Episode 12: Reviving Main Street: Stephanie Knoppe’s Mission for Poplar Bluff
How’s your Main Street? Is it still the same as when you walked down it with your parents, grandparents, or friends? In this week’s episode of Main Street Matters, host Terresa Zimmerman has a warm and nostalgic conversation with Stephanie Knoppe, the owner of, newly opened, Joe Lawrence's Haberdashery in Poplar Bluff. With a mission to restore Main Street’s charm and appeal, Stephanie and a handful of enterprising neighbors have taken on the ambitious task of building not just a business, but a true destination for her community - downtown, Main Street.
Stephanie shares her journey from starting with a prom dress resale shop, turning into a full women’s boutique, to opening a men’s clothing store in a historic building downtown—a dream that evolved from her love for Poplar Bluff’s Main Street. After acquiring and renovating several buildings, she’s turned a row of empty storefronts into a vibrant shopping destination, complete with unique offerings like custom ties, dress shirts, retro-inspired hats, and her signature displays—like a 1949 Chevy truck bed repurposed as a shelf.
She shared the challenges of launching a new business in a small town, admitting her uncertainty about how to do it well, ‘winging it’ she says, but staying driven by the feeling the town needs a men’s store. She reflects on the highs and lows of renovation, attracting new customers, and navigating brand conflicts, all while working to restore Main Street to the bustling community center she remembers from her childhood.
“Some of these buildings have such a rich history—they were the heart of the community. We’re just trying to make them that again.”
-Stephanie Knoppe, Owner of Joe Lawrence’s Haberdashery
Tune in for a heartfelt conversation that’s both inspiring and practical, as Stephanie shares:
How she revitalized downtown properties and gave them new life.
Her hands-on approach to sourcing and creating a unique store experience.
The importance of local support in bringing foot traffic back to Main Street.
Why downtown’s history and her community’s future mean so much to her.
Whether you're a business owner, a lover of Main Street, or just in need of a little entrepreneurial inspiration, this episode with Stephanie Knoppe will leave you motivated to support your local small businesses and see the value of a thriving Main Street.
Featured in this episode:
Stephanie Knoppe, Owner
Joe Lawrence’s Haberdashery
113 S Main
Poplar Bluff, MO 63901
Website: https://joe-lawrences-haberdashery.square.site/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joelawrencehab/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Lawrences-Haberdashery/61554697385939/?_rdr
Mentions in show:
If you are around Poplar Bluff you can support by visiting them.
Mimi's Market & Royal Cafe https://www.instagram.com/mimis_market_and_royal__cafe
Archer Gift Shop: https://www.instagram.com/archergiftco/
Hilda Rose Bakery (coming soon) - https://www.facebook.com/people/Hilda-Rose-Bakery/61564450205840/-
Fox Trot Coffee - https://www.instagram.com/foxtrotcoffeeroasters/
Downtown Poplar Bluff - https://www.facebook.com/Downtown.Poplar.Bluff
Connect with Us:
Main Street Matters Podcast:
Website: www.mainstreetmatters.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mainstreetmatters1
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/main-street-matters
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@MainStreetMatters_MSM
Host - Terresa Zimmerman:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/terresachristensonzimmerman
Listen to the episode here:
Watch the episode here:
Featured Store:
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Stephanie Knoppe
definitely doing research asking the questions looking for different lines
Terresa Zimmerman
Incorporating all of that background and history and story that makes it makes it such a rich thing to to share with people.
Stephanie Knoppe
I love my downtown. I want to make sure that it's back to the way it was whenever I was a child.
Terresa Zimmerman
This episode of Main Street Matters is brought to you by Wood Underwear, Marchesi Jin Frati neckwear, and Inspiro Tequila. I'm your host, Terresa Zimmerman. I am Terresa Zimmerman with Main Street Matters. And today we have Stephanie Knoppe from Joe Lawrence's Haberdashery in Poplar Bluff. Welcome, Stephanie.
Stephanie Knoppe
Oh, hi. How are you?
Terresa Zimmerman
I hope I got all that right.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. You did. You're good.
Terresa Zimmerman
Okay, good. So you just started this business?
Stephanie Knoppe
Yeah.
Terresa Zimmerman
This year. That's. So this is this is a new one for us. And, And I'm sure this is a new one for you to have to talk about this new store on a on a podcast.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. Yeah. So this.
Terresa Zimmerman
Can you tell us about it? Tell us your vision, your mission. How's it coming together?
