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Artisanal Store and Its Customers Grow Together

Founder and CEO: Chad Anglin and Amy Paul

Revenue: First full year in business (2008), Pigment did close to $500,000 in revenue. It has seen double digit growth every year after

No. of Local Employees: 50

Headquarters: North Park

Year Founded: 2007

Company Description: A retail shop that sells local artisanal gifts, including jewelry and plants

On any given day, Chad Anglin starts his morning by dropping off his first- and third-graders off at Spanish immersion school before heading to one of his two retail stores.

“We are here every day,” said Anglin, 38, who received his degree in anthropology from San Diego State University in 2005 and opened his flagship location, Pigment, in North Park in 2007 with wife Amy Paul. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it is a big part of our success. We put a lot of time and energy into the stores, and, we develop a great staff that is a real hard-working team.”

Late last month, prompted by the success of the original store, which sells locally made artisanal products, jewelry, plants and furniture and has seen a double digit increase in annual revenue year-over-year since inception, the couple opened a second location at Point Loma’s Liberty Station. In 2008, Pigment’s first full year in business, the company took in close to $500,000 in revenue.

Liberty Station Opening

“We like to give ourselves a challenge and set goals,” said Anglin, who added the North Park location slightly plateaued last year, only seeing single digit growth. “We were already talking about opening another location for four years now. This location presented itself, and we liked the idea of being at Liberty Station, so, we figured it was time to come in.” The hope is that Liberty Station will generate as much money as the North Park location, which seems likely based on how things went during the first week, said Anglin.

The 5,000 square foot boutique has a more robust selection of plants, including growing accoutrements from Pigment’s own plant lab and a do it yourself terrarium bar, as well as a wrap-around patio deck with picnic tables that will double as an event space for private occasions along with the company’s own art-centric workshops.

Classes in Session

“We sell tickets on our website for our workshops, like a tea blending class curated by a local tea maker or our other current one, which is one on how to make wontons, lumpia and pot stickers taught by a local chef,” said Anglin, adding that they also host a bi-weekly toddler story time series at both stores.

According to Anglin, the secret sauce to his success has been to grow in areas that work and to shrink the ones that are not performing as well, adding that, as a result, Pigment is constantly morphing. “We look at what customers want, and we make good on that,” he said.

While Anglin recognizes that the store caters more to women between the ages of 24 and 34, with jewelry and plants being top-sellers, he and his wife, a native San Diegan and art professor at San Diego Mesa College, don’t single any age or sex group out. “We try to be as open as we can to anybody,” he said. “I know a lot of kids that love our store — they like to play with our plants and the dirt. In fact, we are planning on adding more of those workshops to the new location, for kids to learn how to plant and enjoy the process.”

Event Space

Next, Anglin says he and Paul, 41, will work on opening a bigger event space for next year, which will host up to 220 people. As a result, the two recently promoted a store assistant manager, one of 50 employees spread out between the two locations and the North Park-based corporate office, to an event planner position. But, for now, Anglin says he will focus on picking up his girls at school every afternoon he can so that he can take them to their soccer practice.

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