Impressions - August 2017 - 37

Up and Running
"It was in my blood to have a storefront," Bird recalls, advising
entrepreneurs to start slowly and build a business plan before
opening a retail space."I just had to have patience."
She began in her basement, bringing in staff to help as she
expanded.The company initially offered only traditional screen
printing and focused on delivering quality product at an affordable price for parents of young athletes.
Bird also streamlined the apparel-ordering process for coaches.
She would take her books and color charts to them,"running
around" from practice to practice, placing team and spiritwear
orders on-site.
"Typically, coaches are teaching or they have a full-time job,
and then they go to their middle school and high school to
coach, and by then it's 5 or 6 o'clock [p.m.]," she says. "They
don't have time to go order T-shirts."
The business model was a success, sparking growth in clientele
and workspace."We went from the basement; to the basement
and the living room; to the basement, the living room and the
sunroom," Bird says.
In 2007, the company added Roland vinyl cutters; in 2009,
it added embroidery. By 2012, after adding a print-and-cut
vinyl printer, Running Around moved out of the house and
into a building on the property. "At that point, we were full,"
Bird recalls."We were at capacity on space.We couldn't fit any
more equipment."
In July 2016, she made her dream of owning a storefront a
reality, moving the Running Around team to a retail space in
downtown Columbia City, which was in the midst of revitalization. Following an influx of big-box retailers in the late
1980s and early 1990s - consequently hurting local small
businesses - the city wanted to resurrect the area. Born and
raised locally, Bird was eager to be a part of the revival.
"We bought a building on a prominent corner and really
jazzed it up as far as the outside with new awnings and paint
colors," Bird says.The historic building was built as a grocery
store in the late 1800s, so as the team refurbished, they found
remnants from the grocery store and incorporated them into
the design.
Full of character, the new building quadrupled the company's floor space, allowing it to add direct-to-garment (DTG)
printing and finally giving Bird her sought-after retail presence.
Retail Know-How
Today, Bird puts her retail knowledge to use daily, stocking
on-trend, in-season merchandise and maintaining a customorder-oriented business approach.
"We don't have a minimum," Bird says. "That's a definite
niche for our business. I don't care if someone wants one
T-shirt - that's fine.They might be the president of the PTO
for the local school and then we get a large school order later."
A graphic artist ensures the company can meet custom
design expectations without limitations. Customer service
also is paramount, as the Running Around team emphasizes
creating an interactive shopping experience.
"A lot of screen-print shops have a wall or a desk that you
walk up to," Bird says. "You never see any production. You
just walk up and order shirts from a person. I wanted a very
open concept where customers can look at the thread and
pick out a color, look at the vinyl and see the paint chips. I
like to engage with them on their final product."
The open work environment also enhances the team

Running Around
welcomes custom orders
with no minimums.

atmosphere. "We like to have fun," she says. "People aren't in
separate rooms working on their own equipment. We help
each other out."
On the Road
Inspired by her own T-shirt buying experiences with her kids at
athletic competitions and tournaments, Bird says the company's
on-site business accounts for 25%-35% of sales.
"We would go to those events with our team and, of course,
[my kids] always wanted to buy a T-shirt, but it was so expensive,"
Bird says."If you have three or four kids, as a parent, it's expensive."
Bird and her team began working with the cross-country
coach at her son's high school. "He [agreed] to let us try it out
and literally on that first meet, we had another school approach
us and say,'Hey, we have a meet in two weeks, can you come [set
up at] our meet?' It just snowballed from there."
In the beginning, the team transported everything - tent,
tables, generator, heat press and shirts - in the back of their cars
while fighting the Indiana weather, be it high winds and rain
in the spring, or sometimes snow late in cross-country season.
Travel was simplified when Running Around purchased a
truck."We thought,'Let's get a food truck, but make it a T-shirt
truck,'" Bird recalls.The vehicle featured a wrap designed by the
graphic artist and the inside was arranged so that everything was
on wheels.The back of the truck included a ramp so that shirts
could be pulled out for customers.
Bird says the Running Around truck now can be found at an
event almost every weekend.Though the mobile unit's focus is
track and field and cross country, it also makes appearances at
show-choir, volleyball and wrestling events.
One of the company's short-term goals is to give back to the
city."The cool thing with being downtown is that our downtown
is hosting a lot of events now:Art in the Alley, concerts, First Fridays and farmer's markets," she says."We like to be open when
there are events downtown.We want to support them because
they've supported us. 
AUGUST 2017

P.37

Impressions - August 2017

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