Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
You're listening to the Mistress of None podcast with Aaron Harks.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to the Mistress of None. I am Aaron Harks, and our guest today is Erica Cabello from the Fort Orange General Store. Erica, how are you doing?
[00:00:22] Speaker A: I'm great. Thank you, Erin, for having me today.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: My pleasure. Thank you. I have been working with Erica for a while, and I met her last summer when I was starting to do some First Friday events. And I wanted to get more than just regular standard venues involved. And I have to say, of all of the people that I have tried to work with or, like, you know, get on board for this thing, there's only one. I don't ever expect anybody to completely match my energy because that's insanity. I don't want that for other people. But the closest to matching my energy has been Erica, and it's been a really great partnership. And so we were going to meet today to talk about what we can do next with Fort Orange, and I was like, hey, let's just do it in front of everybody.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Well, thank you so much for that really amazing intro.
And I want to just express the same sentiment right back at you.
You meet people and you can sometimes have that instant connection. And you were one of those people.
And you do meet a lot of people who say a lot of things.
And you are not one of those people that just say things. And I respect that 100%.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: So thank you. I pride myself on it. At least if I do say something that I can't do, I'm very quick to go, hey, I bit off more than I can chew. But with this, it's actually it. Everything that I've been doing with people downtown, it. It already aligns with the stuff that I'm already doing. So it's not a huge imposition to just add a few more channels to it. And when it gets overwhelming, you know, like, luckily I have some good help. I've got, you know, Brandon, I've got other people that are helping out. But like I said, the follow up, when, you know, you've created your own posts and you make your own, like, assets and you're constantly promoting, and so it's really easy to work. Like, there's some people that I reach out to and I'm like, I'm not going to go out of my way to help you for free. Like, you know, you have to. You have to match me. And you've always been like, right away, like, what are we doing? Let's do it. Let's get the Word out. And you have great energy.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And that's kind of been the basis for my life. Like if you are not. If you're not going to do it, no one else is going to do that for you.
So if you want to get something done, you're the one who has to do it. And that's how I live my life.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: That's how you should live your life. I mean, you know, again, crackhead, energy, whatever, you know, now you are. You and your husband are the proprietors of the Fort Orange General Store. You just had your one year anniversary.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: We did, we did.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: That was in November.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: November 25 is the date that I purchased for Orange General Store.
Um, and my husband, Joe Slicko and I manage it together.
So I am technically the owner, but Joe is a co owner.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: Very cool.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: And what were you doing before?
[00:03:10] Speaker A: I a teacher for Albany City Schools. I taught art for 16 years.
Yep. And it's been a long, very interesting journey.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: Lots of stories, quite the transition. I knew that you taught, but I didn't realize that you had taught. Taught art. So that's fascinating to me.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: An art teacher in Albany city schools for 16 years.
Yes. So I have my BFA in drawing and painting from the former College of St. Rose and my master's in reading actually from SUNY Albany.
So just lots of life experience. And it's funny like people say that like what a change from what you were doing, but honestly it's not. Like everything that I've done in my life has kind of led up to me being the owner of Fort Orange Waiting tables, customer service in retail down to like babysitting and owning my own business prior to seriously spotless green cleaning company.
So all of these little like pockets and jobs that I've held throughout the years, really, I'm seeing integrating just amazingly to Ford Orange.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: So it seemed like a very natural progression for you to end up here.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: It really has like from the customer service end down to owning the business and being a boss and owner, all of that managing. Right. I mean I am, I'm still learning every day that I'm never going to be the best and I'm always going to have areas for growth. But. But it's a lot of fun and I get to use my artistic side by, you know, decorating for the holidays. Like we just did a giant Christmas overhaul of the store with like candy cane pillars and presents in the windows hanging to buying and you know, for what people want in the store and what they're going to come back for nice. Yeah.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Now, for those of you that have not been to the Fort Orange General Store, like, first I say, why not?
And second, I say, please go. Like, when you walk into this store, it's like, it's got all of the best things of, like, it's just got the. The way you have everything laid out is effective and adorable without being, like, overly pretentious. You know, like, you don't walk in there and feel like, oh, God, I can't touch anything, or. Or I shouldn't be in here. It's very accessible. And I think that that's a really good balance, especially considering you want people to, like, you know, it's. It's good quality local stuff, but it's not stuffy when you walk in there. And I think that that's one of the best ways that I could describe that store. It's like every time you walk in, you feel immediately, very welcome.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: Oh, well, thank you. That I pride myself on. I mean, we want everybody who walks through the doors to feel like they are special and like they're. We want to give them the best service.
