Jody Ayars dreamed of owning an antique business for years, but
she never found the right place to open shop.
Last year she moved from Southern California to the Hollister
area, and on Labor Day of 2002, with help from her daughter Jessica
Walker, Ayars realized her long-time aspiration.
Jody Ayars dreamed of owning an antique business for years, but she never found the right place to open shop.
Last year she moved from Southern California to the Hollister area, and on Labor Day of 2002, with help from her daughter Jessica Walker, Ayars realized her long-time aspiration.
In one of downtown Hollister’s oldest buildings Ayars and Walker established the Old Flower Mill antique and garden shop – and with it a partnership, a commitment beyond the simple affinity of mother and daughter.
The Old Flower Mill, a seemingly unique arrangement, a mother and daughter in business together, is merely a sign of the times in Hollister.
In recent years, several businesses that are jointly operated by mothers and daughters have sprouted across a five-block span along or near San Benito Street. The Old Flower Mill is just one of seven businesses now stamping a unique trademark on the aura of downtown.
“For Hollister’s population, that’s a lot,” says Liz Kresky, director of the Hollister Downtown Association.
Just two weeks ago Mirror Reflections beauty salon added itself to the list. Since opening in 1983, Renee Gabriele has owned the business with help along the way from her sister Michelle Perry, whose styling chair neighbored Gabriele’s for many years.
Gabriele can remember the salon’s earliest days when her daughter Cheri Buzzetta, now 23, would be there hours at a time entertaining and greeting customers.
“I grew up at the shop,” says Buzzetta, who recently took over her aunt’s old chair at the salon.
Buzzetta received her cosmetology license about a month ago and joined her mother, no longer as a daughter just hanging around the business, but now as a co-worker.
Although Buzzetta doesn’t currently own the salon with Renee, both acknowledge a high probability of at least part ownership for Buzzetta in the future.
The array of other downtown mother-daughter businesses includes Boutique de Lingerie, Just Friends, Luminous Salon, Rose The Hair Salon and Timber and Textiles.
Jeannine DiVincenzo opened Boutique de Lingerie in 1998 and moved the business to the Frank D. Klauer Memorial Building in September. The inspiration for the store came from her deceased mother, whom DiVincenzo has memorialized with a display in the store’s front window.
“My mom was the all-time shopper,” she says. “She used to take us three daughters shopping for the necessary garments.”
DiVincenzo’s daughter Jenny Pfeiffer has apparently inherited that adoration for shopping as well, as she joined her mother at Boutique de Lingerie in 1999 as controller and bookkeeper.
Pfeiffer also may eventually own the store with her mother, DiVincenzo says.
And both say Pfeiffer’s 3-year-old daughter Shaya Skye may just take over for both. Shaya Skye often hangs around the store playing on her own personal computer and greeting customers, much like Buzzetta at Mirror Reflections 20 years before.
“We’re thinking about training her to answer the phone,” DiVincenzo says of Shaya Skye.
Hollister’s family connections
The mothers and daughters offer several theories on the prevalence of their downtown business partnerships. Foremost, the cozy community atmosphere lends itself to family-owned businesses, they say.
Walker (from the Old Flower Mill) says the area’s “family environment” was the major draw that attracted her to Hollister. She calls the mother-daughter establishments a “reflection of the community.”
Rose Ortiz – owner of Rose The Hair Salon since 1981 – says her family’s name goes back in Hollister for many generations, adding that it is not uncommon for the rural county. Her daughter Neiche Yarbrough works alongside her and may also take over someday.
“I just think it’s still a small town with old family names… This community is a big supporter of family-owned businesses,” she says.
Suzie Crump, owner of Timber and Textiles with her daughter Lisa, also attributes the prevalence of mother-daughter businesses to the “intimacy” of the community.
“So many people know everyone,” she says. “It’s fun for me. I make new friends that are customers. They ask about my daughter, my grandson… We all know each other. It’s fun.”
Above all, many of the mothers and daughters say it’s the shared rapport, the patience in settling differences, that drive the success of the partnerships.
“I would say the big thing about the businesses is, the relationship a mom has with a daughter is so good,” Gabriele says.
DiVincenzo says she never before imagined partnering with her daughter to run a business. Now, she says, they complement each other invaluably. She refers to her daughter as her “right-hand person.”
“I couldn’t operate without her,” she says.
According to most of them, the greatest benefits of a mother and daughter in business are the trust and comfort they already shared long before working together.
Buzzetta says the job at Mirror Reflections is “more like working with a good friend.”
Jacquie McAbee owns Just Friends with her mother Martha Blaser. She says even though she and her mother sometimes get mad at each other, they always find ways to communicate and fix the problems.
“She may not be happy with me, and I may not be happy with her,” she says, “but I still love her. It just works.”