Stephanie Knoppe
Well, we actually, started. My husband and I, started a business two years ago downtown. And it was actually a prom or resale shop, and so I was reselling used prom dresses. And it kind of grew and exploded. And so then we started dabbling in buying new dresses, and then it exploded and even more.
And I was like, okay, this part I'm in that I'm running. I mean, it's great, it's cheaper and it's downtown where I want to be, but it's just not big enough. And my husband's like, what do you wanna do? I was like, I want to buy this building. And he's like, okay, fine. And then he's like, well, while we're at it, we probably should buy the building next door because it needs a lot of work.
I was like, yeah, yeah, we could probably get it, you know, reasonable. Let's just go for it. And so we got the first building up and done and got the dress shop moved in. And of course it just took off even more so. And then the third building came open and the guy that owned it, he's like, hey, I mean, you know, you wanna look at the building, do you want to buy it?
You wanna put something in there? And so I came and looked at it, made my husband come and look at it. And then I looked at it again and knew what the building was, because I'm a real estate agent, so I knew what it was. I'd actually sold it to that owner. And, then I was like, well, this would be the perfect spot.
My husband, I've been talking about a men's store. We really don't have a lot here. Most of the time they have to drive far away to find decent ties, dress shirts, dress pants, and just clothes in general. For men, there's just not a lot of places for them. The idea just took off and we went ahead and hit the bullet and bought the building, and then started into another downtown renovation.
That took a lot longer than I expected. And so we're our goal was to open up in November of last year right before Christmas. And we didn't hit May until this year. Just a lot of hiccups with the construction and timeline and contractors getting in here and getting stuff done. So it's still really new. It's still, a slower process.
People are finding us, you know, a little bit more every day. But the biggest struggle is trying to figure out exactly what I need in the store, you know, like, what fits. What's the best? We tried bringing in products that people have not heard of and lines that people have not heard of, and it will pull some people in, but not a lot.
So now we're kind of going back to the drawing board to figure out, do we pull in a name that people around here heard at least have something a staple to wear by knows the name to get them in the store? We offer beard oils, ties, cufflinks, which you can't find. Cufflinks hardly anywhere around here. Hats, t shirts.
I mean, just your basic clothing stuff. Dress socks. And then we've got so body, you know, bathroom care stuff. And then I also have whiskey glasses in whiskey decanter line to. So it's just a little bit of everything nice.
Terresa Zimmerman
Well the brand's listening to our show. They're going to be reaching out to you soon. And, probably trying to become your main brand to be there.
Stephanie Knoppe
We're trying to we're trying to finesse, you know, like, what do we want to have? What's what's going to fit our store best? And of course, I'm up for trying anything, just to get people in the door. You know, we do have a goal to have a little bit more higher end clothing. But at the same time, you know, the shorts and the t shirts, you know, those are smaller staple things that everybody always needs.
So it's going to bring them in the store regardless. To buy. Not everybody always needs a long sleeve dress shirt and a tie every day. So we're just trying to find a good balance.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah, sportswear is a definite staple I'm seeing in other finer men's stores, for sure.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yeah.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah. You're exposed. Brick wall back there is gorgeous.
Stephanie Knoppe
Thank you.
Terresa Zimmerman
That part original to.
Stephanie Knoppe
The, Yes. So when we bought the building, they'd already exposed that wall. The other wall has not been exposed. It's actually still got, like, the, I guess the original plaster on it. And our hardwood floors are original as well.
Terresa Zimmerman
So tell us about your customer right now. I understand it's kind of a work in progress, but who's your customer now.
Stephanie Knoppe
When you open? I have mainly, I hate to say, middle age. Mainly men my age. Guys, I went to high school with, some of the attorneys in town that are close. They'll walk down the courthouse just a block away from us, so they'll walk down, grab a tie. You know, a dress shirt if they need it.
So, you know, it's still slow. We're still trying to figure out how to pull in that younger crowd just a little bit. So we've picked up Cactus Ali hats and American needle t shirts, which kind of has the retro throwback to like, the 80s, which my husband picked out, of course, but just trying to bring in a little bit of everybody.
Yeah, we're trying to make it a, you know, a well-rounded store.
Terresa Zimmerman
Right? Well, courthouse definitely is good for that shirt and tie business.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. Yeah.
