And that means really, really local: the VC stands for Ventura County, where more than 90 percent of Wunder’s inventory originates including fudge, art and beauty products, among other items carried in her shop. And that includes her own Devone Design Jewelry, her first love and the one that launched her retail career when the store where she stocked her jewelry went online.
Now in her own space, Wunder uses her extensive inventory to create an intimate shopping experience that caters to every need of the shopper including online recipes using items she carries in her well-stocked food section. Selections range from Ojai Jalapeńo Jelly to Kelsey’s Anytime Fudge - with flavors ranging from mellow milk chocolate to spicy chili chocolate - and a line of Lourdes Gourmet products, from Oxnard strawberry jam to dulce de leche and chimichurri sauce.
“The food is one of my favorite parts of the store,” said Wunder before a recent WEV (Women’s Economic Ventures) Connects business mixer. A graduate of the WEV Self Employment Training Program, Wunder is proud to carry products of other WEV graduates.
Art and photography, things for kids and the home, dolls, dazzling decorative mirrors and more greet all who enter the 108 N. 10th St. shop located across the street from the California Oil Museum.
A city resident for close to four years, Wunder said she and her husband Mikiel Kingsley “bought a very affordable house here... we had heard bad things about Santa Paula and thought we’d stay a little while and then move on. But within a few weeks we were absolutely in love with it, completely!”
After the retail shop where Wunder had been selling her Devone Design jewelry converted to online only, “I knew I had to do something else. I was in the shower and I thought, there’s no made in California store.”
As a teen Wunder had worked at Made in Washington that carried only products made in Washington State (where she earned a degree in biology at Gonzaga University in Spokane), but she decided to even narrow the focus of her enterprise to items made in Ventura County. An admirer and member of Totally Local VC, which advocates shopping locally, “I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try” the business idea, and within a week and a half Wunder found her retail shop space on South 10th Street, “where I knew I wanted to be,” on the route used by tourists visiting Ojai.
But it’s been mostly locals that have shopped her local shop, a client base that delights Wunder. Overall, “Business has met my expectations way more than I thought” in her first four months of operation, “and I’m very, very happy with that. And it’s mostly been locals... I would say most are right here from Santa Paula.”
It’s a customer base Wunder admits was not expected: “For somebody like me who is still relatively new to town” and led to believe that city demographics might not support such an enterprise, the reception has been exceptionally gratifying. “I’ve had other businesses, but this is the first time I ever felt everything clicked, really clicked,” and Wunder said that includes her soon to be new retail neighbor. “I was so worried about what was going to go in next door and it’s a cute cupcake shop... I’m so happy!”
From promoting local events by selling tickets in her store and posting information on her web and Facebook sites and enjoying her own shop, Wunder has made her store a hub of activity - and even personal favorites, such as her book section that carries tomes by local authors. “I just love books... there’s something about an actual book to me that can never be replaced by a Kindle,” and that especially applies to her assortment of vintage books with a local slant that “I just love.”
Wunder is also hoping that customers offer input into inventory and let her know whether or not it would be worthwhile for her to expand her line of gluten and dairy free products.
Wunder became a strong WEV advocate after she took the self-employment training before she launched her jewelry business. And, “I never would have considered opening a store if the WEV experience hadn’t expanded my horizons... WEV made me realize there were things I didn’t know I didn’t know, but by far the best thing” is the people Wunder met through the organization willing to share their knowledge and experiences.
Said Wunder, “Between WEV, the Chamber of Commerce and the Ventura County Professional Women’s Network I feel really supported,” professionally as well as personally.
