goodMRKT Live
goodMRKT Live
Growing the Good | Reflecting on Two Years of goodMRKT
In this special episode of the goodMRKT podcast, host Brenda Gerber Vincent, Chief Impact Officer of Greater Fort Wayne, sits down with Harry Cunningham, the founder of goodMRKT, to reflect on the platform's evolution over the past two years. From its early beginnings as a small community of socially responsible makers and creators, to its current status as a global platform connecting consumers with purposeful brands and causes, goodMRKT has undergone a significant transformation.
Together, Brenda and Harry discuss the challenges and successes of building a platform that prioritizes impact and values, as well as the lessons learned along the way. They also share insights into the future of socially responsible business and the role that goodMRKT hopes to play in driving positive change.
Whether you're a long-time listener of the goodMRKT podcast or new to the platform, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the power of purposeful business and the impact it can have on the world. Join us as we celebrate two years of good and look forward to a future of even greater possibilities.
Welcome to Season Two of the good market podcast. I'm your host, Harry Cunningham. Each month, we hear from good people with great products, supporting exceptional causes and making incredible impacts on communities around the world. Join us now as we hear another good story about impact it's happening right near you. So welcome to a very special episode of good market live, I'm super excited to do something that we don't normally do today, I'm handing over the host mic to my very good friend, Brenda Gerber Vincent, Chief impact Officer of Greater Fort Wayne, but more importantly, a longtime friend of good market from even before we open. And I think Brenda's got some fun topics for us to talk about today. But Brenda, I'll hand it over to you.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Thank you, Harry, and congratulations on your two year crazy. It's crazy how fast time has gone.
Harry Cunningham:I mean, it seems like yesterday, to me, it doesn't seem like two years by any means. But at the same times, I feel like it feels like 10 years.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:A long time. I can remember going out to Jefferson point. And it wasn't open. Obviously it wasn't open, we walked past and at that point, I didn't go in and and then was invited to come in be during the build out. Yeah. And I just remember how excited how excited I was and how excited this community was for this new concept. In retail, it has been two years.
Harry Cunningham:It's wild. I mean, it does, it seems like yesterday. And I remember when you came in and we hadn't met yet. Our mutual friend Josh Raines introduced us and I remember when you came in, and we got to tell you the story. And I think you're excited as excited as we were right from the beginning.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Well, you know, being an economic development, I really have a focus on entrepreneurial, you know, people who are entrepreneurs, people who are doing good, people who are starting businesses, it's the foundation of our community. So to know that you had a focus, a primary focus, to really help entrepreneurs to give them a platform for exposure and growth. I was all over that. I can remember taking pictures outside of the store. I love the concept of doing good.
Harry Cunningham:Thank you. I think that's the fun. And obviously, you know, as you know, well, when we started it, I wasn't yet an entrepreneur myself, although maybe I was but we started it, you know, in a different place than where the store is now. And I feel like I have such a stronger connection to all of my partners now that I'm actually getting to live and breathe the same way they do as an entrepreneur, myself, or ourselves even. And I think we will always be that platform. That's That's what our job is. That's what our responsibility is to be that platform. But I think equally exciting for me is the fact that fortwayne itself is such an entrepreneurial city. And there's so much support for young entrepreneurs and old entrepreneurs like myself and kind of anybody that has an idea at all. That's sort of the beauty of Fort Wayne is that Fort Wayne embraces it? It says Absolutely. They're one of our orchestra. And I'm not one of their own. I'm, you know, new to Fort Wayne, relatively speaking five years, but I feel like we've had a great opportunity to be embraced by the community as an entrepreneur, even though our job is really just the platform.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Right? Harry, I think back. And I'm very grateful to hear Bradley for number one bringing you you know, to Fort Wayne in the years that you spent building that brand. And then to have the vision, can you share that vision? We I know the story, but I want to hear it again. Because each time you tell it I get I get inspired by the fact that this was this was an idea or a thought that came to you?
Harry Cunningham:Yeah, it was, you know, it's funny, the original idea is different from where we landed. And that's in part because of the people that I was working with that really said, let's keep going. But let's just shift a little bit this way or shift a little bit that way. You know, originally, we were thinking about the Vera Bradley brand and the Pura Vida brand. And this idea that we would have, you know, about a fourth of the space that could be flex brands, it could come in very different than what we were although some similarities. And when we made the decision that it wasn't right to make it a Vera Bradley project but more treated as a research and development project. The idea behind it being purpose driven came very easily and none of us remembers exactly who said it first or how it came about. But I remember thinking, you know if you're Bradley has a Breast Cancer Foundation, that's done incredible work. 39 plus million dollars raised for breast cancer research. Pura Vida has about 30 charities they work with. And I felt like if we can bring these purposes together, and bring other brands alongside us, I believe that people inherently want to do good. And it would give us the opportunity to give them a way to do good. Doing something they're already doing. I mean, people are already shopping. It's just a matter of how you shop and shop differently.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I love that. And I do love your vision. And I'm just so happy that you are in Fort Wayne, Indiana, when you had this vision to start this concept I truly am. I have no doubt that you know it is going to be nationwide and we get to be the first we get to be the first location.
