I finally was able to get the picture from the article downloaded, even though the quality isn't that great, it was in the paper. I'll keep trying. If you click on the picture it comes up bigger and clearer.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
I finally was able to get the picture from the article downloaded, even though the quality isn't that great, it was in the paper. I'll keep trying. If you click on the picture it comes up bigger and clearer.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sunday Gazette Article on The Liberal Store
Politics energize owner of Liberal store
October 10, 2008 - 8:46PM
BILL REED
THE GAZETTE
Diann Webb knows most of her customers by name. And she knows the first question most of them will ask:
"You guys have yard signs?"
Webb runs The Liberal Store at 218 W. Colorado Ave. The store is turning opinions into cash this election season by catering to area leftieswith a fix of signs, bumper stickers, buttons and T-shirts.
"At the moment, everybody wants Obama yard signs, and Democratic and Obama headquarters can't get them fast enough," Webb said. "We are literally making them by hand, and running out of them every day."
Webb has run the Rainy Days Silkscreen Studio for a decade at this location under the Colorado Avenue bridge in the Depot Arts District. But bridge construction and the economic downturn hurt her business and sent her looking for new sources of revenue.
So, a year ago, Webb launched The Liberal Store, a joint venture with the biggest customer of her silk-screen business: Colorado Springs-based Web sites theliberalstore.com and evolvefish.com. Those sites, owned by Gary Betchan and Becky Hale, have an international customer base, but as the election has heated up, the local retail outlet now accounts for 10 to 20 percent of total sales. Although she wouldn't share financials, she did say that the sales quadrupled the retail outlet's business from a year ago.
Conversation in the store also makes it obvious that the store has become a safe haven for liberals in the conservative bastion of Colorado Springs.
"They're isolated," Webb said. "Some people come in and say they live in an entire neighborhood full of McCain signs, and they want Obama signs. We're trying to help the progressive community here in Colorado Springs express themselves."
Question: How's business?
Answer: It's crazy. It couldn't be better. After the year before with the bridges down, I was barely hanging on. If I didn't have The Liberal Store, I don't know if I would have survived. Now, I'm unable to answer the phone, take a sale, and talk to people at the same time. I've been putting in, easily, 10- or 12-hour days and weekends, and it's just me. (Webb added a part-time employee in recent weeks.) Everybody wants to talk because they're so enthused over the election.
Q: Have you seen business ebb and flow as the news from the campaign trail changes?
A: It was a slow but steady growth through the summer, until the announcement of Sarah Palin as vice president, and it seemed with that announcement people were lined up at the door. And it's stayed really busy. I anticipate it not ending until right before the election.
Q: What are your most popular items?
A: Definitely, the yard signs and bumper stickers for Obama. Occasionally they'll want something more.
Q: Are any conservatives who wander into the store offended by the content?
A: I can kind of tell they might walk in by accident because they're in the area, but they're nice. We have something for everyone. It's not just President Bush bashing, but progressive ways of thinking: the high price of gasoline, or teaching our children.
Q: Did you have any trepidation about opening The Liberal Store in Colorado Springs?
A: No. I'm one of those people that's always been verbal about my political beliefs because I believe in the bumper sticker we sell: "Speak your mind, even though your voice shakes."
October 10, 2008 - 8:46PM
BILL REED
THE GAZETTE
Diann Webb knows most of her customers by name. And she knows the first question most of them will ask:
"You guys have yard signs?"
Webb runs The Liberal Store at 218 W. Colorado Ave. The store is turning opinions into cash this election season by catering to area leftieswith a fix of signs, bumper stickers, buttons and T-shirts.
"At the moment, everybody wants Obama yard signs, and Democratic and Obama headquarters can't get them fast enough," Webb said. "We are literally making them by hand, and running out of them every day."
Webb has run the Rainy Days Silkscreen Studio for a decade at this location under the Colorado Avenue bridge in the Depot Arts District. But bridge construction and the economic downturn hurt her business and sent her looking for new sources of revenue.
So, a year ago, Webb launched The Liberal Store, a joint venture with the biggest customer of her silk-screen business: Colorado Springs-based Web sites theliberalstore.com and evolvefish.com. Those sites, owned by Gary Betchan and Becky Hale, have an international customer base, but as the election has heated up, the local retail outlet now accounts for 10 to 20 percent of total sales. Although she wouldn't share financials, she did say that the sales quadrupled the retail outlet's business from a year ago.
Conversation in the store also makes it obvious that the store has become a safe haven for liberals in the conservative bastion of Colorado Springs.
"They're isolated," Webb said. "Some people come in and say they live in an entire neighborhood full of McCain signs, and they want Obama signs. We're trying to help the progressive community here in Colorado Springs express themselves."
Question: How's business?
Answer: It's crazy. It couldn't be better. After the year before with the bridges down, I was barely hanging on. If I didn't have The Liberal Store, I don't know if I would have survived. Now, I'm unable to answer the phone, take a sale, and talk to people at the same time. I've been putting in, easily, 10- or 12-hour days and weekends, and it's just me. (Webb added a part-time employee in recent weeks.) Everybody wants to talk because they're so enthused over the election.
Q: Have you seen business ebb and flow as the news from the campaign trail changes?
A: It was a slow but steady growth through the summer, until the announcement of Sarah Palin as vice president, and it seemed with that announcement people were lined up at the door. And it's stayed really busy. I anticipate it not ending until right before the election.
Q: What are your most popular items?
A: Definitely, the yard signs and bumper stickers for Obama. Occasionally they'll want something more.
Q: Are any conservatives who wander into the store offended by the content?
A: I can kind of tell they might walk in by accident because they're in the area, but they're nice. We have something for everyone. It's not just President Bush bashing, but progressive ways of thinking: the high price of gasoline, or teaching our children.
Q: Did you have any trepidation about opening The Liberal Store in Colorado Springs?
A: No. I'm one of those people that's always been verbal about my political beliefs because I believe in the bumper sticker we sell: "Speak your mind, even though your voice shakes."
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