I want to know my customers because they're going to help me make my business better if I don't have those small conversations with, like, are you finding everything okay? Is there something that we don't carry that you might like to see? We want to encourage our customers to help us make the store tailored to them so that we have that return customer. You know, we don't. We want to be everybody's gift shop and the place they go, but we also want to be everybody's go to.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: So, like, you come for the cards, you come forward, the snack on your lunch. You come for, you know, maple syrup or that drink mix when you run out, just whatever it is.
And if I don't. If I don't talk to my customers, they're not going to want to return. It's building relationships with people is what it comes down to.
The same way I did in my classroom. You know, a student isn't going to learn from you if they don't have a connection.
A customer is not going to come back to you if they don't. Like, if you don't know their name or care about them.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: That's a beautiful observation. And I think the toughest thing in retail in my, like, short experience with it, is, like, figuring out what to listen to from the clients and what clients to listen to. And I. From that. I mean, you get a lot of people that think you Know, like, I'll have a product that I use all the time, and then they stop making that product. And I'll be like, but I used it all the time. And I'm like, yeah, but you're one person, right? So it's like, if somebody was like, you know, you should have toothpaste and be like, are you going to buy enough toothpaste that it makes sense for me to stock toothpaste.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: Or especially if it's something that's perishable, you know, so it's tough to, like, take the feedback. And also, I mean, when you. When you put yourself in a position where you accept feedback, you're also taking a huge risk because you. I'm sure you get so many unsolicited opinions from people that would probably never even stop in the store in the first place. Like, well, you should have diapers. Like, nobody's ever asked. Asked me for that before.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: You're right. And there is totally a level of that where, you know, I've learned to not take things so personally. Number one. And what's that about?
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Can you teach me more?
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Well, be a teacher in Albany city schools for 16 years. I mean, that'll really toughen your skin.
But at the same time, you know, everybody has an opinion, and you're entitled to your own as well. You. You know, over the past year of being the business, like, new business owner, I can definitely spot those things, things that are selling well and that people come back for, and then the things that didn't sell so well. Right. Like, I took a risk. I tried it. You don't purchase a ton of stuff, you know, so that you don't have a backload of inventory that you can't sell.
And, you know, you really just listen to everybody and talk to everybody, and the more you hear that one idea or thing come from somebody's mouth, then, you know, okay, well, maybe I should look into that. Right.
Um, so there's always. There's always that level of risk that you're taking, but when it comes down to. Is just talking to people and listening.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, and I think the hardest thing about when you are adding supply is that if you don't buy a lot, then the price is significantly higher. And so that's always a tough. And people don't think of that. They're like, oh, you know, well, if I keep buying this one thing, I'm like, yeah, but if you're one person buying this thing, and, like, we can't.
Like, when I have my own merchandise and it's like, oh, if you had it in this color, I would buy it. I'm like, well, I'm not gonna get 12 so that you can have one and then hope that I sell the other 11.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: I know that is the hard part when it comes to apparel because that you have to buy in bulk like you're talking about.
And I've tried to offer a couple of colors. We can't go crazy because we're just not there yet. Hopefully we will be. I know we will be someday. But working more with like the local makers and local vendors, getting back to what our store really is about, that's where we can kind of purchase in smaller quantities and not be hurt so much by a bulk price.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: It's when, you know, we're working with still u. S. Based businesses and smaller businesses. It's not like giant corporations. But when you're working with a retailer for apparel, that's when we have to kind of go out and buy in bigger bulk.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: So where we have to make the choice of one color versus five colors.
But yeah, what we like to do first is definitely focus on our local makers. When I say local, I mean capital region first is where I source from. And then I look to New York state, and if I can't find what I'm looking for in those two areas, then I search us small businesses.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: And they have to fit a certain mission.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: Like giving back to a community or minority owned.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: Women. Women owned.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: So every business that's represented in port Orange is there for a reason and handpicked by me.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: I love how intentional that is. And I think that that's a lot of things that people overlook because especially in today's day where there's less brick and mortar and there's, you know, it's like I can order this from Amazon and have it dropped off and people are like, sure, it's a dollar cheaper, but like you, you stimulated your local economy. You helped somebody else out. I know it shouldn't be considered a charity, but it's like, you know, your convenience and like, like just think about people other than yourselves.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: But I love that. I love that because your attention to that is a beautiful ripple effect for our local merchants and. And at least our statewide ones. The. The intention is. Is lovely.
It was. It was already the Fort Orange store.
Yep. For how long?
[00:12:14] Speaker A: So Ford orange general store actually was founded in 2013, I believe, if I'm not mistaken. And they were definitely up on Delaware ave.