Harry Cunningham:The first and always, right?
Brenda Gerber Vincent:yes always. Yeah. It's been two years. Yeah. What have you learned? What are some of the biggest lessons so much?
Harry Cunningham:I you know, I've probably learned more in the last For eight months or so, since we acquired the business in July of 21, or 22, sorry, I forget even what year it is. We started in April of 21. And we acquired the business in July of 22. I probably learned more in that period of time than even I learned before, I think, you know, when we were opening, I had worked in with multi brands and worked in department store world and brought brands together that were similarly aligned before. But once I became a true entrepreneur, I had to learn all kinds of things like there's no IT department to call, if you need something, you got to figure it out. And you know, there's no, this or there's no that when you're when you're doing it on your own. It changes. But I've lived my whole life thinking that I want to learn something every day before I go to sleep. And it can be something. I mean, it could be, it doesn't have to be anything huge or bigger. Life changing can be something simple. But if you if you sort of approach it that way, it's easy to say today I learned X. Yesterday, by the way, I learned that we needed more bandwidth on our router, because we have security cameras and iPads in a store. So working on things but learn learning, learning is learning. Right? So Right.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I love that there are a lot a lot of lessons to be learned when you don't have this company behind you. Right? That's that you're used to walking down the hall and somebody's you know, somebody's there with that expertise. Now you're learning, right expensi expertise. And after
Harry Cunningham:after 30 years in corporate retail America, there are so many things that I can apply. But there's so many other things to that point that I never even thought about that just kind of happened on their own.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I love that we talked about where it started and where that vision of yours is at the beginning. And where it is now, what were the biggest surprises kind of along the way, one of
Harry Cunningham:the biggest surprises early on for me was when we were planning this out and thinking that we would bring together purpose driven brands, I thought we'd get 10 to 12. We have over 70 Now, and there are more, you know, and so I think that's been a huge surprise, is how how many people are doing purpose driven work, which in my opinion, is the only kind of work that should be happening. And when I know we will have really succeeded is not when we have 10 stores or 20 stores or whatever the ultimate number is, but when I know we really, really will have succeeded is when every brand that somebody is consuming has a purpose behind it. And I think we're on that road. So I think that's been a big surprise to me is how many of them out there there are. Alongside that the other piece of it is that I've been surprised at while it's a large community, it's also an extremely small, very connected community. And there is so much support from one brand to the next, whereby a rising tide lifts all ships. That's what you know, that's that saying, right? That in that purpose driven space, if you're an entrepreneur that lives there, you're just as excited. If somebody spends their money with another purpose driven brand, obviously, each brand needs to spread themselves. But at the end of the day, if you're supporting a purpose, that's that's kind of the thing. So
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I love that concept of of all things that are sold have a purpose behind them. Yeah, I love that vision. I love that vision. You know, as you continue to add, as you said, your your dream was what do you say? 12?
Harry Cunningham:I mean, it could be 10 could be 20.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Right? As your product line continues to grow? Are there certain things you look for? Or is it really just is it the cause behind it? I mean, what, what is it? You know, for that to be brought into the, to the family of good, Mark? Yeah,
Harry Cunningham:I love that question. I think it's a little bit of all of that there are three, three points that we really look for with every brand that we bring in good people, great products, exceptional causes. And every brand that we bring in, has to check all three boxes. It's, I would argue it's it's easy to find brands that check two of the boxes, it's not as easy to find brands that check all three. And so we continue to look for more brands that are out there, they're filling whitespace, we don't necessarily need to overlap, we don't need to create more competition for the brands in the space. But we do want to look for you know, especially for our customers that come back time and time we want to have the new things for them to find new things to discover. So we look for those kind of white spaces, and how do we fill in those white spaces.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I love that we this is such an like a new concept in retail. Yeah, when your customer comes through the door, and they just see things in the window. When they come in how do you explain to a customer? What this concept is, or, or what they're purchasing how meaningful it is?