Terresa Zimmerman
How are you buying? Are you reaching out to brands directly? Have you found the shows? I mean, there's I'm sure there's a lot of people out there just starting these businesses as well or wanting to start them. I think your startup story is really fascinating. How are you starting this out from the buying aspect?
Stephanie Knoppe
So our very first show was last July. We went to Vegas, okay. And we found a, belt company. We have Marco Valentino, which I love. Love the belts. They're great. We've sold them. Really? Well, then I found, you know, a Thai company that has tons of ties, and they've been wonderful to deal with. Some of.
Of course, you know, demographics. So, Vegas, a lot of the clothes are a little bit more modern fit there or urban style. We did go to Dallas Market in July of this year, for a quick weekend. And, checked out a few lines down there. That's where we found the American Needle and Cactus Alley and, just on different platforms, that the different shows used to do ordering.
I've reached out to you, and that's how I found wood actually was off one of those platforms. Looking around, and we just got that in, last week, so hoping that that takes off. Just trying to research and look at, you know, what I need, what I feel I'm lacking in still trying to figure out the gene line that we want.
I wasn't really super hip on having a lot of jeans, but I've had a lot of people ask for certain jeans because you can't find them or whatever, you know, or they're at a store in town that they don't really want to go to. So just trying to figure out exactly what we want to carry in that aspect.
But yeah, market is definitely, I would say, a good learning experience. It's a little overwhelming depending on which one you go to. Dallas or Vegas was extremely overwhelming for the first time. Market. Dallas was a lot easier to maneuver. To me it was. Anyway, it didn't seem so crazy. So that's I mean, that's kind of our thing.
Terresa Zimmerman
Pick one of those shows. How did you plan your time? I mean, if Vegas was your first one, how did you how did you decide how you were going to spend your time at that show?
Stephanie Knoppe
We winged it. Okay. Honestly, I had a friend that owned a ladies boutique in town in her, and her husband and her mom and stepdad were going to Vegas for the show to pick out stuff for her shop, and she's like, that would be a good one. You should go. And so I finagled things around and, made it to where my husband and I went.
We actually stayed in the same hotel with them. We were on the same flight with them. I mean, everything just panned out to where we were all together. Coincidentally. So I kind of had her as a guide to get me started through the markets, because she'd been to a lot of them. And so that definitely helped out.
And having her there to just kind of give us the ropes. And then of course, you know, I spent a little bit of time with her looking at girls clothes and I was like, oh, that's really cute, you know? And so she picked some stuff out. And then, my husband and I went over to the men's market and started looking there.
And the very first day we just kind of looked, we walked around and looked at different stuff and who was there. And then we kind of like made mental notes of which ones really stood out to us that we wanted to like, visit with in depth. Then we went back.
And that's when we actually started doing the ordering and the picking out and the selection of what we wanted. And that's where we found the ties. We found Project Raw, bespoke, which is from Miami. So we picked up those guys and the belt, in Vegas.
Terresa Zimmerman
Great. And then how did you do with that first buy?
Stephanie Knoppe
It was okay. It was a little like you know, you start seeing the numbers and you're like, you know, this is a lot of money. But then, you know, another thing I've learned is to definitely pay attention to, your cost and the resale value. You know, like, what's your what's your margin? Paying close attention to your margins.
And I hate to say, sometimes a better margin is not always the best. If the product's not as good as what you know the other product. So kind of balancing out your quality as well.
Terresa Zimmerman
And then the show that you went to after that, what did you change when you went to that show?
Stephanie Knoppe
When we went to Dallas, honestly, we had a few wins that I was really, really dead set on looking into. And of course, where we are at, some of the lines, they're like, oh, well, we won't sell to somebody else in that store in that area because they've already got it. And I'm like, I really want this particular line, and I get not selling because somebody else already has it and they're like, well, most of the time you have to be three miles away from each other, and that store is 2.95 miles from me.
So like right there, so close. But then they're like, but your demographic is so small, we can't sell to you right now. But they're like, check back at Christmas in December because if she's not done a reorder, then we can open it up to you, which is fine. But at the same time, the other flip side of the deal is I'm looking to fill my store, you know, and so I may not wait till December and I may just skip that line.
I mean, have not had people coming in and specifically asking for that line. So of course, you know, our traffic flow is still slow. We're still building up the traffic flow coming in and out. Some weekends are, you know, crazy. We're only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Mainly because of just where we are. That's usually when people shop around here.
It's more Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and of course, juggling the dress shop and the real estate as well. It just worked out better.
