GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Black-owned business along Grand Rapids’ Wealthy Street is working to share opportunities with other small businesses.
Basic Bee is located at 804 Wealthy St. near Eastern Avenue. Owner Renise Warners started the retail store in 2020, first opening it along Division Street downtown before moving it to Wealthy Street two years later.
Warners has a background in retail, having worked for brands like Hollister and Apple and later for smaller local businesses. She started helping open new retail spaces, which gave her the inspiration to open her own store. In 2019, she made the jump, and starting putting things together.
“I really took my time trying to put together my concept and find a great location to get started,” she said.
The Basic Bee offers size-inclusive clothing with “trendy, fashion-forward pieces,” Warners said. She also offers West Michigan-made products like candles and room sprays. She explained she finds products to offer in her store through online research, trend analysis and checking social media.
“I’m checking Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest to see what trends are coming, but then also adapting those for West Michigan,” she explained. “Obviously, we have a different style than people do maybe have in Miami or New York or LA. So adapting those trends that we’re seeing all over the world to a West Michigan shopper.”
Her customers keep her passionate, she said, and she has enjoyed building a community with people who keep coming back.
“I’ll learn their style and know what things they’re looking for,” she said. “When I’m picking out product, I can see them in the item and that just brings me so much joy. It makes me happy to know that I know who I’m buying for, I know this person is going to love this item and (it) helps me bring a little bit of joy into the world.”
People were excited when her store moved to Wealthy Street, she said. Basic Bee and next-door Chartreuse Sisters occupy a building that had been vacant for 30 years. Warners said people were very welcoming.
“The inclusion of Basic Bee and the bakery Chartreuse Sisters next door really livened up the corner a lot,” she said. “So we’ve gotten great feedback from the community.”
Basic Bee hosts at least one event a month, like the Barbie Bash, which included two pop-up shops from two other local businesses and a partnership with the next-door bakery. Warners said she often hosts other businesses in her store, like permanent jewelry business Static Flow.
“One thing I like to do in store is just offer some extras to customers whenever I can and give other businesses a chance to shine as well,” she said. “I’ve been blessed to have a location in a great area, so if I can open up that customer base to other people I’m more than happy to do so.”
She explained it’s important to her to share resources with her community and she’s glad to help others because of the opportunities that she has had.
“I feel that not enough people do that. There’s lots of gatekeeping that happens, especially within retail and for smaller businesses,” she said. “There’s more than enough resources for everyone. You just have to be able to find them. And sometimes it’s just a friend or a colleague making a suggestion that gets your foot in the door and gets you where you need to be. And so if I can offer that to anybody else, I would gladly do so.”
Having a community to back her up has been good as a business owner herself. Warners has a ’boutique bestie,’ another small business owner who she can bounce ideas off and talk about the struggles they both have.
There’s always challenges as a business owner, Warners said. She has to “wear a lot of hats,” including doing the buying, social media and order packing. Having people there to support her has helped offset those challenges.
Growing up, Warners said she was always inspired by Black entrepreneurs. As the community celebrates Black History Month, she said it’s important to remember there’s tons of people to learn about, not just the key figures people usually talk about.
“During Black History Month, that’s when there’s events and there’s programming and there’s resources — that are usually readily available but they’re in your face at this time,” she said. “So it’s really a good opportunity to learn more, because Black history is American history and it’s something that everyone should know, understand and be a part of.”
Her advice to those thinking about starting a business is “take the leap.”
“A lot of people have their plans, and they just don’t ever pull the trigger or they wait and say, ‘Maybe it’s not the right time. I should wait,’” she said. “But sometimes you have to take the leap of faith and just do it. And that’s what I did with Basic Bee, I could have continued the path that I was doing and started the business later but I really, really wanted to kick-start everything.”
“Go for it, jump in,” she later added. “Failure happens, but you learn from your mistakes. So there’s really no downside to just giving it a try.”