Seahorse Lane Boutique - Part 2: Cultivating Customer Connections

What does it take to create a thriving local boutique in an Amazon-dominated world? At Seahorse Lane Boutique, owners Audrey and Mike have discovered the secret ingredient: genuine human connection.

Step inside their Vero Beach shop where customers aren't just shoppers—they're welcomed friends deserving to be seen and valued. "We reflect love," Audrey explains, describing how her team matches customers' energy and creates an experience that transcends typical retail interactions. The store's thoughtfully curated merchandise, including their custom-designed Vero line, serves as the medium through which they fulfill what Audrey describes as more of a "ministry" than a business.

The journey hasn't been without challenges. From humble DIY beginnings with repurposed shutters to navigating the existential crisis of COVID-19, the boutique has weathered significant storms. Perhaps most revealing is their candid story about opening—and subsequently closing—a downtown shoe store when they realized it didn't align with their priorities. "I just remember thinking, this can't be it," Audrey shares about the moment she knew change was necessary. Their willingness to adapt rather than stubbornly persist demonstrates the wisdom that's helped them thrive for over twelve years.

Behind the beautiful displays and carefully selected merchandise lies the reality of balancing business with raising two children, constantly evaluating inventory, designing products, and nurturing a team culture that extends their welcoming spirit even when they're not physically present. Mike reveals that Audrey's superpower is her remarkable consistency—showing up day after day with the same passion and care that launched the business initially.

Curious about how local retail can still create magic in a digital world? Visit Seahorse Lane Boutique to experience firsthand how shopping can feel like coming home. Follow them on Instagram and Facebook to catch their weekly lives showcasing new arrivals, or explore their website for a taste of Vero Beach style delivered to your doorstep.

The Vero Beach Podcast & MyVeroBeach.com is presented by Killer Bee Marketing, helping local businesses in Vero Beach reach more customers. Learn more at killerbeemarketing.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Seahorse Lane Boutique
• 2:03 Daily Operations and Team Management
• 4:15 Creating an Exceptional Retail Experience
• 7:15 Navigating Business Challenges During COVID
• 9:35 Behind the Scenes of Product Selection
• 12:57 Learning When to Grow and When to Stop
• 17:06 The Power of Consistency and Support

Transcript

Brian: 0:09

All right, well, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast. This is episode two with Audrey and Mike from the Seahorse Lane Boutique, and today we're actually going to dive into what it looks like on a day-to-day basis. And I do want to kind of go back a little bit from our last episode, because I love that you pointed out about how you guys, when you took that step and you how do I phrase that in here you go, but that's not really going to work.

Shawna: 0:37

The way, I'm saying it now you went, you went, but you started off using what you had.

Brian: 0:42

You had a tent. I always mess this up because I always say it's a DIY, but that's wrong. Right, it's DIY and I'm like I think DIY sounds better, but then I have to call it do-yourself-it and I'm like I think DYI sounds better, but then I have to call it do-yourself-it but it's do-it-yourself. But that's what you were doing, do-yourself-it. That doesn't really work, does it. But that's what you did, right. You're building things out of shutters and stuff.

Audrey: 1:10

Like shutters I found in the garage.

Shawna: 1:12

That's what I love. Now we call that upcycling. Yes, that's right, that's right so, audrey.

Brian: 1:18

so tell us, what does a typical day look like for you here at the Seahorse?

Audrey: 1:23

Oh man, well, each day is a little bit different because now okay, so when I started the business I did not have any children, and so now we have two kids they're seven and four and they're busy and they're funny and they're a little bit crazy, and so my day is a little bit more fluid I guess that's the right word, because I'm tending to them, making sure they get to school, making sure they're not sick, and once they're all taken care of, then I go into business mode, and so that could start with, obviously, checking in with my team. That is the biggest thing I do every single day. Whether we're in town or out of town, I always check in with my team. I'm not always in here on schedule each week.

