Shelby Livingston is the manager of the 9th and 9th location of the Salt & Honey Market. With personal ties to small businesses, she discusses her passion for them, the importance of community, and how her business works to support its vendors.
Livingston talks about her experience with Salt & Honey Market, “I started shopping here in 2018. My parents own a small business and in 2018, I decided I would only buy from small businesses for Christmas gifts.” She continues to say, “I found Salt & Honey when they were at the Gateway… And I, like, fell in love. And then I shopped there all the time. And then in 2019 they needed seasonal help, where I worked weekends and evening shifts.”
She discusses her parents’ small business by saying, “They owned a cabinet shop… they invested in a business with their friends. People supporting my parents’ business allowed me to do fun things with my friends because my parents had money to pay for that. So, yeah, it’s very close to my heart. And then in 2017, I think I started really digging into like, oh, I could shop small instead of always being at Target.”
Livingston talks about the evolution of Salt & Honey Market, “The first shop was at the Gateway and it is our 10th birthday in two and half weeks. On Saturday, June 14th we are having 10% off, pop ups, empanadas out front, live painting and giveaways all day.”
She talks about the owners of the shop, Ashley Collett and Nicole Choules, and says, “The owners are two women who care deeply about their community and their employees. So the vibes are always great. The founder of Salt & Honey Market started the pop ups and she really wanted to give women a space to make money and earn a living in a way that allowed them to live how they wanted to live.”
She discusses the unique atmosphere of Salt & Honey Market by telling us more about the owners, “They’re so willing to share, they just are always wanting to help people and they want to succeed, which is huge. Especially in kind of more niche industries where people gatekeep information a lot.”
Livingston talks about the pillars of their company by saying, “Salt & Honey Market has four pillars we stick to; if products are sold here it falls under one of those four. The pillars are woman owned, sustainably made, has less than 50 employees or it is local to Utah.”
Livingston addresses the challenges of shopping locally by saying, “I have heard people be like ‘Oh, I can buy this for like ten dollars on Amazon.’ And you could, but something I try to remind people is when you are shopping here, every vendor that we sell gets a cut of that sale. You are paying that woman who made those earrings. So that’s paying for her electric bill, her kids to go to dance class. And that is a big hurdle I’m always trying to remind people of.”
She talks more about shopping with small businesses by saying, “It’s supporting the community. We work with a lot of vendors who give to different organizations or donate their time places.”
