'We're always telling our story'

COEUR d’ALENE — Beth Rich is a storyteller. A very good one, which, believe it or not, is an asset when you own two shops in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

“I didn't realize what a great fit retail would be for me because I am a storyteller,” she said.

That ability to tell stories goes beyond words. It’s on display in her stores, Mix It Up Gift and Mix It Up Home, both on Sherman Avenue, just a few blocks apart.

She considers it one of her biggest compliments when men ask to meet the owner of Mix It Up Gift and Mix It Up Home. They’ll tell her they generally don’t like coming into stores with their wives and prefer to wait impatiently outside.

Not so at either Mix It Up.

“They're like, ‘This is the coolest store I've ever been in,’” Rich said.

The welcoming atmosphere, the flow, the displays and yes, the unique products create an inviting environment Rich said is a key to success.

“That and a whole lot of work,” she said laughing on a Friday morning as she sat down at Mix It Up Home, which is coming up on its first anniversary.

She came into the retail business with zero retail experience, but 35 years of sales and marketing background.

“I had never run a cash register. I had never clocked in and clocked out. I mean, I'd never done a display,” Rich said. “And interestingly enough, as I got myself into the industry, the first time I put a display together people came in the store and they were like, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’  As I immersed myself in educating myself about the retail industry, one of the things that they say is you need to tell a story. So we're always telling our story."

She tells it well. Both Mix It Up stores are successful.

The gift store, which she bought in 2018, does about three times the national average sales per square foot in a year, and the home store, despite its youth, is following at the same pace.

Rich has high praise for her staff and manager Teresa Irish.

“I would use the terms truly grateful and truly blessed, but the engine that drives both of these businesses is hard work, hard work from me, hard work from Teresa Irish, hard work from the associates,” she said.

Rich is passionate about what she does and pays attention to details.

People have noticed. Not just in Coeur d’Alene, but worldwide.

Mix It Up Home Gift was recently honored among the world’s most innovative and creative home and housewares retailers.

The Inspired Home Show and the International Housewares Association announced the national Global Innovation Awards winners for 2023-2024. It named 32 outstanding home and housewares retailers from 31 countries around the globe.

Mix It Up Home and Gift was the USA winner for giftware retailers.

“We literally represented the entire giftwares industry for the United States of America in Chicago at this awards ceremony, which is a big deal," Rich said.

The competition is to honor independent and multiple-location home and housewares retailers for excellence in several business categories. They include an overall mission statement, vision and strategy, store design and layout, visual merchandising, displays and window displays, marketing, advertising and promotions, customer service and staff training innovation.

“Being recognized as the retailer for the United States of America is a little bit of a surprise to me. It's just quite an honor,” Rich said. “There are so many amazing retailers in this country. To be called out as the one that represents everybody else, that was surprising to me. I’m honored, grateful and blessed.”

It hasn’t been an easy road.

When Rich bought Mix It Up at 513 E. Sherman Ave., it was both home and a gift.

“In the first, those first four years, we got pretty full down there because we were just trying to do it all. I just wanted my customers to find everything that they needed,” she said.

Then an opportunity arose to partner with Pepper Smock, owner of Windermere/Coeur d’Alene Realty, and artist Stephen Shortridge.

Smock leased nearly 3,000 square feet of renovated retail space at 305 E. Sherman to Rich, and a section was dedicated to Shortridge’s work. There is also a Windermere/Coeur d’Alene Realty office area on site.

“It’s been a wonderful partnership,” Rich said. 

When customers come into the stores, she wants them to feel like they're walking into a home. That’s why couches and chairs and coffee tables await on both sides just inside the front door of Mix It Up Home.

And then there’s the products. Not your everyday lamps, pillows or vases. 

“I want you to come into the store and I want you to see something that you didn't see someplace else. We're not just picking up merchandise that you can buy anywhere. We're always looking for something new,” she said.

“We call ourselves a lifestyle home store,” Rich continued.  "So we are all the things that are part of your home.”

Rich does all the buying for her stores and travels the nation looking for the right items. In the first three months of this year, she’s visited Dallas, Atlanta, New York and Chicago to see the unique, the special, the one thing a customer will not only want but need.

She does her homework. She reads publications like Gifts and Decorative Accessories magazine cover to cover every month. She listens to podcasts and attends seminars.

“I'm continually trying to immerse myself in the industry to be better,” she said 

And then there’s the customer service. At Mix It Up, customers are greeted by an associate. Selling something isn’t the priority. It’s more about creating an experience that makes the customer feel appreciated and want to return.

“I have 14 of the most amazing women that I know in the whole wide world on my team. We consider ourselves very much a family,” she said.

Rich values relationships. 

“Quite honestly, it's the interaction that you have. It's the people that you meet,” she said. “It's the people who live in this community who have been so, so supportive of me. The tourist business we love. It's a huge part of the financial picture for us. But I would be nothing if it weren't for the people who live in this community who have supported me for the last five and a half years.”

As a woman of faith, she said it was “a very divine set of circumstances that took me there, opened the door financially for me to be able to make the investment in Mix It Up. And the rest is kind of history.”

    Displays are a key part of the success at Mix It Up Home on Sherman Avenue in Coeur d'Alene.
  

    Mix It Up stores sell more Gurgle Pots than any retailer in the U.S.
  

    The work of artist Stephen Shortridge is displayed at Mix It Up Home in downtown Coeur d'Alene.
  

    Unique wall decorations welcome customers at Mix It Up Home in Coeur d'Alene.