Why do we decorate? Some believe that it is an inherent, personal phenomenon and has nothing to do with income, social status, gender, age, or religious background. We will, under any circumstances, make the effort to surround ourselves with familiar, emotion-evoking objects that sing to us in many languages. We use this instinctive ritual to stabilize ourselves, rejuvenate ourselves, energize, heal, and most importantly, explain ourselves. Our chosen “stuff” helps us every day, day after day, to live.
Elements is a retail store that offers home decorating accessories, a limited furniture line, window treatments and installation, permanent floral designs, selected antiques, and other gifts. Owner Kathy Sorbe has made Elements a store for discerning, knowledgeable buyers of home furnishings; a retail experience that is committed to enhancing the aesthetic qualities of its customers’ homes, offices and, ultimately, their lives.
Kathy Sorbe, managing owner of Elements, brings thirty years of home décor experience with a solid reputation for creativity and customer service. She offers on-site house and office calls and has in-store decorating seminars serving up to 200 attendees twice each year. Kathy has made Elements not just a retail shop for home décor but an experience that will change the customers’ environment and their lives.
Kathy worked for others for many years, providing quality services and products customers wanted for well-decorated homes and offices. She wanted to start her own shop so she could leave her unique “footprint” in people’s homes and offices. Kathy chose Storm Lake because she noticed many development projects in the area, many of which are now a reality. The new destination park and lake front lodge especially would attract tourists and help promote the existing fertile retail market in Storm Lake.
Kathy visited her local bank to secure a loan to purchase and remodel a building in western Storm Lake. The banker referred her to the Northwest Iowa SBDC to assist her in writing a business plan and preparing financial projections. Kathy and SBDC director Kelly McCarty met several times to review and prepare her business plan. Once the plan was completed, she met with the bank to negotiate the loan to start her company.
Investing $15,000 of her own funds and $52,000 from a private investor enabled Kathy to secure a $268,000 bank loan to purchase and remodel a building, purchase the necessary equipment and inventory, and still have enough for the start-up costs to open Elements in October 2005. Six new jobs were initially created and $619,000 in sales were generated in 2006. Elements has added five more jobs to date and is on pace to increase sales by five percent in 2007.
Kathy said, “When I started this process I had an idea and vision of how my business would work. Getting involved with the SBDC made me look at every aspect of my business, areas I knew had to be addressed but not in depth the way the SBDC made me look at them. I knew this business would work and after writing my business plan with the assistance of the SBDC, and doing the research suggested on my market, I was left with no apprehensions. This gave me an extra boost of confidence to start up Elements. My relationship with the SBDC continues today. If I have questions I know I can call the SBDC and get an honest and quick answer. The SBDC added to my confidence and helped make Elements a success.”