Well…Hello, Again
Hello again… it is me, Jodi, the owner of BVTC. I decided to jump back on to my blog and see where the keyboard takes me. It has seriously been a minute since I last blogged.
Life has been the ever-loving roller coaster it usually always is. One minute, I think I am on top of the world and the next, life takes a dip. There has been so much volatility in the world over the last 5 months that is darn near impossible to track all the low points. I can say one thing for an absolute certainty; the tariffs STUNG my business hard. One of my focuses at the shop was to bring in European brands of various sorts. The tariffs made it impossible to keep bringing them in. The prices to get them through Customs is (and was) exorbitant. As a business owner is it extremely difficult to justify the costs of having those products. You either have to pass the cost onto the customer through higher prices or eat the cost of the tariffs. With the economy slowing down, eating the costs wasn’t an option especially since the profit margins were already tight. And passing the high costs on to the customers seems wrong. Consumers are already paying high costs on basically everything right now. Why would I add to that? I wouldn’t, so I stopped ordering. It is upsetting because I have discovered some amazing Nordic and French brands that are exceptional products built to last. I am hoping the tariff situation resolves soon so that I can start bringing European products in again.
The mobile scent bar is in its final stages of completion. We will have our first event at the end of the month. We are excited to bring this unique idea to life and for people to enjoy the perfumes and/or colognes that they make. Fingers crossed, and with a little luck, we become the thing to do in Billings and the surrounding areas! :)
We are also working on hosting an event on the last Friday of each month, called Velvet House Nights. Our first one on March 27th, will feature a local perfumer by the name of Aldo Varez. He owns Addscents Apothecary. We will be exploring his fragrance creations. Our goal is to host a guest each month where we can highlight style, fragrance, lifestyle, etc. Hopefully, we will see you there!
