Sara Stonecipher

Owner/CEO

I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. A once sleepy town on the west coast of the sunshine state. In 1991, my mom opened her 1st retail shop (a consignment shop) in our dying downtown core. She helped to pioneer the small business culture downtown and spent several years as president of the downtown business association, advocating for life to be brought back to our once vibrant city center. I grew up watching this and realizing that even the smallest of businesses can have a real impact on the world around us.

Fast forward 20 years, I opened my own store–MISRED Outfitters–just a few blocks from where my mom thrived in hers. I started on my own small business journey with $17K in savings. When MISRED opened, my block was the quintessential artist district and MISRED was its flagship vintage shop. Eventually as the block got busier, I did whatever I could to keep up. I tried clothing design; I opened off site buying offices to focus on online sales, floor change planning & distribution; I opened (and closed) a second location across town; you name it I tried it. All of those growth plans seemed necessary, but turned out to be more burdensome than beneficial. Yet I never gave up.

Today MISRED is an all new clothing boutique, specializing in everyday clothing and handmade accessories, for women of all ages. The change in concept worked for us and now the company has doubled in size, has a thriving online presence, and is making over a million dollars a year in revenue. More importantly, I am an active participant in my community, creating real connections to the people who live in our now not so sleepy, sunshine city.

I have spent my whole life building my own successful company but now I am ready to take that knowledge and experience to help others be successful. This is why I decided to start HowtoRunaRetailStore.com. My goal is to help entrepreneurs go from startup to success, no matter what stage of the journey they are on. We offer all the tools and support for my clients to be successful. Starting with free online content via YouTube, affordable eBooks to serve as an in-depth guide, e-courses with downloadable templates and checklists to keep you on track and private consulting. My vision for this firm is to make small business ownership attainable to all who want it. I am pulling back the curtain on industry secrets and hope to show people that if I can do it, so can they! I have had so many people help me along my journey. Now, it’s my time to pay it forward and help others create their small business dreams.

Prior to opening my own shop, I also worked as:
-Lead casting & wardrobe stylist for Dillards SE divisional headquarters
-Head of national sales for Nilla Shields Clothing Co.
-VP of operations for www.TheUrbanCollection.com