Conversations with Elaine Madej

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elaine Madej

Hi Elaine, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I had found this store while driving thru Hygiene in 2015, I talked to the owner Betsy Fox to sell my artwork and at the time it was The Red Door Arts and Antiques, Sales were good, it was a small 550 square foot shop. Spring of 2017 I received a letter from Betsy saying she was ready to retire and to come pick up our artwork. When I went in to gather my belongings I talked to Betsy and offhandedly suggested I might be interested in taking over the shop. The next thing I knew my husband Chet and I were the new owners. We, with a lot of help from friends and family, spent the first month setting up a business system, licenses, painting and remodeling. We opened our door Aug 4 2017 with 32 artists, most of which were local artists returning from the previous store, and our little shop was full. Business was slow at first. Our advertising budget was very small so mostly we sought out any free ads we could get. We had our Grand opening weekend Sept. 8 – 10, and what a turn out! Not only were we flooded with customers but local artisans as well. We started bringing in more artists. Our shop has been and always will be local artisans. We found ourselves very cramped and opened our upstairs expansion December 2017. We continued to find more artists, most of which are first time sellers. By 2019, once again we found ourselves in dire need of more room. We finished our second expansion Nov. 2019, more than doubling our floor space. Our business was growing by leaps and bounds and then like all small businesses COVID 19 took its hit. Business started dying back in late January and by the second week of March business was gone. Like so many others we kept thinking 2 more weeks, one more month. We were ready to shut down in June when we went to the store with the intention of cleaning out the store. When we arrived, our artist that makes prayer flags had hung flags over our door saying “Everything Will Be Ok”. That and the support of artists, brought about the birth of our online store. We reopened our doors on very limited schedule with a full supply of cleansers, signs, barriers, floor markings, and hepa filters. We brought Santa and his sleigh to the store along with a beautiful Harpist, Christmas was a very magical place at The Red Door. There was holiday cheer and hope, despite what was going on in the world. We have remained open again with limited hours and an online store. Looking forward to the future when we can completely open. Our store is unique because all our 85 artists are local aging between 14 and 95 years old. Not only are all items in our store hand crafted the variety is vast. You will find fine art, spa products, Pain relief products, soaps, lotions clothing, quilts, furniture, photography, paintings, pottery, sculptures, glass work…. What is even more important, since our artists are local, if you see something you like but it isn’t the right color, shape, size many of our artists will do custom orders. In closing I have to send out a very special thank you to our artists, customers, and especially our Santa for their love and support of the store and us.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The hardest part has been 2020. so many times, I questioned if it was worth it. No light at the end of the tunnel, things just kept getting darker and bleak, With no end in sight of reopening. I questioned if I should give up and find a job at Home Depot, like so many others. There were other small issues like when we opened our last expansion our hot water tank leaked and damaged our flooring, which we are still trying to repair.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have worn many hats in my career, I received a degree in zoology, and went on to work at Idaho Fish and Game. I found myself working as manager in green houses to a pet store. When the pet store where I was the animal care and purchasing manager shut down, I recently had become a first-time mom and wanted so much to stay at home with my son. I made Christmas gifts for my family and friends. These gifts were Santa sculptures from wood and clay they are now called Logheads and there are many characters other than just Santa. My husband took them to a local store in Nederland to sell and they were a hit. So I picked up another store in Estes Park and then several other stores. It became a business very quickly along with my own landscaping company and selling books online. The Logheads are my passion, they are what brought me to the Red Door and pursue owning my own store.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I feel I have been blessed with extreme good luck or someone looking out for me. I seem to always be in the right place at the right time. I have never been one to wait and see, I always jump in and manage to make it work. I have always had great support from my family and friends. I remember my Dad telling me many years ago ” When you enter into the working world find a job you love and have a passion for and the money will follow”. I have always always heeded those words. I am not rich by any means but I am comfortable and happy, Dad always knows.

Pricing:

• $3,00 to $1400

Contact Info:

• Email: reddoorartsandmore@gmail,com
• Website: reddoorartsandmore.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reddoorartsandmore/
• Facebook: @reddoorartsandmore