Audrey: 2:14

We have a wonderful team of women that have worked for us over the years, that have helped keep this thing moving forward. They love on our customers just exactly like I would do myself. I always say we reflect love, and that's what they do, and I also ask them like hey, when someone walks in, you know whether they're having a great day or not so great day or just a middle of the road day. I want us to kind of try to match their energy, come around them, support them and help them.

Brian: 2:50

So I love that the energy. I think that's right too them.

Shawna: 2:57

So I love that. That matches the energy. And the first time that I walked in and Betsy was at the counter and she was so sweet to me and it almost made me tear up. Because you know, sometimes you walk into a place and no one even says hi to you and you're like feeling low or feeling unseen. And then also someone who's being paid to like work at a store and welcome you doesn't. Then you're like, okay, I'm just going to go home. But I just walked in and I felt welcome and it smells so good when you come in here and it's so beautiful and you see all the beautiful fabrics and colors and it's just such a welcoming place to walk into.

Mike: 3:26

Yeah, we appreciate that. You know retail these days can be tough. There's a lot of e-commerce out there, a lot of people shopping online, and to really differentiate yourself in the retail space, to bring people in the door, you have to cultivate an exceptional experience, and I think that's what Audrey's been able to do, through just her love and compassion and really expressing the importance of providing that to the customers through the women that work for us. It makes it so that when women come in here, they feel like they matter, like they're getting taken care of, that they have a friend and those relationships that we build over the years in the business. That's what keeps people coming back. Audra does a great job picking out the clothes and you know the jewelry and all of that, but I really think what keeps people coming back is the relationships. Yeah, which?

Shawna: 4:23

really, you know, it's the culture that you've built that keeps good people working for you. So, you know, I would never want to take away from that either, because you can do everything right and hire all the right people and then, if you treat them badly, they're out, and so it's just a beautiful thing that you guys have built. And, yeah, I just I I I said this in our first kind of episode about why we wanted to do this. But one of the things that's so important to me is, um and I think I mentioned this to you, audrey, when met that it's so easy to order something on Amazon or run into Walmart or run into Target. But my hope with these interviews is that people will hear your story, want to come in and experience this for themselves, meet you and your wonderful team and then, when they need something, they think of you first, not Amazon, and that's my hope for this, because there's so much to be gained from keeping these beautiful local businesses going and thriving, and so, yeah, that's my hope for all of this.

Audrey: 5:25

I love that.

Audrey: 5:26

Human connection is how God made us right. It's how he designed us, how we're going to operate best us right. It's how he designed us, how we're going to operate best and having a physical store where people care about you from the moment you walk in. You are seen, I dare to say known and loved right From the moment you walk in. We try to offer that experience here and that's going to be a special treat that's going to be hard to find. Moving forward in the world and the way we're headed and the trends that we're seeing, it's going to be harder to open a small business, a brick and mortar business, and so we're just we're trying to keep that experience just top notch. We're trying to serve you really well when you're here, and we're also growing with technology too.

Audrey: 6:17

Like I talk about, you know, it's the human connection. Well, that's our in-person experience. We are on Instagram, we're on Facebook, we're doing lives. Now, once a week We've been getting on in front of the camera showing everyone what we got. That was a new thing for us, but we're having a lot of fun with it. So I'm sure some listeners know about live selling. Some boutiques do this and we're trying to stay on the forefront of connecting with our customers through technology as well. It is my heart to love on others and it really feels more like a ministry. Right? We get to love on others, lift them up, encourage them, take care of them. We just do that through the modality of clothes, jewelry, accessories. That's how we do that.

Brian: 7:07

I love that. What would you say has been one of your biggest challenges so far?

Audrey: 7:13

Yeah, so our biggest challenge was definitely COVID A lot of small businesses around the world. We all had to shut down at the same time and we thought, well, what do we do?