Terressa Zimmerman
You are wearing. Yes, I have had.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. You know, some lines. One a lot, a lot of money up front. And I mean like minimum orders or quite a good chunk of change and you're like, yeah, that's, you know, a good chunk of money for a line that may or may not do good. And ironically, that line was also carried in another store in town, and she's not had to do any reorders with that company.
So either that tells me that no one likes it around here because they're not buying it from that other store. So once we got down there and just kind of had a few things in mind, I ended up finding, a company that had just your basic, dress pants and sports coats, and that's something that we've been looking for and going to dabble into, for the attorneys and the doctors and and just the businessmen, Realtors a lot of the guys that I work with do wear sports coats.
So getting that in here. And then the other thing that was on the radar was a golf line, because we do have two golf courses here, and I have lots of golfers, and I'm friends with a lot of guys that are always on the golf course. And while I was actually there at market looking, I actually called one of them on FaceTime and said, look at this golf line.
Look at these shirts. Would you wear these? You know, do you like the style? Do you like the print? Would you wear this? And he's like, sure. I was like, okay. So that, you know, that was the cue that that was probably going to be a good fit. So that order should be coming in soon.
Terresa Zimmerman
Great. I mean, customer research is the best.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. Yeah. And I have a lot of them. I'll call them. I have like, a lot of guy friends. I'll be like, hey, would you wear this? What about this or do you like this? And I and I asked them a lot. Is there a certain brand that you want? Is there something that you like? You know, that you have to drive to find?
Give me some names. I'll research and see if I can get it.
Terresa Zimmerman
Back to the conflict with some of the brands. Have you talked to other stores about what they do when they've run into a conflict with the brand that they really want in their store?
Stephanie Knoppe
No. Mainly because there's a few boutiques around here. There's definitely a lot more women boutiques than the men's, for sure. But those girls, I mean, I say, I don't really talk to them a lot. Yeah. If you're not downtown, I probably don't see. Yeah. I'm just. I usually, you know, first mornings, every morning I hit the coffee shop downtown.
I'm a I'm just a downtown girl. I love my downtown. Yeah. And building it back up is, you know, a very important part of my life. Like, I want to make sure that it's back to the way it was whenever I was a child. I have very small memories of it.
Terresa Zimmerman
Well, it might be interesting if we can get some of our, listeners, other store owners to, you know, chime in about, what they do with conflict. You know, they're out of your area. But, you know, if people say, yes, great.
Stephanie Knoppe
So yes. And then it's, you know, to me it's like, well, there's a conflict with getting it. Do I really need this? You know, I, I get them, yeah. Cutting. Stuff. But even like the brand that I get, all my wine glasses from my best friend Lee, she's down the road and she has a gift shop in a restaurant.
Well, she orders from them two, and, I mean, either one of us could be like, we want to be exclusive for our area, but we don't do that to each other because she knows what I'm ordering. And I know what she's ordering. So we don't order the same thing. We order the opposite. Same with my friend Tad, who opened up in one of my other buildings downtown that we bought.
He's got a gift shop and a framing shop. And so when it comes to the men's products and men's soaps, I mean, he's got a line that I absolutely love and I'll go down there and buy it for my husband, but I will not go buy it for my store. I find other soap wines that I like just equally as well, and I order those for my store.
So whenever I say we worked, we're very well together and we all support each other a lot.4
Terresa Zimmerman
That's great. Yeah, there's always a way around the conflict. Yeah.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah. So you were starting to talk about, downtown being so important to you. Can you talk a little bit about the role you're playing down downtown? Sounds I'm sure that, like, it's revitalizing you.
Stephanie Knoppe
Right? It is. So about 4 or 5 years ago, I actually a little bit longer than that. One of my friends got appointed to the downtown director, and she needed more, board members. And so we were talking in passing, and I told her I, you know, I'd always have a love for downtown. And she encouraged me to apply to be on her board.
And I did, and I was on the board with her for three years. So she was there. And then a new girl came in and I was with her the last year. Unfortunately, in that first year, there was a lot of conflict between me and her. On just how things were being done, and so I didn't even bother trying to reapply because I knew it was just not going to go anywhere.
So I just kind of stepped away and just kind of laid low, worked on listing my downtown buildings and still trying to build up the downtown with anybody that I thought had the same vision and drives and the money to do what needs to be done with some of these buildings. And then, of course, when we opened the dress shop, and then that just opened up the gate to where my husband, I end up buying the three in a row
So I have three buildings that connect to each other in a row on Main Street, and then we end up buying our last one on Vine Street just a few months ago. With that, then I moved a dress shop up, you know, on Main Street, and everybody's like, well, aren't you scared? You know, downtown's not that great.
