Happy Small Business Saturday! We have come a long way - from a little shoe box of stickers in our basement, to our first building and storefront as Stickers Galore... to where we are now!
I'm just so proud of my mom and how much work and devotion she put into this company. She worked night and day, putting everything she had into it. But she would never call it "work". She just loved it all so much!
Since she did the work of like 10 people, when we lost her in 2018, we really struggled to keep this business afloat. It was hard enough losing the most amazing person in the world, and we were worried we were going to lose her legacy of this business. I also had a newborn to take care of (our son was born 2 days after her funeral.) Then I started working more when he was about 6 months old, though still figuring out how to be a business owner. My aunts Mary and Anna were brought on board to help us as board members, and we had so many loong meetings, brainstorming of what to do.
All smiles, but we really were struggling. I often had to bring the kids to work ha! They always had a blast. In October 2019, we brought on my husband Matt to start working here. We were hoping and praying that things would start to trend upward. But it wasn't until March 2020 that we were saved by Covid. All of the sudden everyone was home and wanted to craft! We had an influx of orders and had to hire on more pickers/shippers right away. It was an amazing time in such a weird time! We know so many people who struggled through the pandemic or lost loved ones, so it's really weird to say Covid saved our business. But it really did. Since then we have worked hard and are so proud of this company!
And yes the kids still come to work occasionally ha! They love it here and love running through "the maze", aka the warehouse of shelves. Ava came to work with me from when she was a newborn to about a year old. And now I'll bring our next kid to work with me in May! It really is a family business lol.
So ACOT isn't just a craft store to us... it's a piece of our mom that we will always always cherish! It's a family business where we work hard, but also have tons of fun!
We are SO proud to carry on our mom's legacy through this beautiful, crafty company. And we want to thank YOU for being here supporting us through it all!
i had no idea of the behind-the-scenes struggles, of course, but am so happy things have turned around for all of you!
I'm praying that you guys stay open indefinitely! 
