It's often been said that "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." It's an adage entrepreneur Shanda Jerrett took at face value after moving from sunny Australia to rainy Vancouver.
She quickly outgrew the novelty of puddle jumping and set out to find rain gear that would not only keep her dry, but also look stylish.
"I lived and worked in downtown and was a sopping, drowned mess," Jerrett says. "I couldn't find a raincoat but did find a cute pair of colourful boots."
She was "gobsmacked" by the reaction. "People would look at me and point or tell me they loved my boots. It was overwhelming."
Jerrett couldn't ignore the constant attention and requests for a similar pair of boots.
The idea of opening a store that offered chic rain gear sprouted.
GumDrops Wet Weather Boutique opened its doors in 2007 and sold out its inventory in the first week. Jerrett doubled her sales projections in the first three months and credits the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) for helping her make the successful leap to small business ownership.
"I had never gone to business school or worked in retail," Jerrett says. "One thing I had going for me was that I never liked mediocrity ... I realized that if I wanted to dream and succeed, perhaps I needed to do it on a personal level."
In retrospect, the concept for the store was a no-brainer, she admits. "People smacked their foreheads when they visited the store and said they couldn't believe this hasn't been done before," Jerrett says.
When selecting a name for her store, inspiration came from her native Australia, which refers to rain boots as "gumboots," as does New Zealand and South Africa.
The store stocks everything from rain boots, raincoats and umbrellas to leg warmers, nylon backpacks and briefcases, and even rain gear for your pooch.
What started as a single storefront has grown to include a successful e-commerce site that generates sales from around the globe, including England, Denmark and Lithuania.
Its success has earned GumDrops the 2009 CYBF British Columbia Best Business Award.