Harry Cunningham:I love that question to about 50% of the people now we've been open two years about 50% of people that come in have no idea that we're purpose driven. And one of the things that we have in the store, which I know you've seen is there's a wall right at the entrance that tells the story of who we are. It's always inspiring for me to see people stop and read that. But I'm even more excited when our team which we call them storytellers when they can go up and interact or I can go up and interact with them right away and say, Hey, is this your first time in? No, it's not my first time in Great. Let me tell you a little bit about who we are and what we do and it gives us that opportunity to open up the conversation right away. And then kind of spin it and say, what causes are important to you? And are we, you know, do we have something that supports those causes? Or does that give us a little light that goes on and says, Hey, I should be looking for somebody to support that cause so that sort of the easiest way is that we just get conversational right from the beginning.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I don't you know, right. When you come in,
Harry Cunningham:I could talk to a wall. So it's not so difficult.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Well, you truly are. I'm gonna I had another question that I had teed up. But I'm, I'm gonna go with that, because you are such a convener of people. I mean, you bring people together, is it just comes naturally to you? I
Harry Cunningham:think it does. And, you know, when I was growing up, I grew up in a small southern town in Florida. And it's funny to hear people say southern Florida because generally there's like the south and then Florida, which is still the South, but But I grew up with with strong southern roots. And I think that's part of, I would contribute that to it. It's just, there's a community that I was a part of my whole life. And I think that's always been our goal, a good market, and it's in our description about the brand is that we are a community. So my intention is always and will always be to bring people together. One of the most inspiring evenings that I've ever had with regards to the store was before we even opened, we brought probably eight of the brands together that had never met each other for a dinner and we want to just kind of kick it off meet each other and say, Hey, we're in it together. Let's go. And I'm not a fan of business dinners that lasts for hours. I mean, I think we've all been there. We've all done them. They're never the you know, there's the awkward moments of conversation are like how much the more time Oh, now we have to do dessert, right? Four and a half hours later, we were all still there. And nobody was looking at watches. Nobody was leaving. And I thought like this is what community is
Brenda Gerber Vincent:good night. That's the magic. Yeah, that truly is the magic. Well, even the concept of how you've laid out your store is to bring people together absolutely no to have coffee and, and pastries and things that you can buy. And then to just to sit, there's no other retail store that I know that in the middle of the store, you can meet a friend for coffee. Yeah, in between shopping.
Harry Cunningham:That's kind of the fun of it. You know, my my grandfather had a chain of dry goods stores in Florida in the 30s and 40s. And I had always said two things, one that I wanted to have my own store and two that I wanted to have my own ice cream store. And I have half of that now, right? We don't have ice cream yet. Although if you talk to my kids, they will still remind you that they think I should have an ice cream store at some point.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I'm with them. I'm with them.
Harry Cunningham:But that that food component, it's funny when you talk about magic, I think that there are things that happen sort of unexpectedly and when we when we walked in the space the first time. And it was a former William Sonoma and anybody that's been in one knows that they always have that central gathering place where they can do, you know, demo their appliances, right and demo recipes and things. And it just hit me as soon as I saw, they said like, we should put a coffee shop here. And, you know, coffee was the first brand that we talked to. And I talked to Brandon Maxwell utopian. Absolutely the first person that heard the story. And I said, Hey, this is what this is what the idea is, and Brendan was like, Yeah, let's, let's do it. Let's let me help you. So
Brenda Gerber Vincent:he's a visionary.
Harry Cunningham:He's a visionary.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I love that partnership from the very beginning. But I will actually schedule meetings at good market. Thank you, I will, you know, it's just it's just a wonderful way to meet friends in into half a cup of coffee, and to look at products and just, it's just that feeling when you walk in the door. It just creates that out. And
Harry Cunningham:I love that, that I don't want people to ever feel like that you can come and just hang out. You don't need to come and shop. Just remember us when you do need to shop. But if you just want to come and have a meeting and have a cup of coffee. Fantastic. Then we become the centerpiece of the community, which is what I really always have wanted is a place that everybody feels like they belong. Well. You've accomplished
Brenda Gerber Vincent:that here. Thank
Harry Cunningham:you. Thank you.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Let's talk about products. Yeah, I have my good market earrings on. I have my ABL purse that I brought I was gonna I said I was gonna wear my ABL slippers that I literally live in. But when I come into the store, I actually gravitate to some of the areas because I've become so familiar with the products. But I can tell you what, when I receive a gift for in good market, it means so much more. Thank you so much more than just having a friend go out and buy something someplace else. Because I know it's doing good. And I can also tell you that the blankets, we we purchased one. And we were excited about that. And it was on our couch. And I realized that my husband and I every evening were fighting over who got the blanket. So we're a two blanket Good. Two blankets. Yes. So yeah, so we have we have those on the couch and it's great. And every time I I am thinking about that product or you know, looking at it from in the kitchen. I know that one went to a homeless shelter. Right. Talk about that. Yeah, how many blankets have been donated?