Audrey: 7:25

And so I remember my cousin Jessie. She just looked at me and was like, hey, we're going to get through this. It was just her and I at that point. Other team members were able to carry on with different things and so I didn't have many team members to take care of at that moment, which was actually a blessing. So we started doing deliveries. So I remember I would come in here, do stories show people what we had, and we had launched our website probably six months prior to that, and so people could go on order online and I think I was doing like free delivery If you order over $25, almost anywhere in Bureau, like I had all these zip codes that I would deliver to, and so our customers kept us in business through that time. They're the ones that rallied around and supported us and said, hey, I'm going to shop with her and support that small business, and that's what got us through that time.

Mike: 8:33

Outside, of adapting to all these different you know, market and economic either threats or opportunities. It's really the struggle of the day-to-day right now, I think, for us is just balancing parenting, you know, working nonstop, making sure that we're loving and kind to each other.

Mike: 8:50

You know, at the end of a full day of running around and you know working through challenges at the store or at my job. But we get through it together. It takes a lot of prayer, a lot of leaning on. You know our team. You know Audrey would love to be in the store all the time. You know loving on her customers. You know styling them, making them feel confident what they wear and all of that. But the reality of it is as a business owner. She wears a lot of hats.

Audrey: 9:21

Now that we're over 12 years into business ownership, I generally have an idea of the flow and the pace of the merchandise that you see coming through here. So I'll check numbers, I'll check inventory quantities and my team has such a good pulse on. Hey, this is selling super fast. You may want to reorder it. Or this is selling and can you design it in this new color, especially our Vero line? I know we'll get into that soon, but we have so much that we design here. Everything on this wall behind you is something I designed or, with my team, we designed Every color fabric.

Audrey: 10:04

It's a lot of ordering, a lot of thinking through what's the customer going to feel comfortable in? What does she want to buy for a gift for someone? What does a husband want to come in and be able to get his wife or a child, get their mom for Mother's Day or for a birthday? So I'm always thinking about what do I want to get, what do I want to wear and what does Mike want to wear and what does he want to get, and just trying to really hone in on those products. There's so many products out there, right? But how do we make meaningful products and curate a meaningful selection so that we can really cut through the noise in here, and we try to bring you the best of the best at a good price point.

Brian: 10:52

You answered one of the questions I was going to ask you. What was something that people don't see or understand about what you do and I think, what you just shared about and what you shared too, mike, about Audrey. You go out and you're looking at these clothes, you're touching them, you're seeing how they're feeling. You're thinking what is it that the community would want? What would make them feel comfortable? Those aren't the kind of thoughts and work that goes behind scenes of just buying things online. That's where it starts separating a local shop that you're here, you're present and you're here for the community and you care about them and what you're putting out there. So I absolutely love that. All right, so I would love to ask you guys, before we wrap up, two more questions. The first one is has there been any funny or surprising moment that you'd want to share with with the listeners in the Vero Beach community?

Audrey: 11:44

Okay. So this store was going very well. I had my, my son, so my first child, and we thought like we needed to grow, we need to do more, we need to have another store downtown, and my husband was on board and so he actually left his job that he had at the time to join me to open a shoe store, and it's very close to where Taco Dive is.

Audrey: 12:17

So, some of the listeners will remember the shoe store. It was so beautiful. I was looking at pictures recently Like we did such a good job in that store.

Brian: 12:25

Did you say you put your soul into it? I just had to say that.

Mike: 12:29

She really did. She was all over every detail of the shelving, the wallpaper, the design of it, all of it, and it was really on her heart. She was like we don't have a shoe store downtown and I feel like I can do this. And I said, just like when we started the business, I said go for it, let's do it. And the surprising thing was it didn't work out. I think we had it for it's about one year. Okay. So this is when I knew it didn't work out. I think we had it for it's about one year.

Audrey: 13:38

Okay, so this is when I knew it didn't work out. This is when you know you've got to make a change Again. Right From the first episode, I was sitting in the shoe store, Mike was home with our son and I was just sitting there waiting for customers and I thought this can't be it, Lord, this can't be it. I'm just sitting there waiting for customers and I thought this can't be it, Lord, this can't be it. I'm just sitting around waiting. He's home with Gunner. I want to be home with Gunner.

