Retail Feature, continued
Miss Millie's Learning Loft has been owned and operated by Millie Comber since March 2002. The story of Millie entering her business is an excellent example of how to get started in a retail business. She started her career by working for a company similar to hers to learn the business from the inside.
Millie Comber was born and raised on the island of Lanai in the Hawaiian Island chain. She was raised with a strong work ethic that places an emphasis on hard work and education. Millie moved here to the mainland in 1978, where she raised her three children. Her Hawaiian background led her to pursue two Associate of Arts degrees in Business Science and in Early Childhood Education. Her upbringing also helped her to believe that everything will be alright the next day, which is a good way to deal with the variety of issues we experience in our lives and businesses.
Millie used her associate degree and worked for several years as a preschool teacher. She wanted to open her own business, and felt it was important to learn about her chosen business before jumping in and investing money. She spent three years working for Hand's On, which was an educational supply store that was located on Central Avenue near eleventh street. She worked out an acceptable arrangement and bought the inventory of the Hand's On store.
Millie opened Millie's Learning Loft in March of 2002 and moved the inventory of the Hand's On store to her new location about three blocks away. Millie manages to keep a lot of inventory of learning books and supplies in the small store, but there is a noticeable absence of electronic or battery operated items in the store. Millie explained that these items become obsolete rather quickly and she prefers to stock items that allow parents to spend more time in interactive learning with their children. I did notice, however, that she had an interactive learning game that was developed by a Tracy company, which itself is worth a trip to the store.
Millie's target market are parents with children who are between the ages of about kindergarten and sixth grade, and there are a lot of materials available for parents who want to help prepare their children for entering school. Quality time is important between parents and children and most adults remember the time their parents spend helping them to learn. Millie carries a lot of Newbery Award winning books for students to read during the summer. The Newbery Award is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
There are two important features to Miss. Millie's Learning Loft. The first is the quaint overhead loft filled with merchandise available for learning by children. The other notable feature is the bathtub full of pillows located next to the front door. The interesting thing is that Millie was looking for a detail like the bathtub when she leased the store. The bathtub had been left behind the store and the property owners had planned to have it hauled away. Millie kept the bathtub and refinished it to decorate the store.
Miss Millie's Learning Loft is a Tracy Treasure worth visiting. Miss Millie's Learning Loft can be found in the historic downtown area at 809 Central Avenue in Tracy. Her phone number is (209) 833-9096 and her website is: www.missmillie.com.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Millie tends the counter at the Miss Millie's Learning Loft. | A view of the store looking down from up in the loft. | Shelves are well stocked with learning materials ready to be bought. | The famous bathtub that Millie saved and refinished to decorate the entrance of the store. |
Keith Chiles