I'm like, it's really not that bad. You know? And they're like, well, we just don't go down there and like, well, that's, you know, that's part of the problem. You're just going off what you hear. You're not going off what you see. And they're like, well, aren't you nervous? And I'm like, no, I don't care. I mean, I'm there till like 1030, 11:00 at night, sometimes by myself working at my shop and they're like, oh my gosh.
I'm like, it's fine people. Seriously. And so then, you know, then we got the idea to do them in which that came about, because my husband and I went on a weekend getaway and we went to, an old historic downtown that had a bunch of shops, which is my favorite thing to do. And he's like, okay, we went in all these shops and there's not any men's store.
There's nothing for men. Everything is around women. And I said, you're right, there's everything for women and nothing for men. And so that's when the men's store idea kind of came into play. And then it just took us a while to buy the third building and move on it, which, ironically, the building that the men's store is in had always been one of my favorites.
And I loved this building and I knew it had major potential. They actually had an old staircase that previous owners had covered up, and then they put a staircase in the back, and the staircase up front was like, gorgeous. Had, you know, beautiful handrails. Just it just amazing. And they covered it up and I'm like, that's the first thing that we're uncovering.
So as soon as the guys got in here, we ripped up all the floor out of the way, all the boards. So I could actually see the staircase. And, you know, of course, as going through them renovations, we found old tags from the 40s in the 50s that had great bars on this, on them because this was grabbers in the 40s.
In the 50s. And then somewhere after that, it changed over to Montgomery and Hope, which was a men's store. And then but Gumby and Coke separated, and Montgomery went north of town, and coach stayed downtown until he closed the doors. And then it was bought and used as a trinket, just whatever store. Then just for storage. And, had not been taking very good care of.
And then, you know, three shells later, it's back into my hands, then it's back to mint stores. So it's kind of funny how the stores seem to be telling their own story, and it just keeps going back to being what it was, you know, originally, the dress shop the same way. It was actually a clothing store, and then it went to a shoe store, and then I went to a home health care office, and now it's back to a dress shop.
Terresa Zimmerman
Very cool that the space you're in was, originally a men's store.
Stephanie Knoppe
That's. Yes.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. And actually, Mr. Cope's granddaughter and I are actually friends, and we actually went to high school together. So she comes into the store, and she even brought her mom down, you know, to look at it because you know what they remember, and it's changed a little bit, of course. Yeah, but they wanted to check out the store and reminisce, you know, the memories of when she would be hanging out.
Here's a child with her great ball. So.
Terresa Zimmerman
Oh that's great. I mean, incorporating all of that background and history and story that makes it makes it such a rich thing to to share with people. And it sounds like you're pioneering. Really. I mean, yeah, places that are revitalizing. Somebody's got to go in first.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. And, you know, when we started, downtown, there was Happy's. Happy's has been a staple down here for a long time, and it's, a pub and actually has really good bar food. And then, Foxtrot coffee opened up seven years ago, and we were, of course, I was on the board at that time. We're like, oh, yeah, something else.
Maybe this maybe that's going to be the domino that just like, you know, gets everything going. And that one wasn't quite the domino that just, like really kicked the scales. And then my friend Lee opens up a few blocks down for me, actually, two blocks down on the corner, she opened up, a gift shop and a restaurant, a cafe and the best food ever that you'll ever have during the day at lunch is amazing suppers, wonderful.
And then we were like, maybe that's going to be the one, you know? And like, since then, we opened up the dress shop and now the men's store, and then one of my friends, I'm helping him and he's opening opening up a bakery downtown. So, I mean, and then Tad moved in downtown. So I think now with the bakery and Tad, that's a lot that's going to get everything going.
Terresa Zimmerman
Do all of these places have, websites and things? Can we put links in the in the notes for all these stores?
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. All of them are on Facebook for sure.
Terressa Zimmerman
Perfect. I'd love to mention them. We love our main streets, especially towns being revitalized. So let's let's talk about how you're doing what you do. I mean, appreciating since you're new, you know, you're kind of, you know, evolving. And you said winging it, but I'm sure you've put some systems in place. What kind of tools and techniques are you relying on right now to run Joe Lawrence's haberdashery?
