EP 228: FROM MASS PRODUCTION TO MAIN STREET MAGIC WITH EMILY WEBB
Emily Webb is the owner of Emily's Garden. She is 69 years old and lives three miles from a town of 154 people in the northern Sierras of California. She comes from a family of artists and designers who are all good with their hands. She started Emily's Garden in 1981 as a manufacturing company in her laundry room, beginning with a scented hot pad. Over the years she grew, acquiring sales reps and show rooms across the country. The scented hot pads quickly gave way to personal care, with fabr...
Emily Webb is the owner of Emily's Garden. She is 69 years old and lives three miles from a town of 154 people in the northern Sierras of California. She comes from a family of artists and designers who are all good with their hands. She started Emily's Garden in 1981 as a manufacturing company in her laundry room, beginning with a scented hot pad. Over the years she grew, acquiring sales reps and show rooms across the country. The scented hot pads quickly gave way to personal care, with fabric microwavable products like aromatherapy neck wraps, booties and eye pillows sold to high end hotel spas and gift shops like the Pebble Beach Resort, Ritz Carlton and Fairmont.
In the early 2000's she created custom designs and private labeling for stores and national catalogs like Smith & Hawken, Red Envelope and The Wedding Channel, shipping large volume orders from a 150 year old building in Taylorsville with a team of seven. In 2009 she stepped away from mass production and opened a 270 sq ft. retail store in Quincy, CA. She loved it even though she made almost no money. She sold beauty. She sold pretty. She sold nature. Her window displays became known throughout town and after she left, Main St. never felt the same.
At 67 she was burnt out from a lifetime of go, go, go. She closed her store and retired. Today she keeps a small display in the Made in Plumas County store and an active website, spending her time hiking and foraging with her dog, working in her garden and creating flower arrangements from the flowers she grows.
In this episode she shares how she built a national wholesale brand from her laundry room, why she chose creativity over scale when mass production no longer felt aligned, and what burnout, reinvention and retirement look like when you choose beauty, nature and quality of life over constant growth.
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What’s inside:
- Growing from handmade beginnings to national wholesale accounts
- Staying true to your retail identity instead of chasing trends
- Redefining success through simplicity, creativity and quality of life
Mentioned In This Episode:
Pinterest
Facebook
Emily Garden Website
