By Colson Thayer, Editorial Intern | West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce
For some, working with a family member might seem like an impossible task. However, daughter Meredith Wells and mother Kay Schiller have made it work since 2009. Together, the duo owns and operates MoMere, a retail store front in Valley Junction. They sell a diverse range of products from clothes and accessories, to books, kitchen essentials, and more.
“It’s definitely evolved over the course of the business,” Wells described the mother-daughter business relationship. The duo utilizes their similarities and differences to benefit the business. The two have very similar tastes and it
helps when making decisions.
“Unless we both agree on it, we’re not going to do it,” Wells said. “99.9% of the time, we’re on the same page.”
“The neat thing is, we both kind of have our little areas… but then there’s the mix in the middle,” Schiller added. Schiller’s background is in museum retail and marketing; meanwhile, Wells studied apparel merchandising and marketing at Iowa State. Wells focuses on the visuals in the store. She can help customers envision items in their own space through the way she displays them in the store. Schiller focuses on the back of house side of the business, not to mention the eye-catching window displays.
Wells and Schiller wanted to bring back nostalgic, Main Street displays at MoMere. When the business first began, the window displays featured products. But nowadays, Schiller asks, “What can we do that’s just going to be bonkers?” Examples of their off the way displays include Santa’s sleigh being pulled by a unicorn or a submarine being attacked by a giant kraken. The duo loves looking out the window to see Valley Junction guests taking pictures outside their window display. “If we are lucky enough to be a part of people’s memories, that just makes our day,” Wells smiled.
Click here to learn more about MoMere.
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