For two years. I believe there were two owners, and then they closed.
And the person that I bought four Door in General Store from purchased it from the original founders, and he moved it down to its current location at 412 Broadway in Albany. And it's been down there since 2017.
So it's been around for quite a while.
And we didn't. We haven't changed any names, nothing like that. It's still Fort Orange General Store, and Joe and I are just trying to really bring it back to what the original purpose and intent was, was local.
Local makers, artists, artisans.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: Very cool. I think one of the best things about it is that some of the merch is Albany specific. And so if you're looking for something, if you're traveling and you want to, like, you know, get an Albany specific gift for somebody, you know, like, don't buy anything in an airport.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: That's just.
[00:13:27] Speaker B: I hate your guts right now.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: And it's so funny. I get people that come in and are like, well, you should be in the air.
So, no, we are a downtown Albany business, and you should be in the airport.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: Those are the people that you don't listen to. You should get thongs.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: I don't want to picture you in a thong. Stop making suggestions.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: Go on, take it with you. Take it with a grain of salt. Sometimes it's great ideas, sometimes you're going to pass on them. But you're right, it's not an airport item. It is a handmade, small, local item or something that you don't get in bulk. Like, it's quality, especially our Albany merch. And you. You don't. You can't find Albany stuff anywhere else.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: No.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: And it was so important for me to be able to get this story because I was born in Albany, grew up, went to school here, never left.
And Albany is my home. And I just feel like, so connected to our city that I want to spread the. That love that I have, you know?
So, yeah, we. We put Albany on almost everything. Or Nipper, because he's our unofficial mascot.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: You know, and I think that is a big draw, A big draw to our store.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: I love that. That's amazing.
Like, I mean, was it something that you always wanted to do or did it. Was it like a more reaction or something? Like what. What made you want. Because it's such a shift from teaching to doing that.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: It is. Well, like I told you, I have. I had started my first business, seriously spotless, in 2015, cleaning for a friend. And she spread my name, word of mouth, and I was kind of at like this.
I've always been like, love, hate, relationship with teaching. Like, that was my source of income, my base. Right.
Benefits, all of that. It was my safety.
But I just always was an entrepreneur from a young age. Like, how can I make money? You know, like, trying to find the ways.
And so I started cleaning and I loved cleaning and I took a year off of teaching there and started the business, but realized I couldn't sustain it without benefits. I had gotten pregnant, I had my first son, all of that. So I went back to teaching, but in the meantime, I was still managing the business and I created a line of green cleaning products that I went out and sold at farmers markets on the weekends. So I make all these from my home, my kitchen.
And that's something that kind of sparked, like, markets are fun and great and there's a great atmosphere there, but wouldn't it be amazing to have my own store? But I knew that like a green cleaning shop wouldn't be sustainable on its own. Yeah. So, you know, that was always like in the back of my head. And I had jobbed at Ford Orange, like in, you know, years leading up to the purchase. And then I saw it go for sale on Instagram. I was laying down with my youngest for nap time scrolling, you know, dooms scrolling. And I saw it go for sale, screenshot it and send it to Joe as a joke. I was like, we should buy this.
Well, well, it became a reality.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: And so that little dream of owning my own store and not really knowing what it would be turned into this. And it just, like I said, it's everything that I have done in my life at some point is encapsulated into Fort Orange.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: I love that so much. That's. No, that's a great story because, I mean, a lot of people have those ideas, but like, you did it, so it's like an inspiration that you were like, this is something that I want to do. I'm going to do it. It was a joke, but you were like, you know, I love that, I love that.
What are your hopes for Fort Orange?
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Well, we just want to see this little store grow. I mean, it's got such momentum and such like, good bones that we've got an amazing community around us, lots of return customers, lots of support there that we just, we want to enc like the growth of Fort Orange. We want more collaborations with local businesses and partnerships.
I mean, we, we have, we have ideas that we're going to start rolling out for 20, 26.
As simple as, like, we're going to start doing like, birthday baskets to send out to corporation. Like, not corporations, but like larger businesses in the area to encourage that repeat business. Like right now it's slow months. January, February, March. People aren't really shopping.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: So if we could, you know, find ways to encourage that backbone of, you know, income. Right.
Return customers with not. I'm using the wrong word with corporate.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: But like, I know what you mean.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
Visitors coming into the area, for example, Albany Capital Center.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: So Monica.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Yes. They come in and we'll buy baskets for their important people that are visiting. And why not take that stress and like, extra burden off of their back to come down to the store and pick out the items. We have baskets ready for you.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: You know, or I have to get a birthday. Birthday present for somebody. Oh, I know Ford Orange makes these baskets and I'm gonna order one. So those sort of ideas. Yeah.
