New England Shop Evolves from Handpainted Furniture Biz
By Jessica Harlan
STORE: GooeyGump Designs
LOCATION: Portland, Me.
SQUARE FOOTAGE: 4500
EMPLOYEES: One full-time, three part-time
WEB: gooeygumpdesigns.com
SOCIAL MEDIA: www.instagram.com/gooeygumpdesigns
TOP LINES: Creative Co-Op, Redback Cards, OOLY, eeBoo
When Allison Oldham was growing up, a “gooeygump” was her family’s term for a disgraceful mess — usually one that Allison was accused of making while embarking on her latest craft project. But her home furnishing store, GooeyGump Designs, is anything but messy. The shop evolved quickly from a side hustle selling handpainted furniture to a lifestyle shop within three years which boasts a space for craft classes so customers can make gooeygumps of their own.
What makes your store special?
We’re the type of place where you can grab a cup of coffee and come in here to browse for two full hours or you can stop by to quickly grab something when you’re late for a birthday party. But one thing that sets us apart is we never carry anything for long. I’m ADHD and I’ve leaned into it; every two weeks our store is vastly different because we don’t restock many things.
How would you describe the atmosphere of your store?
It’s very cozy. We move things around so often that we haven’t invested in fixturing. Everything has a reclaimed vibe to it. With my furniture painting background, I’ve upcycled lots of things, even old wire spools. We have a second-floor loft with a large staircase in the middle. It’s very open and airy, but cozy at the same time. There’s nothing fussy about it. It makes people feel more comfortable because we’re not flashy and perfect.
To what do you attribute your success?
During Covid, I started doing a live sale on Facebook every Thursday night. Within a few weeks there would be 500 to 800 people watching every Thursday night. At the time I was just selling one-of-a-kind items, but it quickly became apparent that I couldn’t have just one of each thing. That’s when I started getting into buying wholesale. Even after everything reopened, I have continued doing our live sales. It’s our way of making it easy to shop. We’ll just walk around the store and show them all the new things. There’s definitely a correlation between what I feature on Thursday and what sells over the weekend.
How do you promote your store?
Besides social media, our craft workshops are often people’s first exposure to us. We’ve done resin projects, ceramic Christmas trees that light up, and tool-based classes where everyone’s empowered to use a saw or a drill. I try to pick up a new craft every quarter, so right now I’m learning candle-making for a class I’ll teach in the first quarter of next year.
What has been your most successful recent event?
We recently won a reader award for the best home decor store in the state from one of the biggest local magazines. The night the magazine hit the stands, I threw a private party for content curators, the press and influencers. Not many of them had known about the store, and they were able to shop with a 10 percent discount. We did swag bags with a retail value of $100 per person, and we served champagne and charcuterie. We ended up with about 35 guests. I spent about $2500, which was less than one advertisement, and from that I got two interview requests for magazines and a TV clip. We’ve definitely seen an increase in traffic, which I’m happy about as we go into the holidays.
Do you have a favorite new product line?
We like the Mr. Bird birdhouses made of birdseed. They’re great for that time of year when you don’t know what to get for someone. Most people around here like nature.
What are your biggest struggles or pain points at the moment?
Staffing is a huge issue for us. I would love to have several more people, but minimum wage here is like $18 an hour, so you can’t hire anyone for under $22 an hour who will show up and take it seriously. Similarly, my overhead for rent is an issue. Whenever I go to conferences and tell people what I pay, it makes them nauseous for me!
Looking back, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?
I’ve learned to really trust myself and my gut and follow my own opinions. When I go to market and see what everyone else is buzzing about, it’s hard to interpret what would be appropriate for our area. But in New England we are totally different from Atlanta. It took a while to become confident enough to confirm what would not be a good fit for my store, even if it was a bestseller for someone else.
Finally, how do you stay inspired?
The creative side of it is what I always try to make time for. It fills me up to lose myself in a creative process even if it has nothing to do with the business. And on really hard days, what repeats in my head is this: I’ve come too far to only come this far.
