Since taking over Finders Keepers in 2017, Ashley Lepre has gone on to create a thriving business offering DIY workshops, as well as many products to create unique art projects.
Lepre, who moved from Hamilton to Brantford ten years ago, became a business owner after discovering a passion for painting.
“Originally, the business was owned by a couple. They had the store for around a year. It was similar to a thrift store and they also sold a paint line too. Whenever I was stressed, I always painted and that was my go-to in stress relief for mental health [and] I met them when I discovered their paint line…they would then mention that they were going to close the store,” she said. “At that point, I was working for a corporate company, doing their small/medium business marketing, but I wasn’t happy. My kids were really small and they were in daycare, and I was traveling from Brantford to Pickering or to Markham every day, and if the daycare called…there was nobody else locally that could help us…so when the couple mentioned they would sell I had decided that day that I wanted to buy the business. By August 1st I had the keys in hand and then handed in my resignation.”
After a nine-day transition, Lepre opened the store, however it gave her some flexibility when caring for her children.
“I went three and a half years with me being the only employee…I would close the store if I had to go get the kids from daycare, if they were sick, we had a cot in the back [and] they would hang out here, and that was kind of crazy life, until they got into school. Anybody that shops here knows my kids. They are always here [and] they’re always a part of the store,” she said.
Nevertheless, Lepre at first looked to establish Finders Keepers as a place that offered a variety of DIY-focused workshops.
“At first, we taught mostly DIY workshops. That was my thing…and the easiest way to pay the rent. I had said to my husband, ‘I can’t guarantee that this endeavor will make us money, but I can tell you that we won’t lose money!’ And we went into it with a lot of DIY workshops…doing more than 20 a month. Also, my dad has been huge at helping us…he would make the signs for us, and that got us more well-known in Brantford,” said Lepre. “I was building a business where people could come to us for a night with their friends. We would do corporate events, and then we started teaching people how to use the paint and how to paint their own furniture and how to rehab their own pieces.
Despite the pandemic, forcing many businesses to close, Lepre looked to find ways to continue and even provided guidance for others to find success during the difficult time.
“I started doing Facebook Live sales every Tuesday night, which got us more recognition. We were a runner-up for an Ontario Tourism Award for how we successfully pivoted during COVID…to keep businesses alive. We taught other businesses in our community how to do shop live events so they could also keep their doors open, even though, physically, we couldn’t have shoppers. It also allowed us to go into our new location. So that is why now we are two doors over, and our space is double the size,” explained Lepre. “It allowed us to bring in from the original about 15 local artisans. We now have just under 60 local artisans within our shop. I have people that just make little small baskets of things, and then I have people who do full walls of items that they sell within our store, helping kind of encompass just small businesses. It’s not just my business, it’s also 60 other ladies or gentlemen, their businesses are within our four walls.”
However, Lepre tries to help the community in many different ways while finding ways to grow as a small business locally.
“[Although] the last two years have been a little bit harder, we have spent a lot of time trying to give back to the community and schools, especially with their art programs. We do a lot of DIY kits drop offs at some schools which include usable scraps or pieces that we’re not using. There’s no charge for them. And we help with the Food Bank, [and] Food for Kids in any way we can,” she explained. “But being a small business owner for the last two years has been very challenging. We went from doing very well during COVID, where there was this strong push to support and shop local [and] where everybody wanted the small guy to survive. And now it seems that we are back to the motions and people are going back to a lot of the bigger retailers.”
The shop also offers a variety of workshops which gives people a chance to find what they like to do.
“We offer multiple workshops throughout the month. We do candle making, and then anything with wood…we workshops to show people how to create plant stands, porch posts and porch leaners…and all different sizes in signs. They can make a large clock too. There are quite a bit of options available on our website, where you can mix and match [where] you can do a clock and one friend can choose to do a doormat, and another friend can do a porch leaner. We started that a couple of years ago to help people come together while keeping sight of their budgets as well as help them create something that they’ll use within their house,” Lepre said. “I remember about ten or eleven years ago…it was popular to do canvas painting at bars…my friends and I would always go to them, but nobody ever really kept the artwork afterwards. When I started offering DIY workshops, I wanted to do something that people would use and keep within their space, which then brought us into the mix and match options.”
Nevertheless, Lepre has worked diligently to build the business by helping other budding entrepreneurs.
“We see a lot of repeat business even for our workshops. We see a lot of customers coming in and the feedback we get from them is fantastic. We always love hearing what they have to say…like how painting was an outlet for them, or it has helped with their mental health…and where it has now become something they do for a living,” she noted. “We have a lot of furniture flippers in Brantford that use our paint line exclusively…who joined one of our paint workshops years ago, and who are now able to get a secondary income for their household or make it their full-time job…they can pick up a dresser for around $50 [and] for another $35 they can make it brand new again [and then sell it for a profit.] We try teaching them that recycling is okay, and they can still make it fit within the vision that they have for their homes.”
However, one of the driving factors for Lepre is to bring people together and develop workshops that inspire the art of creation.
“It’s a goal of ours to always have sold-out workshops, obviously, for financial reasons, but also because it gets people together. It builds camaraderie [and] gets people talking. We just did a workshop on the reserve the other day, and one of the ladies said how much she appreciated it, because she doesn’t ever get out to talk to people. And the workshop gave her a chance to connect with others and she was able to get out and be social and be creative at the same time,” said Lepre. “Another thing I want to do is have the ability to offer workshops to more communities. I enjoy meeting new people and I enjoy teaching people how to create things. Art is fantastic, and I believe that people should be creative in some shape or form, whether it’s painting or another medium because it’s a huge help for our mental health. These DIY workshops are designed to help people create something from start to finish even without any experience…and then you walk away with a beautiful thing that you made, which is very special.”