Harry Cunningham:Well, no shelters because of you because of us over 2000 Now, which is an exciting number. You know, it's been inspiring and I think we have a sign in the store that talks about some of the good that the community has done together. And it's a little bit out of date because it was before the holidays. But now we're over 2000 blankets that have been donated to shelters and most of those right in Fort Wayne, right to the rescue mission in Fort Wayne, exciting. But we also, you know, part of the beauty of what sackcloth and ashes does is they work with shelters all over the country, over 500, shelters, everywhere. So when you come in, if you happen to come and visit us from North Carolina, you can leave your zip code. I don't know why I picked North Carolina, but you can leave your zip code and one will be donated in you know, in your neighborhood. So I think that's it's such a powerful story that you you know, you can really bring that giving direct right home with you,
Brenda Gerber Vincent:right? We talked about the products, but it's more than the products for you. I know that you have developed deep relationships with your entrepreneurs talk about that. Yeah,
Harry Cunningham:that's it's been, you know, I love meeting people. And I love hearing stories. And I equally love telling stories. Hence the reason we have the podcast, I've absolutely met friends that have changed my life because of hearing their stories. And because of what they've done and how they've been able to inspire me, in people that I ever expected to meet. And from all over the country, I mean, I'd say Portland to Portland, and Detroit to Dallas, and kind everything in between, but not just there, there are people that are doing work all over the world, and people that travel all over the world. And I get to, you know, get the honor of telling their stories and hearing their stories from them firsthand. And I pride myself on the fact that I do know, every founder, even if it's only one or two conversations of every brand that we have. But I think because of that it makes my responsibility to them tenfold that we're doing the right thing for them,
Brenda Gerber Vincent:which is just when I hear your story, I'm just in awe hearing from this vision, to execution. And now when I hear you talk about your relationships with the founders of these products, and then beyond the good that it's doing with, like you our example of the rescue mission, we're lucky here in town, I mean, it's full circle, right? It is, and it's bringing people together to do good. When you look into the future, what does that look like for you?
Harry Cunningham:Yeah, there's a few things. One, I think it was our partners at farmhouse fresh that said that they feel like, we don't want this to come across the wrong way. But they feel like we should be like Walmart, we should be on every corner of every city High Country. Gosh, would we be lucky to be able to have that happen? I think short term, we'll look for another store this year, hopefully. And then a couple more next year, you know, we need to grow. But we need to grow smart. And I think that there is an opportunity for us to bring this story to more communities. Because I do believe that, like I said earlier, I think people inherently want to do good, they just sometimes may need some help and knowing how to do it. And everybody doesn't want to volunteer doesn't have the ability to volunteer, but everybody does shop and doesn't have personal things that they need. So if we can keep getting that going to them, that's going to be part of it. The other piece, I think with regards to the good media, what we call good media, which is our podcast right now, I think there's tremendous opportunity there to just get the word out more and share the stories more. So whether or not you're shopping with us, almost isn't as important as you know, how you can shop, and how you can help. So we're going to keep growing that VR podcast, you know, maybe we'll get some video up and kind of keep going from there.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Well, I will tell you that a great place for that information is your website. Oh, thank you have a wonderful website, there's just so much information on the different products that the doing good, you know, again, how many how many resources or how many people you helped. That's really impressive. When you go there, I really encourage listeners to go right after this podcast, to go right to the good market to website and really familiarize themselves with not only the vision, the concept, but then you know, the the extreme scope of the entrepreneurs. They're there all over the country all over. Yeah. And what they're just not from Indiana. I mean, as people this is your first store. That's right. But you're but the scope of the product is why can you talk a little bit about your demographic or where you're drawing people from for
Harry Cunningham:sure. And I think a couple things, one, just on the website, too, one of the things that I felt was really important at the beginning was that we also put Help and Resources Information on the site. So if somebody is struggling, and they need some help, they can also find that information on our website. So you know, the website is sort of the anchor piece to the media, right? It's not just about retail, we have retail on there. But it's also about the good that we're doing. There's the blog thrown in there with regards to the demographics, the demographics, and I would be prior to doing this, I would be on the other side of the fence saying there's no way that could be your demographics. But on this side of the fence. I'll tell you the beauty of the brand, is the demographics are exceptionally broad. And we can have people that are five years old shopping in there alongside people that are 85 years old and both feeling super comfortable. And there's no regard to race or religion or socioeconomic status. And that's by design. I wanted everybody to feel very included when they were there. So we intentionally stay very inclusive in our approach and that demographic is very, very broad as a result. which is excited. I mean, you've been in the store, you know, you can see somebody, a mom and child in there you can see a new, you know, two women after work or a man shopping for a gift or whatever. That's, that's kind of the beauty of it. I wanted it to be something that everybody could feel comfortable when they're there. And I think we've accomplished that.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I love that I will share that my son is staying with us just for a few months. He's moving from New York to LA, and he needed a baby gift. And he came home. And he brought one of the baby gifts, oh, good market. And I said, you know, their stores closer to us. And he said No mom, it was worth me driving to good new market to buy gifts that I knew that would help somebody else. He was buying that gift for his niece. And I was so impressed by that I didn't prompt him. I didn't say go to good market. He went on his own. And I was just so impressed by the fact that he knew how important that was not only to me, but how important it was to him to make the extra effort to go to good market to buy that product. If it was about, you know what the project was going to product was going to do for someone else.
