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Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge had corporate jobs in New York City, but in 2007 the couple moved out of Manhattan to Beekman Farm in the small village of Sharon Springs in upstate New York — where their lives and careers changed forever. This is Retail went behind the scenes with the two founders of Beekman 1802 to learn how they built a successful small business and sparked a revitalization of their community.
A photo posted by This Is Retail (@this_is_retail) on Jan 9, 2017 at 1:53pm PST
Just one year after moving to the farm, the 2008 recession forced Josh and Brent out of their city jobs and into a new line of work. Beekman Farm transformed from a place they called home into a small business. “Our community taught us how to farm, and that’s sort of what really gave us our second career,” Josh says.
A photo posted by This Is Retail (@this_is_retail) on Jan 10, 2017 at 3:18pm PST
A Main Street Mercantile, several cookbooks, a reality TV series and an entire lifestyle brand of products later, the Beekman Boys are a symbol for people who are starting over and reinventing. The storefront in Sharon Springs has also helped revive the village’s reputation as a merchant community.
A photo posted by This Is Retail (@this_is_retail) on Jan 11, 2017 at 2:23pm PST
Brent Ridge will be at Retail’s BIG Show in NYC on Sunday to share how making retail with personality has helped his brand — and can help other small businesses — be successful in retail today.