Shelly States

I drive by Las Manos Magicas, on the corner of South First and Live Oak almost every day. But other than peeking my head in a few years ago, but I couldn’t remember what they sold and what the shop was like. Here was an opportunity to check the place out. Although she was in the middle of remodeling, Shelly States was happy to take a few of my questions…

Tell me little about the history of Las Manos Magicas
Well, we started out in 1995 and we were doing mostly shows. You travel around with your stuff. The way we got started with all of this though is my husband and I went on a trip to Mexico with an archaeology class we were taking. We hadn’t been in a few years. And we bought a lot of stuff and thought, “wouldn’t it be cool if…” About six months later the bottom fell out of the peso. So he and I just decided to go for it. We only had $1000.00 and just took the money and started it. Started with shows, then moved into an antique mall. In November of 1996 we moved into a space in our first free-standing store. We were on 42nd and Guadelupe and were there for a year but our landlord wouldn’t renew our lease. He didn’t want retail tenants. He was a photographer, he had half the building. So then… we were across the street at the little strip center thing. We were there for two years. We moved here three years ago–January 2000.
Now are you guys buying from distributors or…
No, no. We take trips to Mexico. We go about every six to eight weeks.
That often? What states do you go to?
We’ve been everywhere. All but three states.
When I look around, I see many different kinds of item. How would you describe what you sell?
Folk art. Which is art made by untrained artists. Untrained in the traditional sense as in they didn’t have formal art training. Most of it has a tribal or a cultural influence from the indigenous people. Or something just specifically Mexican in nature, like the talavera tiles. They don’t necessarily have an indigenous influence but they are intrinsically Mexican in nature. Mostly we just look for hand-crafted things and try to find things that are one-of-a-kind. Part or our mission is to be able to offer fair prices.
For your customers or for the people you’re buying from?
Both ways. We’ve been doing business with people since… well, since before we were in business really.
What are some of the greatest challenges you’ve faced as a small business owner?
Getting people through the door. Finding creative ways to get people in here. You can throw a lot of money at the situation, unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of money to throw around. We relied a lot on word-of-mouth but we advertise. We’ve had to grow our budget slowly over time. Once people come in they’re usually hooked.
Do you do business online?
Yup. We have a web site and on [url=http://www.stores.ebay.com/lasmanosmagicasmexicanfolkart]eBay[/url]. It supplements and gives a broader exposure. Mostly what we sell on eBay is tiles. It is very simple to do that but it is hard for people in certain parts of the country to get them. A lot of these people come to Austin from time-to-time and it’s great. It works out real well.
I know you said you started out with $1000, but did you have any kind of a formal business plan? Or just wing it?

We just jumped in with the both feet. Fortunately my parents both owned businesses when I was growing up. So I had an awareness of what kinds of sacrifices I would be making. There was an understanding of the things you need to do to make a business work. I mean, I didn’t go to business school. I didn’t know what a business plan was until a couple of years after starting out.
It seems like South First out here could go two ways: bustling like South Congress or a thoroughfare for commuters.
(laughs) Well, it is a thoroughfare. I don’t know what is going to happen. When we moved in the neighborhood five years ago there were a lot more galleries. There were probably six or seven in a three block area. Laughing at the Sun, Alternate Current, Blue Road, Eeeka Beeka, and some others. What happened was a property company bought the buildings they were in and no one liked the new terms. But I’ve noticed what seems to be happening lately is that some little clothing shops are opening up. Which is great. And I see that a bar is about to open up over there next to the car wash.
What is the story with that?
Not sure, exactly. All I know is that “Icehouse” is in the name. We’ll see what happens. I don’t know what will happen to this area in the future. It will probably be a little bit of both.

I’ll wrap up with this last question. What advice do you have to someone wanting to start a small business?
Two things: Be prepared to work hard because it’s not an easy way to make a living. And, don’t give up!
Fair enough. Thank you!

January 30th, 2003