Scout Dry Goods and Trade is a buy-sell-trade store that brings a new modern meaning to consignment stores. Kelly Newell is an east coast native that is the definition of a girl boss. Newell opened Scout 10 years ago in 2008, unaware of the success she would encounter in the years to come. While at school in Denver to study graphic design, Kelly visited a store called Buffalo Exchange which influenced her to open up Scout.
“The plan was to be a graphic designer. Once I kind of got into [it, it was a lot of] just sitting behind a desk and doing work for other people” Newell said.
Scout is known for it’s eco-friendly environment as it is a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) store and receipts are only printed if the customer wants one. These small changes lead up to helping the environment become a better place.
“We want to make as much of a difference as we can” Kelly said.
Newell named the store after the narrator of the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
“The character Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird is somebody that is tomboyish, is an independent thinker, stands up for themselves, and that’s everything that we do” Kelly said, “We definitely promote inclusitivioty and we don’t discriminate against anybody. It’s [about being] a safe space. It’s kind of amazing how relevant To Kill a Mockingbird really is in 2018”
Newell didn’t amount to her success overnight, struggles were faced in the beginning years.
“The first three years, I didn’t pay myself anything. [Not getting paid] was super hard” Newell said, “But I really believed in the company and I still do. I’m glad that I stuck it out because we are pretty stable right now”
Entrepreneurship isn’t an easy path to go through but as Kelly demonstrates, it definitely has its rewards. Newell’s words of wisdom for anyone that is looking into starting their own business,
“Try different things and see if it works, some things end up working really great, some things are kind of a bust” Kelly said, “Remain teachable, stay humble. That’s a huge way [Scout has] been able to stay plugged into our audience and continue to give our customers what we want.”
Along with helping out the environment, customer satisfaction is Kelly Newell’s and Scout Dry Goods and Trade’s number one priority. Scout seems to get the job done when exceeding customer expectations. The key to keep customers happy and coming back for more according to Newell are,
“[Scout is] super user friendly, [and] really easy to interact with. Every decision that [Scout] makes is based off of how easy it’s going to be for the customer,” Kelly said, “I know I wouldn’t want to go to a place where I have to wait an hour or go to a place where I have to make an appointment to make anything happen.”
After 10 years, Kelly Newell has gotten the hang of running a business, and her hard work has payed off as Scout has been named Omaha’s Best Consignment Store for eight consecutive years. You can visit Kelly and Scout in the charming Dundee neighborhood at, 5018 Underwood Ave, Omaha, NE 68132.