Stephanie Knoppe
You know, for all my counting in my, inventory, we definitely, fell into liking the square system. I mean, I know everybody has their feelings about every different one, but, I just felt more comfortable with square. I had that for the dress shop, so putting it in the men's store just made sense because they were just.
I. I already knew how to work the system. Yeah. For the inventory, and some of my platforms that I order from will automatically shift my order over into two square for me. I don't even have to do anything. So that's one of the things that I use. Definitely doing research, asking the questions, looking for different lines.
Asking my daughters because I have, two daughters that are younger, that still live at home. So I asked them, you know, like, what are your friends wearing? You know, things like that. I've got one of my daughter's friends from high school. He's actually doing, like, ambassador branding stuff for us, so he'll, you know, take pictures with, with items, clothing, hats, stuff from the shop and tag the shop in it.
Detritus.
Terressa Zimmerman
So is he doing your social posting then?
Stephanie Knoppe
No, actually, I do all of my social media stuff, everything on, Facebook and Instagram, which I have, linked. So I usually go just to meta and type in one thing, and I try to plan out my week. But then, even the TikToks I've been doing myself, which I'm still learning that whole platform. Are you doing?
But I try to do a lot about myself. Yeah, which is crazy.
Terresa Zimmerman
Are you dancing for TikTok?
Stephanie Knoppe
Yeah. No. Yeah, I won't dance. I'll just hit.
Terresa Zimmerman
Not on your song. So I don't know. All I know people dance when they go on TikTok.
Stephanie Knoppe
No, no, I'll just take pictures and upload it to different, templates that they've already made, which makes it easier.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah.
Stephanie Knoppe
For me. And, and then sometimes I have my daughters help if they're around and I can get them to do something. You know how kids are.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah, yeah. Well, and right now, it sounds like you're communicating with your customers directly by phone when they come in. Are you do you have any kind of system where you're keeping track of kind of who they are? Does square root, square, square do that.
Stephanie Knoppe
For you where system keeps up with if it's a card, if it is a card transaction, then I it always captures their name 99.9% of the time. I mean, I've had a few of them not can't capture the name on the card. But for the most part, a lot of the people that come in I know personally, born and raised here.
And then of course, being in real estate and property management, I mean, a lot of the attorneys or those guys that come in, I know because of having to go to court all the time with renters. So not, I mean, not the best way to know them, but I mean, I know who they are, and just, you know, being in the community, you learn who everybody is, and you have acquaintance with them.
Terresa Zimmerman
So what's your biggest challenge?
Stephanie Knoppe
Figuring out what fits the store the best?
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah for sure. Products, really? First thing you mentioned.
Stephanie Knoppe
So yeah that's that's the biggest struggle that and just getting the word out that we're here. And one of my best friends he's actually a real sage and he's like, if I wasn't friends with you, I wouldn't even know that you had it. I was like, but I post up all the time, and he's like, but you got to do it different.
And so then, you know, it's like constructive criticism from him and. Right. And he's like, you need to do it this way and you need to do this, and we need to come up with this and the whole brand ambassador, that was his idea. So we're trying it to see how that I mean, that's still freshly neutral.
We're trying to see how that works. I need some kind of, like, drive or something. I will bounce ideas off of the people that I trust. Yeah. You know, we've got Christmas open house coming up extremely fast in, like, two weeks.
Terresa Zimmerman
In the store.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. And so at the end, actually, they do it throughout the whole town. Any business in town that wants to be a part of it. The, newspaper here puts it on, but that means I have to have my whole store decorated for Christmas in November.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yes.
Stephanie Knoppe
And that was like the furthest thing from my mind. And so we've been struggling like, oh my gosh, what do we do in the men's store? And now it's not just the men's store, I have to do the dress shop as well. So I've got two big store fronts to, to do. And so my girl that works at the dress shop for me, she and I've been in the basement at the men's store.
We've got a basement here. So we've been in the basement, painting and glittering icicles and different things for the windows and, you know, just trying to get everything figured out. But, whenever that stuff comes around. Tad, who has Archer, he's wonderful with ideas for the window. I mean, his windows always look on point, right? And so bouncing ideas off those people.
And then Lee, I mean, just the group of us down here that have the retail businesses, we usually just sit around and, or just in passing will bounce ideas off of each other and talk and, and it's just a great way to, to get other ideas, keep things flowing and to support each other. So we're looking forward to it, though.