Harry Cunningham:It's fun for me to have people that are from Fort Wayne, that when friends or family come to visit them, they come in and they'll say we're not from here, but I'm visiting so and so and they said we had to come in. And I love that. And I reminds me back to our opening weekend. You know, two years ago, we got a message on Facebook the day before. I think we opened on a Thursday and on Friday, we got a message on Facebook and it said, Hey, are you open on Saturday? And I wrote back of course, we're open on Saturday. We'd love to see you. We'd love to see you. And the woman wrote back and she said we're driving from somewhere five and a half hours away. And I would I drive five and a half hours away to go shop. I don't know if I would. But she did. And the next on Saturday morning, I guess it was late morning she showed up and she said I'm the one that reached out and said we're driving five and a half hours just to shop but exciting to know that people were coming to see what we were about but also exciting to bring people into Fort Wayne. Absolutely. You know, and I remember well, you and I talked early on about us being regional and looking for local brands, which that percentage has gone down as he as we've added more brands to the mix. But that's sort of my challenge to the Fort Wayne region, entrepreneurs come find us. But we talked about local being kind of that four state region Indiana, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan. And I think that's how you all approach that same kind of region. And we absolutely
Brenda Gerber Vincent:love what we do. And we even pull in Ohio and Michigan. I mean, because we're up here in the northeast corner. I mean, we do look at them. Okay, so we're celebrating two years, two years. What are some of the special events that you've hosted over the past two years?
Harry Cunningham:Oh, my goodness, I wouldn't solve some of these some really fun ones. And we have some really fun ones coming up too. But I think there been some really interesting ones a couple have come to mind. One of the first ones we did was with ranger station. And the founder of ranger station is a drummer. And he was actually on the road before he founded the company traveling. And he plays drums. And he came up and we did a bourbon tasting. And he did an acoustic set with a couple of local singers. And it was just kind of a fun. I think we had 75 people it was packed to the conversation really about demographics. It was a broad mix of people, which was beautiful. That was kind of one of the early fun ones. Another one that was really inspiring to me was this past October, we did one with the Bradley Foundation for breast cancer. And we brought a breast cancer survivor, a medical oncologist, we brought in two of our partners from one of the brands and the executive director Stephanie Shaylee, our good friends. And we did a panel discussion talking about breast cancer research and advancements that have been happening. So I think that diversity in events is always going to be what we're about. But we've done things like at the holidays, we did gingerbread come in and decorate a gingerbread cookie. And we've done wreath making classes and we have some fun plans coming up for some more classes and things that can really just make us that hub that we've always wanted to really drive home.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:It's like doing good on top of good on top of good on top of good when I hear you're having fun while you yes and having fun. And again bringing people together. Yeah, I mean, I think that we're we're losing connection. Right? I think that we've gone through a lot as a country, and we're still going through a lot as a country. And when I hear your fresh perspective, when I hear you convening people, when I hear you doing good, it just it inspires me, Harry, thank you. It really does. I know that you always turn the spotlight on others, that's just kind of who you are. But if you had to just kind of like talk about what this means to you. Can you sum that up? I mean, can you even talk about what it means personally to you to see this vision go from vision to concept to to impact it's
Harry Cunningham:it's it's not an easy one and I think about it a lot. You know, like I said, I've always I always wanted to have my own store never. I don't think we get to always pick when things happen. I think that things are given to us when it's time or when when we might or might not be ready. But I think for me There's a couple of things. One is, it was pretty crazy when we had our pop up in New York City. And I think a lot of people that know me know that our logo is my handwriting kind of an accident that happened. And it was super inspiring for me to see that sign go up in New York City, which is what I would consider my home, my second home, my third home, whichever way you want to look at it. But a city that's been very important to me in my life changed my career, my kids were born in New York City. So seeing us be able to bring what we do to a city the size of New York and have people embrace it there was super inspiring to me, I think is I think more from the day to day. It's exciting to see people embrace it. And it's exciting to see people love it and know that we are giving 2000 blankets, and we are getting weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of clean water. And we are keeping pesticides out in the environment. And we are keeping women employed that have come at a compromise situations, whether that's in Ethiopia, or Nashville or middle Mississippi. Those are the kinds of things that they hit home to me sometimes. And it's just it's kind of overwhelming to think about, but overwhelming in a good way. Not overwhelming in a bad way. And I think that's sort of the the story that I like to shout the most is Look what we've done together.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Again, that's just your it's just who you are. It's that together piece. If there's any misconceptions about about what you do or about good market, what would they be? Are there any that
Harry Cunningham:I don't know that they're already I think that there's certainly an opportunity that people could have said, certainly when we were brought in we were part of your Bradley that we were greenwashing you're doing this for the marketing. We aren't we never have been and we never will be that's not what we're about. So I think that could have been a misconception early on. But I think we've proven that wrong, hopefully. So outside of that, I don't really I don't think so I think you know, we said early on that we wanted to be able to do things impacting locally and impacting globally. And I remember back to the summer of 21, when we planted marigolds out front, and then we brought the kids in from the Boys and Girls Club and had them learn how to make dye from the marigolds and they tie dyed shirts in the store. Hopefully, some of them still have those shirts and still remember getting to do that with us. But you know, those are the kinds of things that I think if there were misconceptions, hopefully we've we've combated all that and beaten all that. Yeah,
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I hope you're keeping good notes, I hope you're keeping a journal. Because I think there is a book, it's all in your future, you have to capture the stories. I mean, just in the short time that we've spoken and the things that I learned that I didn't know. But that's really cool about the miracles, we'll
Harry Cunningham:see. Yeah, there's, there's all of that is in my head, and on our Instagram feed.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Well, I'm glad it's somewhere that we can go back and we can capture, we can capture those moments via book, you never know, when you think about these entrepreneurs who are really working hard, I always say, you know, they're in their basement, or they're sitting at their kitchen table and, and they have these ideas in these visions and, and they just know that they can they can do it. You have given so many this platform to succeed. What did they say?