Audrey: 14:04

I want to go back to one store. I don't want all this. Let's streamline this thing. And so I remember during that season that we had the shoe store. Because I had just a little bit of extra time, I was sitting in there a lot. We ended up launching our website. It's proving to be such a great resource for our local customers and just in the US in general, we're shipping things out every day. But I just remember thinking, yeah, this can't be it. I need to make a change again, and I have to. I got to close this store.

Mike: 14:37

Yeah, the challenge with the shoe store was that inventory doesn't turn as quickly as clothing and jewelry and you know most people are certain size right in the middle.

Mike: 14:52

But when you buy things like shoes, you got to buy really small shoes and larger sizes and you're always kind of hanging on to some inventory and so that inventory doesn't turn into cash as fast.

Mike: 15:04

And when you're a small business, cash is what it's all about. You've got to be able to turn inventory, produce the cash so that you can buy more inventories, you can pay your employees, all that kind of stuff, and it just it wasn't moving fast enough. And it was one of those times where you have to think about you know, where am I in life, what are my priorities, how am I spending my time and what is my return on that investment of my time? And for Audrey, that return wasn't enough at the shoe store to justify being stretched, not being as home as much as she would like to be, not being in this store as much as she would like to be, and so she had the foresight to say you know what? It's time to move on, Knowing when to try to grow and when to pull back so that you can roll through some of the different challenges that come and go.

Brian: 16:01

It's so interesting. The first episode we ended with go and now we're ending this episode with. Sometimes you have to know when to stop and there's a right time. You knew this is the time I'm launching this business. I'm going, but there's also times that you have to evaluate what your priorities are and is it lined up with what your ultimate goal is for success. It's harder sometimes to say stop, but that's part of business too. That's part of being an entrepreneur. As we wrap up this episode, audrey, I would love to know what would you say you've learned about yourself since starting?

Mike: 16:38

I can tell you what I've learned, yes, about.

Audrey: 16:41

Audrey, there we go. That's great, even better, even better.

Mike: 16:45

She has a special ability to be consistent, to show up and you know it's easy to get started on something right and to like be super excited and just go, go, go, go go. But not everybody can withstand that, you know they get bored and you know they're ready to move on to something else and unfortunately a lot of small businesses do kind of come and go sometimes. And Audrey's ability to be consistent, to show up day in and day out to just shepherd this business along, you know, and her team and you know wanting this, like this deep connection with our customers, there's just something about it that it's rare. Yes, we said go. You know, with the shoe store, you know, we said hey, it's time to stop that. But in all of it it's been Audrey's consistent presence in this business day in and day out, and it's very impressive. And look, she does the same thing at home. She's consistent at home, she cares for our children, all of that, and so it's a trait that she has that is special and it's why she's gotten to where she is.

Audrey: 18:01

You know, what's funny is okay. When you said consistency, my first boss, chuck, at State Farm, he used to say you just have to show up and he really just instilled this the customers are going to come and go, the sales are going to come and go. Right, as long as you keep showing up, it's going to work out. I don't know how else to say it. You just got to show up and so I love that. You recognize that about me and about this business. And Mike, he's always been supportive and I have never said anything like anything I have said. He's always said let's do it, let's go.

Audrey: 18:45

It's like he has no limits on me and my ideas and what I want to do and when I want to do it he is mostly just let's go. And so I just think you have to have that kind of support and that kind of encouragement in your life to make this leap of business ownership Like y'all it's not been just me, right, I think the Lord like His Spirit in me and getting to see myself kind of grow and develop as a business owner, as a mother, as juggling all these new hats. Mike's talked about consistency. I think God sustains us and strengthens us through each challenge and each season that we go through as well.

Brian: 19:36

Well, hey, let's go ahead and get ready. We're going to end this episode and make sure you guys come back for the next one, because the next episode we're going to talk about why Vero, why Vero Beach and what you guys love most about Vero Beach. So we're excited to get into that conversation. If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you click subscribe and leave us a review. We'd love to hear your review. And again, if you have any questions or thoughts, click that text us button and you can send us a text.