Tangerine

“Tangerine, Tangerine living reflection from a dream.

I was her love, she was my queen, and now a thousand years in between.”

-Led Zeppelin’s ‘Tangerine’

During 2016 something amazing and life changing happened for me, I became an entrepreneur! The stars aligned and my dream of running and operating my own clothing boutique became a reality, Tangerine was born. In a nutshell Tangerine was a women’s clothing, accessory, and gift shop on College St. in downtown Burlington, Vermont.

My beloved Tangerine came into existence June 2016 - and I sadly shut her doors forever at the end of June 2019, 3 years later.. Tangerine was my baby and absolute passion during those three wonderful years. The joy of owning my own business and having complete creative control was a thrill. The incredible, incredible people I had the pleasure of meeting, talking with and outfitting will stay with me forever. The community was very kind to me and made me feel more loved and appreciated for my eye of design than I had ever felt.

However, owning a brick-and-mortar boutique in Vermont is a challenge. Outdoor shopping is a very seasonal business with long, quiet winters and a very active late spring through fall, relying on tourist traffic to keep your sales numbers up with the steep Burlington rent prices. It’s a juggling act to order inventory that can take awhile to arrive with the hopes of when it finally does, to then be at the perfect time to keep the store full but not too full. I learned to keep a finger on the pulse of what’s in style more broadly, but also what’s desirable in my area to keep inventory moving and not all on the sales rack. Dealing with shoplifters along with the store being broken into (which happened twice during my three years in business), kicked my butt!

The lows were low, but the highs were high. All while trying to keep a work/life balance to make sure it’s not the only thing of importance in your life. Truthfully, I really struggled with the work life balance. And while I was giving it my everything, I never felt like I was doing enough - there was always more to do and improve on. I let Tangerine consume me, it was my devil card in the tarot deck. My addiction, in a sense.

So when the lease was up for renewal after three years, I made the very difficult decision to close down the business to start a new chapter of life and pursue a new career that no longer consumed me entirely. But let me tell you, it’s not easy to let go of something when you work so hard to build and create it. It was an ego death for me and I’m so grateful for all the help I got in closing it down, I couldn’t have ever done it without the support I had behind me.

I don’t look back on closing Tangerine as a failure. I would have only failed if I had never taken the risk and the bold jump to go for it in the first place. I now get to see how lucky I am to have listened to my instincts and let go of it when I did, before things became somehow even harder for small business owners to survive, and above all else I was lucky because I was able to end my darling Tangerine on my own terms and in my own way.

Tangerine was my first business and one I’ll forever be proud of and look back on fondly, keeping memories of the experience with me forever. I’m so grateful to have been able to create and meet the people I never would have been able to meet otherwise, it was an amazing experience I’ll always cherish and look back on with a smile.

Keeping it alive for the memories, check out Tangerines Instagram if you’re curious ;)