Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Huffmon.
Hi Justin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Roots really started from a simple idea: create the kind of place we wanted to have in our own community.
My wife, Nenada, and I have always loved coffee, plants, unique gifts, and the experience of discovering a great local shop. We saw an opportunity in Ruidoso to bring those things together under one roof and create something that felt warm, welcoming, and distinctly New Mexican. That idea eventually became Roots.
Like a lot of small businesses, it didn’t start with some perfectly mapped-out plan. It evolved. We listened to our customers, paid attention to what people responded to, and continued refining the shop along the way. Coffee became a major part of the business, while plants, gifts, and locally inspired products helped give Roots its personality.
My background is in marketing, tourism, sales, and business development, so I’ve spent much of my career thinking about brands and the experiences they create. Roots gave us the opportunity to apply that experience to something of our own. Nenada and I also bring different strengths and perspectives to the business, which has helped shape Roots into what it is today.
What I’m most proud of is that Roots has become more than just a coffee or retail shop. It has developed its own identity and become a place that both locals and visitors make part of their time in Ruidoso. We’ve grown tremendously since we started, but we’ve tried to maintain the same feeling that inspired us in the beginning: good coffee, interesting things, genuine hospitality, and a place people enjoy being.
We’re still evolving, and I think that’s one of the most exciting parts of owning a small business. There’s always another idea, another opportunity, and another way to make the experience better.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but I don’t think the story of any small business is.
Every business has its ebbs and flows. You make mistakes, you learn, and you adapt. There have been products we were convinced would be incredibly successful that simply didn’t connect with customers the way we expected. At the same time, some of the things we introduced without huge expectations ended up taking off. Part of the journey has been learning to listen to our customers, trust our instincts, but also be willing to admit when something isn’t working and change course.
Beyond the normal challenges of running a small business, we’ve also had to navigate circumstances completely outside of our control. Since opening Roots, our community has endured two devastating fires in Ruidoso, followed by several years of destructive flooding. Those events affected our business, our employees, our customers, our friends and neighbors, and the community we depend on. There have been moments when simply getting back to normal felt like an accomplishment.
But those experiences have also reinforced why we do what we do.
Through all of the ups and downs, we’ve remained steadfast in our mission to create a place dedicated to our craft. Whether that’s the coffee we serve, the products we curate, the plants we care for, or simply the experience someone has when they walk through our doors, we want there to be intention behind it.
The road hasn’t always been easy, and I’m sure there will be plenty more lessons ahead. But adversity has taught us to be resilient, adaptable, and incredibly grateful for the community that continues to support us. At the end of the day, we’re still here, still creating, and still committed to making Roots better every day.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Marketing and Sales?
Professionally, my career has really centered around one thing: growth. I’ve spent nearly two decades working across marketing, sales, tourism, technology, and business development, with much of that time focused on building brands, growing revenue, and finding creative ways to connect businesses with the people they serve.
My career started in sales and eventually brought me back home to Ruidoso, where I served as Director of Marketing for Ski Apache and later as Director of Tourism for the Village of Ruidoso. Those roles gave me an incredible opportunity to market not just a product, but an entire destination. It also gave me a much deeper appreciation for how interconnected small businesses, tourism, community, and economic development really are.
From there, I moved into the technology world, working with a tourism-focused SaaS company where I led marketing and business development during a period of significant growth. That experience allowed me to work with destinations and organizations across the country while combining a lot of the things I enjoy most: technology, sales, marketing, strategy, and building relationships.
Along the way, entrepreneurship has always been part of the equation. Roots is one piece of that, but my professional interests extend well beyond any single business. I love taking an idea, figuring out where the opportunity is, developing the brand and strategy around it, and then finding a way to turn that idea into something tangible and sustainable.
If there’s something that sets me apart professionally, I think it’s that I’ve had the opportunity to sit on a lot of different sides of the table. I’ve worked in corporate sales, local government, tourism, technology, small business, and entrepreneurship. I understand what it’s like to build a strategy in a boardroom, but I also understand what it’s like to unlock the door of your own business in the morning, make payroll, deal with something breaking, and then turn around and figure out how to get more customers through the door.
I’m probably most proud of the fact that my career hasn’t followed a perfectly straight line. Each chapter has given me a different perspective and a different set of tools. Today, I get to bring all of those experiences together, whether I’m building a brand, developing a new business, helping an organization grow, or working on the next idea that probably started as a conversation scribbled on the back of a napkin.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I’ve always tried to approach business with the mindset that I’m not the smartest person in the room, and that there’s an incredible wealth of knowledge around us if we’re willing to listen and learn.
I also don’t think mentorship has to come from one person or be a formal relationship. Some of the best lessons I’ve learned have come from an employee or manager with a great idea, a conversation with someone who has built a successful business, or simply observing how someone I respect approaches a problem differently than I would. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from reading books about successful entrepreneurs and business leaders as well. You can essentially borrow decades of someone else’s experience for the price of a book if you’re willing to take the time to absorb it.
When it comes to networking, I think genuine curiosity goes a long way. Don’t approach every conversation thinking about what someone can do for you. Ask questions. Learn about what they do, how they got there, what worked, what didn’t, and what they would do differently. Some of the most valuable relationships I’ve built professionally started as conversations with no particular agenda.
I think the biggest thing is to remain teachable. Success can sometimes make people believe they have everything figured out, but business has a way of quickly reminding you otherwise. Whether you’re talking to someone who has built a hundred-million-dollar company or an employee who sees your business from a perspective you don’t, there’s always something you can learn.
Taking the time to listen, learn, and stay curious every step of the way has been critical for me, and I don’t think that ever stops.
Pricing:
- Our small-batch house-roasted coffees are $23.95, with several unique roasts and flavor profiles available.
- Our specialty barrel-aged coffees are $34.95 per 10 oz. canister, with varieties aged in bourbon, rye, Scotch, and wine barrels.
- Mugs are one of our most popular categories and generally range from $18.95 to $32.95, including handmade pottery, stoneware, enamel camping mugs, and some fun conversation pieces.
- Our home goods and décor collection covers a wide range of price points, with many of our smaller home accessories starting around $18.95.
- Our average ticket hits around $45
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rootsnm.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootsnm
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RootsNM/