[00:19:08] Speaker B: And like the places where, where they are hosting, you know, bands that are coming through, like, you know, the EGG or. Or MVP arena, like, you know, do you want to get something like specifically inherently Albany to give to these people when they come through?
[00:19:21] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: So I think that's great. I can actually probably help with a couple of those connections. I'm like, thinking out loud. But we're also gonna try and kick off something like a. Like a Ford Orange fan club or like some. Remember we were talking about that because last year.
Yep. The capital Collection with the capital collections. And so stay tuned for that because you and I are going to come up with something like, I think if you. That would definitely help repeat business. If we have some sort of incentive to like, you know, collect all of these things and win a prize and come to these, like, get togethers and stuff that we have.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: We want to encourage.
Like, we want to start doing that yearly thing, like seasonal launches. Collect all so many. And then we maybe have a party for our people that did that.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: Be in the club.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: Be in the club. We're gonna do a Nipper.
Nippers Pack is the name we're kind of tossing around right now. But more or less like. Like a coffee club card, for lack of better words, but frequent purchaser.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Yeah, no, absolutely.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Once you fill up so many spaces, you get whatever it is that we decide. So these are all ideas that we really want to focus on and launch in 20 as long as well as bringing back workshops in the store to create more of that community base. And then I can start teaching again on a different level.
And Joe and I have also been working on our podcast, which I mentioned to you.
So that's going to be launching in the next week or two. Nice small business, big life inside Fort Orange General Store.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Oh, I love that.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's really exciting because it's going to like, there's so many facets of our life. Right. We are newly married. We are a blended family of four.
We're business owners.
Like, it's crazy. Life is nuts. So we want to talk about these things because there are other people that are interested in maybe starting their own business or have a blended family or, you know, behind the scenes of what happens as entrepreneurs.
So it's gonna be a really exciting and fun podcast just to, like, hear about our life and, you know, eventually we'll have guests on and you'll be one of our first.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: I would love it. I would love it. If anybody's, like, curious, if you haven't picked up yet on the energy of Erica, when you were talking about, like being newly married, it reminded me that I met you like days before your wedding.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: I think it was three days after we got married.
[00:22:00] Speaker B: Yeah. You had just gotten married, but you were just about to leave for your honeymoon. And I was like, do you wann a First Friday thing? And she responded with, well, we're supposed to leave the next morning for our honeymoon, so let me think about it. And I was like, well, you can wait. And she's like, no, we're doing it. And I was like, that is like.
Like, you're my soul mate. I get that. Like, I can't tell you how many gigs I've like, left from and gone straight to the airport. Like, we played the casino one night and somebody was like, what? I was like, I'm basically just gonna run home and grab my bag and head back to Albany airport because I'm flying out west, you know, so it's like, I will pack it like that. And so when you were like, I want to do it, even though I was like, okay, she and I are gonna get along great together.
[00:22:42] Speaker A: We did. We did that the night prior and then we left for our honeymoon the next day. But like, those are the things that you have to do.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: You have to do that.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: If you pass up on something, it might not come back to you.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Yep. But I appreciate that so much. And I was like, this is somebody that I'm going to be able to work with for sure. So if you haven't been yet, go check out Four Door in General Store. Even if you're just buying a car. Just go in and check out the store. Tell your friends, share with people. If you have somebody that's in town, bring them downtown.
Bring them downtown. Stop in. Now. I know that you can get snacks. See, I learned something new.
I'm gonna go get a snack.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Well, because people would be coming in on their lunch break and, you know, they just want to grab something quick, so.
[00:23:27] Speaker B: So get a snack. Yeah, get something that's inherently Albany. And support, it's just. It's a ripple effect of support for the community. And then hopefully soon we'll be hearing more from the small business.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: Small business, big life inside Fort Orange General Store. It will be on all major podcasts, all streaming platforms.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: We'll make sure to share that when it comes out. We'll give you your own little boost. We can actually maybe even tie this into that. So that's awesome.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Thank you, Aaron.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: Thank you. This has been Erica Cabello from the Fort Orange General Store. I am Erin Harks. We've had a lovely time, and we hope to see you very soon. Soon. Go check out what is the address again?
[00:24:03] Speaker A: 412 Broadway.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: 412 Broadway. Which we're going to turn into its own so Bro neighborhood. We have that whole thing that we.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Got to work on, too, to hear about this.
[00:24:12] Speaker B: All right. So thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on Mistress of None. Bye. Bye.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: Thank you.
You're listening to the Mistress of None podcast with Aaron Har.