Harry Cunningham:I think there's a tremendous amount of partnership that they see. They're certainly all thankful. And you know, that's, that's humbling to me. But that's, I don't ever think about I don't I don't expect or want, thanks, or gratitude, I just want to give them the opportunity to do it. I think that everybody works hard. And when you're working even extra hard to make sure that you're helping somebody not just helping yourself. That's when it becomes special to me. So I get the thanks a lot now. And it's great. And I love it, but it's not, you know, I get shy about that. Which is not something that's like,
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I don't mean to put you on the spot. If I were an entrepreneur, and I was able to put my product to do good for others in your store. I mean, what a thrill for me to just have the exposure. Yeah. For someone who's never been into the store, good market. It's, it's visually beautiful. Thank you. I mean, it is it is a you walk in the door, and you know that it's something special. Talk about the design, the layout, how you
Harry Cunningham:do that's what I do know how to do, fortunately, and you do it very well. It's one of the things that I've learned how to do and it's funny, one of my good friends, Barbara, back guard that we all know as one of the founders of your Bradley, she and I talked about kind of inspiration and design a lot. And I think that it's just kind of that sensibility is sort of part of who I am putting things together as part of who I am and having spent 30 years in the department store world. I was versed on how to put brands next to each other and how to make them work. And when you strip everything out of our store, if you took all the product out today, you'd see that it's kind of very clean foundation of black floor and white walls, which does two things. I think one it creates a beautiful canvas for all the brands to come in and let their product shine. But also it gives you this sense of continuity as you walk around, right? So it allows us to look like spring when it's spring and look like holiday when it's holiday and look like fall when it's fall, but in a way that feels right to us. So, you know, I'm at the store, seven days a week, six days a week, certainly. And that's part of the fun for me is just moving things around all the time. So that there is to that idea about discovery, there's always something new to discover, because maybe you don't see everything when you're in well,
Brenda Gerber Vincent:and I think it goes to the fact that it has become a destination good. It really has, I mean, people want to know, around the holiday season, it was so beautifully decorated. I mean, people were saying you just have to go in Yeah, you just have to go in and just see the retail space, it's just so beautiful. So it is something that that you do, and you do it at this exceptional level. And I would agree that BB Yep, barback guard who we both know and love, has inspired so many to live more beautifully. And she has really, you know, elevated our entire community to think that way. So grateful that you're continuing that tradition of of beautiful spaces.
Harry Cunningham:And I think if you talk to my family, I mean, even just the holidays, my mom and my daughter have tied the ribbons on the strings of lights that we had to say everybody's in and we come up with the crazy ideas and you know, kind of put it's a again, it's a team effort. It's not not any one person. It's a lot of us that get to work together and brainstorm.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Now I do like to come in and see what see where you've made. I think everybody that is in my life has either received a bath bomb, a bathrobe, something from you know, some of the brands that I have that I gravitate to, but I have to walk the entire store. It's not just that I come in, and I, you know that I'm looking for something. But I have to know what's in there, right, I have to go through all of the different all the different entrepreneurs to see. And I'm the one who stands and reads exactly where you know, the money that I'm spending for this cap, where it's going to or you know, the sale bags, the bags that are made out of sales. But that is exciting for me to kind of go around the store and and look at all of all of those. Do you have something that the customer say to you like when they're in? Like, is there one overall theme that people when they first come in go? Wow, I wasn't expecting this.
