Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Youngquist.
Hi Erik, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I knew I always wanted to be in retail. I loved The Andy Griffith show and I would wear my mother‘s apron and sweep our front porch and wave to the neighbors as if they were my customers..
I began my retail journey back in 1982 when I was attending school in Kalamazoo. I was hired as a night manager of a convenience store. I did this until I transferred to Lansing Michigan to further my MRT program (Media radio television) while attending school I worked at Hudsons and got a part-time job at Harmony house which was Michigan’s largest record and cassette retailer. After a couple years I got my own store and did this until the CDs killed the record business and from there, I jumped over into the shoe business with Famous Footwear. I bounced around from the store to store cleaning them up before moving onto the next one and eventually became district manager and had a large chunk of the stores in the state of Michigan. I was later recruited by Hot Topic and opened up nearly all the Michigan stores in 2000. What I discovered is the higher up you get in retail you become a conduit of information and I enjoyed more of the hands-on instead of constantly telling employees goals and evaluating their work process. Skip ahead to 2015 when I moved back to Saint Joseph Michigan a place I have always loved and have history here. I bought a house, got married and opened up, Purely Michigan on November 25th.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Working in retail is never easy if you’re good they bounce you around quite a bit which I know is hard on a family. Whoever is above you in retail is never happy for your success and they will try everything to knock you down or eliminate you as they perceive you as a threat to their position. Stay focused and learn from each new position as each new job only makes you stronger.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am proud of the fact that I have stayed focused on the vision which was to sell unique and quality merchandise. When we were getting ready to open the store, my wife and I talked of what that vision would look like. Our tagline for the store is ‘Discover Yours’. Meaning we have a lot of items in our store for purchase (while others are my memories, Grandparents snow shoes, my Dads fishing hat and fly fishing rods etc) to have you reconnect with childhood memories of family and vacation. Our first tactile purchase for the store were old frosted Michigan glasses, which came out in 1959 from Leonard refinery (free if you purchased 10 gallons of gas). I remember these glasses as my dad favorite to drink gin and tonics while on vacation.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Every year when I was younger, our family would travel up to old Mission just north of Traverse City, Michigan. We would always go up the first week in September before school would start hoping the water would be warm enough to swim in. We would meet our cousins up there and spend a week in a cabin, throwing a frisbee playing tennis and endlessly looking for Petoskey stones.
Pricing:
- Free shipping at our online store
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.purelymi.com
- Instagram: purelymi
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/purelymichigan
