Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Reece.
Hi Andrea, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We started Ellalilyetc in our garage at home. We did embroidery for friends & family. The opportunity came open for me to rent space close to my home and I jumped on it. We are celebrating 10 years this month! Year after year we have grown our inventory and our embroidery customers.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Retail is never a smooth road! We have great months and not so good months. After going through covid when we could not even open the doors. I feel like we can make it through most anything. Learning how to pivot and being open to change is always helpful!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I would say we specialize in custom embroidery. We have embroidery logos for most of the schools surrounding the store & we have over 100 local businesses that we do their shirts, hats, etc. We offer a curated collection of faith-based gifts from devotionals to faith based tshirts. We love to sprinkle Jesus throughout the store. From personlized pieces to SC made treasures we curate a store that helps our customers celebrate what matters most in their everyday lives. Our store is named after two of our daughters who were adopted from China – Ella & Lily. The ETC is for the rest of our family including a daughter Monica and a son Thomas who prayed and sacrficed for the girls to come home! I am most proud of the community that I serve and the friends that I have made in the process.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The retail ownership is hard. There are fun, creative parts that I love! Then there are external factors that you cannot control. We pray and trust in God daily! Always ask for help when needed which is hard but people are normally excited to help.
Contact Info:
- Website: shopellalilyetc.com
- Instagram: ellalilyetc
- Facebook: ellalilyetc
