Year 2, here we come!
One whole year and we’re still shining! Can you believe it? Jeronica and I look at each other just about daily in disbelief that we actually made this dream come true. This beautiful shop and incredible team – not to mention our loyal and supportive customers – keep us going every single day.
As we round the corner on our one year anniversary, we can’t help but reflect. This has not been a normal year by any stretch. It’s been topsy turvy and extremely challenging for many. And in the midst of chaos stood Nirvana Soul. A happy place by design.
We’ve been asked so many times in the last year why the shop has been so well received. And in truth, we think it was a combination of things.
Nirvana Soul opened six months into the pandemic, and for a lot of customers who came by that grand opening weekend, it was the first time they had left their home in just as many months. Yet, we believe people were craving connection again. (There happened to be a tweet that went viral about our grand opening that reached over three thousand people!)
We also opened at a time when small businesses were struggling to stay afloat. And that struggle didn’t go unnoticed. The local and global community had been answering the call to support these businesses who, for no fault of their own, were caught in a seemingly impossible situation.
In addition to small businesses needing more love and support than ever, Black- and women-owned businesses needed it especially so. (In fact, during this pandemic, more Black-owned businesses have shuttered than any other.) George Floyd’s murder had awakened people to disparities they could no longer ignore, and thus showing up took on a whole new meaning.
And finally, San Jose is home. Not only did Nirvana Soul fall into every aforementioned category, we’re also founded by hometown gals. Jeronica and I are from San Jose, born and raised. In a city that’s experiencing a lot of change and still trying to find its identity, we think our local community needed something to grasp onto. Something that was truly ours.
For these reasons – and likely, many others we can’t even wrap our heads around yet – people from all walks of life have embraced us. Young, old, Black, Latinx, LGBTQIA, Asian, Muslim, White, professionals, students, artists, funemployed, coffee lovers, coffee haters, dreamers, doers, and even dogs. We like to believe we have some awareness of it, but at the end of the day, the forces at work were far more powerful than any of our understanding.
In one year, we have grown our online community across networks and email to around 15,000 people. We’ve had just about 25,000 customers in the shop – and that number is growing every day. You all have bought coffee, sweatshirts, hats, tea, artwork, and more. We even have wholesale coffee customers!
To say we’re grateful is an understatement. We’re beyond grateful. We’re elated! We’re overjoyed that this dream we dreamed has become something this special to you too.
When we reflect on the things we’ve learned, we’re humbled that the learnings won’t stop. Every new undertaking and level we reach will require something different from us. We’re seeing that as our team expands and as the business grows. We have 17 people on our team now, including a head roaster and assistant store manager. (The last of our five person grand opening crew was with us for a year and is now moving on to a new adventure.) We’ve hired and we’ve let people go and people have left.
What’s remained is our impenetrable culture of kindness, excellence, and customer centricity. This doesn’t happen on it’s own. Led by Jeronica, and enforced by the team, including our shift leads, we are tenacious about making your visit exceptional. One of our teammates equated visiting Nirvana Soul to visiting an amusement park. There’s often a line, and once you’re inside, your face lights up and the excitement grows from there. It’s an interesting, if not apt, comparison. And we’ll take it!
But how do we keep this up from here?
I’m optimistic by nature, but even I know things can fizzle out if not carefully nurtured. We have an aggressive goal to open 20 shops total, and 10 by our five year anniversary, which means we have four years to get nine more stores. We also have a roastery that is pretty much it’s own separate, yet related, business that we’re still figuring out as we go. The fears that crop up are different now. Before it was, what if we don’t ever open Nirvana Soul and we regret it for the rest of our lives? Now it's: what if Nirvana Soul never reaches its full potential?
We have always been honest with y’all. This is some scary stuff! We can do hard things, but geez. Knowing which hard things to do is getting more challenging everyday.
And business moves aren’t just about new locations and cutting costs and all those important things; it’s also about mental health and investing in our team and making sure we’re all being the best humans we can be.
We started 2021 with three goals: 1) produce more merch, 2) look into roasting, and 3) get a van. Through a series of crazy events, roasting became our number one priority. Now we’ve taken on a warehouse, purchased one of the best roasting machines out there, hired one of San Jose’s most talented roasters, and are ready to take on accounts. How did we get here?
It’s taken flexibility and openness, and more than anything else, it’s taken a great team.
About a week before we opened, we looked at our very first hires and told them: “We have no idea what we’re doing. We’re going to make mistakes. And we’re all going to learn how to build a great company together.”
And that was that. We were off to the races.
So we leave you with that same message as we wrap up year one. And this time I’ll say: “It’s ok that we don’t always know what we’re doing. It’s ok that we’re going to make mistakes. And you know what? We’re still going to build a great company together!”
Thank you for rockin’ with us. Thank you for trusting us with your orders and your experience. Thank you for following us and recommending us and writing reviews. Your feedback means so much to us.
Now, let’s party! Join us at our one year anniversary block party Saturday, September 25, 2021! From 10am-7pm, we’ll have music, local vendors, artwork from the many artists you’ve come to know and love, and more. Stop by to see these and more local companies and organizations:
The Kind Crystal
We’ll also be doing giveaways and raffles online and in-store. With each purchase in-store this week, you’ll be entered to win a custom pair of shoes from artist and Nirvana Soul exhibitor, Juane Pruitt aka The Kid At Heart. And you can catch us live on Instagram this Friday, September 24 at 6pm to tour our brand new roastery! (Request coffee for your company, church, or local coffee shop here.)
Now, onto year 2! WE CAN DO HARD THINGS! 💕
- Be’Anka