Terresa Zimmerman
That peer support is really important. We've we've heard that from so many. Yeah. Even if they're different types of stores. That's great.
Stephanie Knoppe
Oh yes.
Terressa Zimmerman
How did you decide originally to even open you started with the prom resale. Prom dress resale. How did you decide to do that?
Stephanie Knoppe
For the longest time, every Thanksgiving, we would always go out to Branson and stay at our cabin, and we would always be with our best friends who had a cabin down the hill from us. As time has gone on, we don't get to do that as often because we're both trying to grow our empire. So they have an inn in Mississippi that they're focusing on, and so we don't get to have as much time together anymore.
But we would always go out there at Thanksgiving, and it always happened to be right before, like basketball homecoming, the Christmas ball or whatever at their daughter's school. And so we'd always have to take the girls to the dress shop out, embrace it. Yeah. And we realized that she was also doing she had a lot of new dresses, but she was also doing some consignment.
And again, it was one of those ideas that we chewed on for probably a year and a half, two years, almost like I was like, oh, we could open one up in town because there's only one formal shop in town. And whenever these girls get rid of their stock, I mean, when they're done wearing them, what do they do when they just hang in the closet?
I mean, we had a closet full because I actually have three daughters. Three daughters equals a lot of dresses in a closet just hanging. And so it just came from that idea. And then when we got there, I was like, you know, we need to offer new. I can find stuff that's still reasonable, but brand new. Still good quality.
I don't feel that. And I get it. A lot of people can pay $1,000, but just because you can doesn't mean you have to, right? So trying to find, dresses that are still really in style, reasonable and price fair to where the parents, you know, don't feel terrible or they're not strapped paying for the kid's dress.
Right. And prom for little girls. It's like a big, big deal. Everything's got to be perfect. Because in high school, that's their whole world. They don't know what else is out there. And so we really love that aspect. You know, I've had some little girls that came in that have not been able to do as much.
We try to work with them and either sell it, cost or donate items or whatever to help the ones that need to be helped as well. And so just seeing their joy on their face, this one little girl came in, she's like, I saw the video of your open house today, and there's this dress and, you know, and she started describing it and I was like, and I knew which one it was.
It was like a dress that my daughter had worn. And I was like, oh, it's right there. And she got it. And she tried it on and she called her mom and she's like, mom, it's perfect. It fits. We don't have to do anything to it if it's be perfect. And then our mom and I can hear her mom saying, how much is it?
And then she looked at it, and I think I had the dress priced at 125 bucks. I mean, it was just nothing major, right? And when she told her mom, her mom's like, are you serious? And she's like, yes. And she's like, okay, well, tell her we'll come back and get it. So I just held the dress back for and she came back and got it.
But the look on her little face was enough, you know, to make it worth doing what we were doing. Yeah. And then, you know, I had guys coming in or, and I've even had sisters reach out and say, you know, we're kind of on a budget. Do you have any ties? You know, and at the time.
And then that's also where the men's store came in. And I was like, well, I mean, I do have some ties. And I actually had an open the men's store front yet, and she went back there and picked one out and I was like, you know, and of course they just had, a lot of struggles. And I was like, oh, just, just have a good time, kid, you know?
And she's like, are you sure? So I was like, yeah, just have a good time. Here's your tie. I hope you enjoy your prom. We try to make those kids lives better and trying to give them what they need and have stuff on hand. So of course we will expand out to probably having full blown suits in the store, that they can buy.
I mean, I hate to say you can rent a tux and a rental for a tux as almost as buying a suit, depending on the brand.
Terresa Zimmerman
So the relationships you have in the whole community since you were born and raised, there clearly are form a basis of. I don't know, I guess I feel like you're you're you're serving the community. You're building your empire, you said, which is awesome, but you're also serving your community. And, those relationships seem to be really important to that.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. And, you know, of course, we have, a festival downtown. There's the old train depot, which is another thing. I'm the president of the nonprofit for the old train depot is built in 1910. So we're in the middle of restoring it. And it's literally two blocks from my store. We do the cruise ins, in the summertime, which is where all the car guys get out their old cars or their new cars that they've spent money on.
You know, just whatever. They bring out their cars, they park them on the road. Everybody walks around, looks their cars, take pictures, you know, and then they get these guys get to talk about their cars and the things that they love. So we do that every summer. And then we have a big car show in September with the big festival that's downtown.
I do have a lot of irons in the fire. Yeah.
