Welcome to this episode of the Magic City Business podcast, a hyper-local show dedicated to celebrating the people, systems, and technology behind the very best businesses in Birmingham, Alabama. The Magic City host, Jason Will, along with co-host, invites on guest Cliff McCollum. Together, they take a deep dive behind Crestwood’s own Urban Suburban Antiques shop, where Cliff helps run the show.
After a brief background for how this interview came about, and Cliff’s personal route in moving from working in education to antiques, they just into how he got involved in this specific company. Learn about the unique Birmingham neighborhood ornaments they carried that caught Jason’s eyes. With nearly six years experience, Cliff discusses this unique business model of representing vendors and facilitating processing with customers. While they have approximately 62 vendors, all offering products for different tastes, Cliff points out that by nature of retail, privately owned shops are dying out.
Proud of the variety they can offer with such a vast number of vendors, Cliff pulls back the curtain slightly into what he is looking for and the process for becoming a vendor. With an eclectic fee and mid-century modern furniture, this store seeks to serve the specific neighborhood they’re located within. In stretching for nostalgia, Urban Suburban, offers numerous antiques of differing prices and style. While Cliff is responsible for accepting and managing vendors, he says his waitlist is considerably long. He works to coach his vendors on productivity, how to move items through, and thinking on the right timing to become partners. While the company does make a percent commission on all sales, vendors find it beneficial for the exposure and diversity of marketing benefits offered through partnering with Urban Suburban.
Shifting the conversation, these three chat about why they chose Crestwood—the different benefits of living in the area and what they like about it. Learn about the culture, feel, and even the smells of Crestwood.
As the episode draws to a close, Cliff answers a variety of questions about the company. From hours of operation, to most expensive must-have in their store, to the most random thing that has happened—Cliff opens up to let listeners know a bit more about the company he is passionate about.
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