Sandy Ott of Ms.Ellaneous, 320 E. Main St., has brought back the anticipation and excitement of pre-mall era sales, which only happen a few times a year, with the launch of downtown Menomonie’s Ladies Night Out events.
Maybe it was a seven-year itch. Or maybe it was purely the desire to be one’s own boss. But the English teacher that would one day launch our city’s increasingly popular Ladies Night Out events purchased a family-run shoe store in downtown Menomonie not far into her teaching career.
After teaching in junior and senior high schools in Wisconsin for seven years, Sandy Ott began looking for the opportunity to own a small business. Soon after hearing Reed’s Shoe Store in Menomonie was for sale, Ott became the 50-year-old store’s second owner.
The former teacher found herself on the learning side again. “I took over an existing business without any experience,” Ott said.
Fortunately, Reed’s Shoe Store was the seller of footwear from the Brown Shoe Company. The shoe company provided training on its own set of bookkeeping procedures, and this helped Ott’s small business career take off.
Her lessons in small business ownership were just beginning, however. Within a year or two of taking over the shoe store, the era of “The Mall” changed the shopping landscape for independent store owners forever.
Customer expectations of discounted sales changed drastically. Gone were the days of major sales once or twice a year that created excitement and long lines of customers waiting for the doors to open.
The new mall mentality taught customers that sales happened weekly, “every Wednesday,” explained Ott. “Something would always be on sale. There was no reason to pay full price anymore.”
A new mall in North Menomonie began to draw customers away from the small downtown shops in the heart of Menomonie. Ott witnessed the exodus. “People no longer came across the bridge,” she said.
Ott closed the shoe store, revised her strategy and reopened a year a half later as the clothing and shoe boutique Ms.Ellaneous. She featured quality apparel at moderate prices, buying as few items as possible to lessen the possibility that customers would see their new purchases being modeled by someone else in town. The Tribal clothing line she has carried has been popular.
Ott had found her niche.
Ott was named the 2002 Small Business of the Year by the Greater Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce. And for 2007, she earned the Downtown Revitalization Award from Main Street of Menomonie.
Another achievement would come just a year later. Ott began hearing about a shopping event just for women in nearby downtown areas. She decided to bring it to Menomonie.
In 2008, Ott launched a series of retail events called Ladies Night Out with the assistance of Lori Shervey of Moonlight Over Menomin and Kate Keyes of Paper Kutz. Bringing back the concept of the “anticipated” sale, three events were held the first year and two events were held last year.
Word spread. And women came.
Due to customer demand, the number of events is back to three this year. And this year’s events include the largest number of participating retailers ever.
“Ladies Night Out brings people into the store that I’ve never seen before,” Ott said. “New faces. Younger people. Women who are surprised to learn that Ms.Ellaneous is not a ‘mothers’ store,” she laughed.
According to Ott, the biggest success of the events, though, is seeing women have fun.
“Groups of girlfriends have made Ladies Night Out a tradition,” Ott said. “The excitement of shopping downtown is back.”
Girls just want to have fun, Dunn County News, Menomonie, April 4, 2010