Terresa Zimmerman
Sounds like things are going on in Poplar Bluff. Stephanie. Yeah. Come on.
Stephanie Knoppe
Downtown is like where we, you know, this is like the hub. I mean, 99.9% the time I'm usually around here somewhere. If you see my car, it's somewhere down here. And. Yeah, figuring out which store I want. But I mean, it's all a process of trying to get our downtown built back up and revitalized. And we are getting so, so close.
There's just a few buildings that are sitting vacant and need some work. Yeah.
Terresa Zimmerman
So it's going to be for somebody.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes. Very. Yes. We have some great buildings that could make somebody. Yeah. Some nice cash if we could just get the right people.
Terresa Zimmerman
If you had to pick one thing that you you know, if you say you love about your men's store or your clothing store, your women's store, either way, what what do you love about it
Stephanie Knoppe
What I love about it is, my my decor. So, I think I sent a picture to you of the, the old truck bed.
Terresa Zimmerman
Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's cool.
Stephanie Knoppe
Okay, so that truck bed is actually from a 1949 Chevy. And my husband had the truck. The frame was rusted. He could not, do anything with it. He was going to fix it up, but he couldn't do anything with it because the frame was rusted. I had found a picture somewhere a long time ago, and he's like, well, we can do that.
So he took the bed off and him and my father in law actually made my truck bed shelving. And then they actually took the front, which I'll have to send a picture of this, but they actually took the front of it and it sits above my doors coming in because I've got like a little platform up there. So the front of the Chevy truck sets up there with light bulbs for headlights.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah.
Stephanie Knoppe
And then, we brought in, my husband's 19, 29 Ford Roadster Deluxe. It's sitting on the floor in here. This car, it runs, it drives. He actually drove it in here and put it in the shop. And, I would say that's probably some of my favorite things is just the way the decor has come about and just the vibe of the store.
Yeah. And the brick walls.
Terresa Zimmerman
A lot of love and and care and stories and history with everything that you're putting in there, it sounds like.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yes.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah, we are running a little bit at a time, but, but I have a couple of questions that I want to end with. And one is, you know, if you think about the future and I'm sure you're only thinking about the future since you're so new, what are you seeing? Sort of two, three, five years out?
And how are you preparing for it?
Stephanie Knoppe
Hopefully. Hopefully we're still here in those. If three, 4 or 5 years away, just offering more services. I would love, love to get a gentleman that does custom suits. I would love to get, you know, a relationship with them to where they would come into the shop and actually schedule a day or two to where men could come in and do their custom suit.
And then I just get, you know, a little bit of a fee for doing that and let them come here, and then they go on about their way and it gives them money and it gives me money. It keeps me from having to have as many things on hand readily available, especially if someone's, you know, needing a higher end suit.
I would love to offer a little bit more services. We've got a lot of things planned out that we would love to implement, but it's going to be way down the line, for that. And, I just really hope that we grow and I hope that the downtown grows as a whole, that we become a destination spot for everybody to come and shop and see our downtown.
Terresa Zimmerman
And final question, why does Main Street matter?
Stephanie Knoppe
When I was a child, a lot of the stores down here, some were locally owned and some were big names. But this is where I shopped with my grandmother as a child. She would take me down here to get shoes, or we'd go to the clothing store, and I have, like, little bits and pieces in my memory of the stores and what they looked like back then.
I was, you know, so young as in the 70s. So I don't remember a whole lot. But then you also see, like old pictures of downtown. And honestly, when it comes to any community, I mean, we love the big name brands, we love the big box stores, you know, everybody has their part to give. But as any community, everybody knows that those big name brands can close up shop and leave you with an empty building sitting in your community anytime they want.
And your heart and your soul of your community is really your mom. And pop your locally owned businesses in the community.
Terresa Zimmerman
You got me teared up talking about your grandmother.
Stephanie Knoppe
Yeah. So that's why I mean, that's what's important to us is to make sure that, you know, we keep our keep our community going and keep it growing in the way it needs to grow.
Terresa Zimmerman
Yeah. That's the part I love. Thank you Stephanie. Appreciate.
Stephanie Knoppe
You're welcome. I want to.
Terressa Zimmerman
Thank you for tuning in to Main Street Matters. I hope you found today's episode insightful and inspiring. I'd love it if you would share Main Street Matters with fellow retail owners or anyone else who loves Main Street, and please subscribe so you know when the next episode drops.