Harry Cunningham:That happens a lot. For sure. Like I've seen you know that there are people that come in that have no idea that we're there, we're not just another store. So we hear oh, wow, a lot. Oh, wow, that's great. Or oh, wow, that's cool. You know, we hear that a lot because people get, I guess, you know, because they don't interact with brands that are so purpose driven. And PS, let me be clear that we're not the only purpose driven place to shop. Anywhere. There are certainly other people that are doing incredibly great purpose driven businesses. I think ours is as is as much about sort of that community idea and the fact that you know, people can come in to our conversation and hang out and sit down and have a coffee. So we get that, oh, I can get a coffee too. Yes, get a coffee too. And pay for it. When you're ready, walk around and do your thing. And any you know, I love our our good cup story that we get a lot of Oh wells about to where you can buy a cup ahead.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I love that wall, talk about that. Talk a little bit so that you can give a visual picture of what that looks like Ben
Harry Cunningham:Higgins, the founder of generous coffee gets a lot of credit. For us. That was the in spread. That's where the inspiration came from for that wall because he does it a generous coffee. But the idea, it's called the good cup. And the idea is that you can come in and you can buy a tag, it's if any of us that are old enough to remember, it's like an old motel key tag that has our logo on it, you can buy a tag and hang a tag on a wall. And then somebody later whether they're having a bad day or a good day, or just want a cup of coffee, or whatever that might be can come in and redeem that tag for a cup of coffee. So it allows you to buy ahead, but for somebody you don't even know, which is very much aligned with the help that we're doing in the store. How many of us can say that we know somebody that's homeless that's gotten a blanket, not many people, right? How many of us can say we know the woman in Ethiopia that's making leather bags, not many of us can say that, but it's just another way to give good pay forward. That's not connected to anything, you know, necessarily super tactile, it's just like a cup of coffee. But it's as simple as that.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Again, it's just again, I just and I know the listeners are just inspired by the concept. I hope so in this age where there's more and more online shopping, you know, we talk about, you know, going to going to Amazon, you know, how do you kind of forecast retail into the future. And I know that I'm just that's a very big question. But as you continue to to look for other areas of storefront retail, and how do you see that? How do you see keeping your brand and people coming through your doors in this age of people shopping online? What sets you apart?
Harry Cunningham:I think, fantastic question. First of all, and it's the second time I've actually answered it this week, which is kind of exciting. I think that People are ready. There are a few things that worked in our favor. When we were getting ready to start with regards to the pandemic, right, people had been home for so long, they were ready to get back out. But as much as online shopping is a part of our lives today, my opinion is an online shopping as a convenience. And retail shopping or physical shopping is an experience. And when you come into the doors, walk through the doors, or if you're sitting outside, we have tables outside, if you're sitting outside, you're part of the experience, and you get to be part of the community right away. And, you know, would you say is there an Amazon community? I don't know that there really is I mean, they shut down their smile program, which is shocking to me that they would shut that down. But that was probably the most community that they had. And listen, no disregard Don's online business, there's that I use it myself. But the experience that you get when you walk through our doors, you can't get sitting on your sofa at home with your laptop. And so that's really what we will always be true to.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I absolutely love that answer. And I had no idea where you would go with that. Yeah, um, but you're absolutely right. I don't think I've taken the time to think about the fact that if when you go on Amazon, there's no community. Yeah, it's just a transactional. And when you come into good market, it's like there's a community, there's a community, and it's a community that you've created, that it's not just you come in and shop. I mean, you can, you can spend time in good market, because you're gonna run into friends, you're gonna learn a lot about what's going on. But also is that you know, you're creating that environment where you're connecting people that you've done that. So well.
Harry Cunningham:Well, that's the fun for me, too, is that you talked about running into friends now that I'm getting to spend so much time in the store. There's so many more people that I know, that come in and regulars and one of our friends, Patti, who is has become a friend, as a regular she's in with us four or five days a week, she does yoga and comes over for her cappuccino. And I know exactly what her drink is when she walks in the door. And there's a guy that works at Trader Joe's in the mall with us and he comes in, he gets the same drink every time we've gotten him. So I think this this idea that we've built up our own network of people. If I had a fear about going to other communities, that's gonna be the biggest one is that I'm not going to know people in other communities as well as I know them here. But I hope our stores do, but you'll create
Brenda Gerber Vincent:it. It's our own cheers. Yeah. And you're gonna create that. And I think I mentioned this earlier in the podcast, where becoming an isolated nation, we're becoming a, like communities where people don't know each other anymore. People don't know their neighbors, they don't know the people down the street. It's amazing to me to think about that you're creating an environment where you're bringing people together to create intentional community. And I think intentional is the word there, you're very intentional about your vision about how you're executing your vision. 100%. So when you look at that, and you you know, we talked about these other stores that you're looking at other cities, and you say, well, I won't know those people. It's yet, right.
Harry Cunningham:I'm sure you'll be
Brenda Gerber Vincent:as beloved and and welcomed into those communities, as you are. Harry Cunningham is famous in Allegheny County in Fort Wayne, and I think it's not it's also who you are. But it's what you've been able to accomplish in a very short amount of time, do you think about all that's happened in the two years,
Harry Cunningham:it's a little overwhelming sometimes. But I know, I'm such a forward person. I'm not a backward person. So I like to think about what's next, what's next. And embrace the things that we've done and get excited about the things that we've done. But also think about how much more we can do. Right? So
Brenda Gerber Vincent:what does that look like? And then I'm gonna, I'm gonna make you expand on that walk that out a little bit.
