces and see what was out there.
We looked at the former mattress liquidators space in West Saint Paul and fell in love with it, but the owners had decided to lease it to another business. For the next several months we continued to look at spaces, but we didn’t find anything we liked. I saw the space in West Saint Paul was still for lease and reached out to the owners again. Things went quickly from there.
We used the funds from the sale of our Maplewood child care to put down the deposit and first months rent in August 2024. We got shelving and clothing racks from Facebook Marketplace and started bidding on storage units. Between August and our opening in November 2024 we purchased 12 units to get our inventory. We also had lots of donations from friends, family and families at The Learning Garden.
We had to jump a few hoops with the city, as the area is not zoned for second hand stores, but since our opening the community has been amazing and we haven’t had to purchase additional inventory due to.the donations from the community.
We’ve been able to take some of the donations and share them with other organizations that help low income families and the unhoused community.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We didn’t realize that the building we leased wasn’t approved for second hand stores so we had to appeal to the city for approval. Thankfully there were some great folks that helped us navigate the system and our opening was only delayed by 2 months.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
One of the things that sets our thrift store apart from others is that we have a goal to reuse, repurpose and recycle everything that comes through our doors.
We have a Upcycling and Crafting Space, which is member supported. Members can pay a daily rate ($5), a monthly rate ($15) or an annual rate ($150) and use the space, tools, and materials. The space has all kinds of items to include a Cricut machine, heat press, printer, cutting tools, sewing machine, paints, adhesives, stamps, stickers, clay, cardstock and scrapbooking paper, as well as lots of bins full of other crafting materials.
Behind our checkout counter craft items are available for purchase with 80% going to the crafter and 20% going towards our initiatives to support Early Childhood Teachers with grants, scholarships and training.
The space is also used for teacher training events and craft workshops. Recent workshops include Creepy Doll Workshop, Christmas Sign Making and New Year Vision Boards. The first Tuesday of each month is Teacher Make it and Take Workshop where Teachers can make visuals, flannel board stories, signs and games for their classrooms.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
We joined Reuse MN and connected with the owner of Eco Chico Kids Resale Botique, as well as other second hand store owners. We hope to start monthly networking events here at the store in our Upcycling and Crafting Space.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.craftindustries.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRAFTThriftstore
