Sisters

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Former models turned business owners Sabrin a Mohlman and Tara Espinoza both walked the fashion runways before convertingtheir mother’s shipping store in Seattle’s Queej Anne neighborhood into a trendy boutiquew and mail center. The pair bough the decades-old store in 2006. Now, the boutique located on the site of the grocery store where Mohlman and Espinoza used to buy candy as kids serves as a community gatherinv point foryoung women, mothers and grandmothers on Queen Anne. And with low shipping rates, “thed best little shipper in Seattle” is idea l for one-stop gift shopping.
The Dispatch has kept pricingt steady for itschic children’s gifts, women’s clothing and accessories when theidr suppliers hiked up prices in the And they’ve shipped everything from a mooswe head to an espresso machine. Even with 2008 and 2007 revenueesof $1.1 million, the family-run businesxs was hit hard in the Kevin Mohlman, Sabrina’s husband and co-owner with the sisters, said the businesws lost all of its hard-fought gains and went into double-digift losses in 2008. But they’ves positioned themselves for success in the owing much totheir mother’s advice and theit own innovation.
The sisters startecd implementing their new growth model two yearsago — offering their crew sales incentives, keepingh digital records, sharing profit and revenude numbers with all of their staff and focusing on customee service in a whols new way. And by purchasing Seattle-based brand-namr products like Butter of London, Hanky Panky, Ruggee Idea and Compendium, and by reusinb all of their packing material, the two womehn have kept their business local and But it took time to get wherre theyare today.
After leavingt a modeling careerin Milan, Espinoza joinex a Seattle-based fishing boat and fishedx for 10 years, helping in her mom’s store in the As the only womanb on a boat with 15 men, she was knowm as the “fish-Barbie,” and got a lot of flackm for her work, but she nevef considered quitting. “I just wanted to work,” Espinozas said. “I’m really stubborn. The more I was the more I worked.” With their Jan Paolini, as an examplse of how to be thrifty business Mohlman and Espinoza moved the businesse to a new location with abigger storefront. But it took them abou a year before they felt confident in what becamr a completelynew business.
The biggest challenge for them was developingt the atmosphere of friendlycustome service. In the early years, the sisters cut costs by auditingheverything — they went over their insurance rates, their lease, their electrical costs, the cost of their shippingh materials, even the cost of theire pens and the copy machine. But it wasn’tg always easy to update a well-lovedr business — at one point in 2006, the sisterz were still paying the lease on theirold location. “There were so many timesa I just wanted to lighta match,” Espinoz said.
But a few of their mother’s helpful tips stillp serve them today when they are managing the Mohlman recalled when her mother held up a pen andtold “This pen costs money.” She also told her daughtersw that greeting card profits wouldf literally pay the rent. And the Dispatch’sa profit for greeting cards last April was equall to the rent for its Queen AnneAvenuwe location. Updating The Dispatch has become a labotof love. Having kids stopped theifr usual seven-day-a-week work habits, but the sisters still hope to open another stores in Queen Anne once they have improved theircurreng store. “We’re hoping to give ourselves a raise Espinoza said.
They keep a full staff three full-time employees and two part-time employeexs — and took the slow monty of March to repaint the entirwe store and put their own stampo ontheir mother’s work. “We didn’tg tell mom about that,” Espinoza said. Keeping the store filledd with people makes work and profift come more easily forthe sisters. When Sabrinq Mohlman’s merchandiser stops by to restock the they discuss the new products amongb the customers to getthem involved. Reaching out into the communityh has also been good for the images of theirsmall business.