Harry Cunningham:So I think bringing our community to other cities is going to be part of that, right? And then thinking about how do we connect each one of our communities, ultimately, whether it's through our media piece, whether it's the podcast, or the blog, or whatever that looks like, you know, as far as vision goes, I would love for us to take the podcast and continue to grow up. But also, if we think about the blog, like how do we get people to actually write blog posts for us versus us writing them? So I think that's something that we could look for in the future. And then just kind of see where it goes from there. I think it's, I have, I've never been accused of not having enough ideas. My biggest problem is making sure that we execute on them the right way. You know, back to Barb's reference ready fire aim is kind of how I live my life. And, and that's sort of how we're gonna approach it. And we'll kind of see see where we go first.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:Well, if we use this podcast, for some actionable items, for those listening, what would it be? Would it be? Would it be writing a blog? Would it be Tell me tell me what that looks like? For anyone listening? When they quit listening to this podcast today? What can they immediately do to further the mission and awareness of good market?
Harry Cunningham:I think I would start because maybe they're writing in their cars when they're hearing it. I'd start by listening to another episode and start hearing the stories and learning the stories of the work that the founders are doing. And not me, the founder, the founders of all these brands are doing I think, if you can hear that work, and then then share that work. That's huge. And that's going to make an impact. And it's going to make other people think differently about how they shop and when they shop, but certainly from their writing the blogs is a great one. But then come and shop, come and meet us come and see the community that you can be a part of. And know just like the mural says, outside painted by one of Fort Wayne zone, Julie at the hedge, you belong here to come and be a part of it,
Brenda Gerber Vincent:which is also a great backdrop for pictures.
Harry Cunningham:There are more, Julie's so talented, and I love, it's a great,
Brenda Gerber Vincent:it's a great, you know, selfie photo backdrop. It's, we were doing that before that before the store,
Harry Cunningham:and huge thanks to our partners, our you know, the developers of the Jefferson point for embracing that and realizing that that needed to be I mean, that's, that's, they get credit for that, because we had the idea for doing it. But then if it weren't for them saying, yes, you can paint on our wall, how many people will let you paint on their wall? Right. And they just, they didn't know we were doing they said, Yeah, go ahead.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I think you've pushed the boundaries on a lot of things. I think if I had one theme to Harry Cunningham and your vision is there, there is no roadmap. No, you're creating it as you go.
Harry Cunningham:And I don't have a lot of fear brandies, I know which
Brenda Gerber Vincent:which is, which is a beautiful thing. As you continue to do this work. I can't wait. I want to come back in two years. And I want to celebrate the four year mark. And I can't wait to see what you know, what the milestones are, what cities you're in, how many other entrepreneurs that you are showcasing, you know, their products, how many people around the world are being you know, are being helped by your efforts and your vision. So I'm glad that you gave some actionable items for those people who are listening for sure. Now, just to add some clarification, when we say go into the store, can you also shop online? You can shop online? Yes. Talk about that a little bit. So for those people who don't have the luxury or or benefit of living or live somewhere else, yes, live someplace
Harry Cunningham:to store but absolutely can go to God, Mr. kt.com. And shop online from anywhere. We only ship in the United States. You can only shop. You can shop anywhere. But we can only ship to the United States right now. I'll say right now. But that's certainly one or you can always call the store. I love that. Do that one more time. It's g o d, Mr. K t.com.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:That's, that's perfect. And I do pop on? I do. I do want to see the new products and services.
Harry Cunningham:We keep them on there. So but don't wait till two years come back?
Brenda Gerber Vincent:No, no, no, not Well, anytime you invite me all the time, I will absolutely come and I am a regular as you know, visitor to good market. I believe in what you're doing and inspired by what you're doing. And I do want every single person in this country to know what you're doing. I really do. It's just it's just like I said before, it's good on top of good on top of. And I know you're saying I'll let you end our podcasts with what you say all the time.
Harry Cunningham:Let's do more good. Let's do more. Let's do more good. Yes.
Brenda Gerber Vincent:I was thinking specifically of good people, great product products, exceptional cars and exceptional causes. And I think that sums it up. Congratulations, Harry. Thank you, Brian on two years ready, good market.
Harry Cunningham:And many, many more to come many more. Thanks so much. I appreciate you taking the host Mike today. Oh, it's
Brenda Gerber Vincent:been a privilege to get to get to interview you today. Here. Thank you. Thank you for all you do.
Harry Cunningham:Thank you for joining us for this episode of the good market podcast. A new episode will drop the second Tuesday of each month. So make sure you subscribe wherever you're listening. Give us a like a follow and share. And please leave a review so that we can reach even more people and grow even more good. Tune in next time to hear more stories from good people with great products supporting exceptional causes. We'll see you next month.
