Ten years, wow, where do I even begin? When thinking about this blog post my mind was flooded with all the seasons of Cargo Room: from the early days of the trailer, moving into the showroom, moving into the container, selling the trailer, and finally settling into our new home inside our Broadway location. Let’s just say Cargo Room could put on its own Era’s tour.
Let’s go back to the very beginning. I was a girl working a dream fashion job in NYC, but kept having this uncontrollable desire to do something for myself. The calling got so loud that when the time came to renew my lease in NYC, I decided to return home instead and start the next chapter of my fashion career.
Upon my return home, I didn’t immediately find myself opening up my dream business; instead I landed inside the corporate world, scared of pursuing my dreams and deeply unhappy. Thankfully, I found my footing in the Entrepreneurship program at OSU and started my pursuit towards my Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship. Through that program I was offered the opportunity to move to Cape Town, South Africa for 6 weeks and work with emerging entrepreneurs. That experience truly changed my life! This program not only gave me the confidence to start moving forward towards my dreams, but also allowed me to see how a small business could really be anything I wanted it to be.
Returning to the states, diploma in hand, I felt more equipped to start down the path of entrepreneurship. I stumbled upon an article in the Washington Post about a woman who transformed an old box truck into a mobile boutique. It was at that moment that I suddenly realized what I was meant to do!
From there the search began, box trucks, RVs, trailers, etc. When all the sudden a craigslist ad (remember those) led me to my destiny, a 12 ft concession cargo trailer. I took my parents (this was “pre” Mr. Cargo Room) with me to meet a guy whose passion was converting trailers into food trucks. When I told him my plans for this particular trailer he didn’t quite understand. A boutique inside of a trailer…okay…
We bought the trailer that same day and then the work began. Evenings and weekends, my parents and I worked hard transforming an empty trailer into my dream boutique on wheels. Six months later we were ready to launch, July 15th, 2014.
My first stop was at an event called Premiere on Film Row. I was terrified! What would people think of such a concept? People loved food trucks, but would they love shopping from one? To my relief, my little trailer was a hit and from there the rolling boutique was off!
We spent every weekend out with the trailer. We were parking with other businesses, street fairs, people’s driveways, music festivals, dog washes, churches, apartment complexes, you name it, we were there!
These exclusive weekend outings went on for three years and then I had the urge to see what would happen if I put some more permanent roots to my business. In 2017, we opened Cargo Room, the Showroom. This was a space where I could hang my goods during the week for customers to come shop, while still taking the trailer out on the weekends. This was a fun time, but soon I realized that maybe this model wasn’t quite what I hoped it would be.
A few years later the opportunity presented itself for us to move into the coveted Auto Alley district. Our friends Kelli and Jessi (OK Collective Candle co. at the time) were moving into a bigger space in Auto Alley and thought our business was perfect to take over their little pink container. By this time Mr. Cargo Room had entered the picture, so on a train ride from OKC to Fort Worth for a little weekend getaway, it took about 10 minutes into the ride to know that this was the right decision for me and the future of my business.
We closed the Showroom in Feb. 2019 and moved into our first “official” brick-and-mortar location, a converted pink shipping container on 9th street. This move was serendipitous, the container was pink, and it was a “cargo” container, it was like the stars just suddenly aligned.
Our business was now a full fledged retail shop, open 6 days a week serving customers from all over the world. Not to mention that one time that Anna Camp (you know the beautiful blond that is in just about everything) showed up inside the container and I was so starstruck, but still managed to help her check out her items and write her up a list of other OKC places to visit.
I know at this point you might be wondering, but what happened to the trailer… Well, we still had the trailer but her days on the road became less and less.
As our business continued to grow, I knew eventually that I would have to make the difficult decision as to what was next for Cargo Room. I had pestered my landlord about adding another container and doubling our space, but I just couldn’t get him on board. There were two things I knew, I needed more space and I wanted to stay in our district.
It was a random evening in April at an event hosted by our landlord. I was approached by him asking if I had any interest in moving my business to Broadway. Wait, what?!? Out of nowhere the space of my dreams had been handed to me and it was just right around the corner from the container. But wait, I couldn't give up the container, it had become such a pivotal part of my business, how could I say goodbye? Well the answer is, I wouldn’t. Instead I decided it was time for our littlest collection, Precious Cargo, to have its own space. However, at this point it was time to say goodbye to another key part of our business, the trailer. I had dreaded this moment for many years, but knew that the trailer deserved time to shine once again. My hope was that the trailer would find a home with another boutique that would love it as much as I had, and luckily my prayers were answered.
In October of 2023, we officially began the transition, converting the container to Precious Cargo, and moving Cargo Room to its new home. Our doors swung back open in November 2023 and we hit the ground running!
As I write the progression of Cargo Room, starting from the 82 square feet of where our business first started, to the now two locations and almost 2850 square feet our business occupies, it is crazy to think. Ten years ago, I was just a girl with a dream to own my own business, be my own boss, and be in charge of my own destiny.
Have a wanted to throw in the towel, of course, maybe 100+ times over these years, but something in me kept telling myself to keep going, keep pushing. I have learned over the years though that sometimes not everything is meant to be yours, and you might not realize it at the time, but that is because something better is waiting just around the corner. This is a principle I feel so strongly for both my business and personal life. Every time a door closed on me, that's because something magical was waiting.
I get asked many times, what my piece of advice is for young entrepreneurs and to be honest, I can never stop at just one. I always think back and wonder what would I tell the girl in the trailer…
Always keep an education based mindset; the industry is ever-changing and you must do what you can to keep up.
Never try to do everything yourself. Hire people who work specifically inside their skill set.
Know your numbers. Don’t be afraid of reports and spreadsheets. This information will open your eyes up to important details and help you to make more strategic decisions when it comes to your business.
Things are going to get hard, but stick to your why and let that always be your guide.
Thank you all for allowing me to pursue my dreams for 10 years now. Without all of you we would not be here today, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Love you all,
Heather
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