Other South Florida companies are now riding the business-on-wheels trend. Mobile hair salons, gyms and boutiques are on the road peddling their products and services. She's So Shabby, based out of Boca Raton, is a former Holsum bread truck turned vintage furniture showroom. Owner Jodi Goldfarb-Sullivan began using the truck in February to showcase her refurbished goods, a calling she fulfilled after leaving her corporate job as a sales director."My grandparents always took us to flea markets and auctions. I love to reinvent furniture," said the Deerfield Beach resident who steers the truck throughout Palm Beach and Broward counties. "I take Grandma's furniture and make it for today."Inside the truck, which has plywood floors, potential clients can sit down on a couch and look at furniture pieces she's designed such as a French provincial dresser. Goldfarb-Sullivan decoupaged the truck's dashboard with old French Country magazine articles. The outside of the vehicle, which she dubbed Mabel Rose, highlights her business logo: "Repurposed.
For some mobile business owners, the instant advertising is part of the appeal. Besides being cheaper to open than a traditional brick-and-mortar store, these businesses serve as their own rolling billboards."It's a head-turner," said Goldfarb-Sullivan, of her mobile truck, which is painted baby blue and pink on the bottom half, with faux wood paneling on the top. "She's not just a bread truck. She's on a roll,'' she added jokingly. Boca Raton veterinary nurse Traci Clemons said she tracked down Goldfarb-Sullivan after spotting her pink-and-blue truck around town. "Look at it, it's beautiful,'' she said of the truck.Clemons ordered a customized holiday basket with a pinboard and vintage sachets — and it was a hit."She puts energy and love into all that she makes," Clemons said.Another business on a roll is the FUN BUS Fitness Fun On Wheels, a bright-green former school bus converted into a gym and playroom for kids ages 1 1/2 to 7. Rows of school bus seats were removed to make room for a trampoline, rope swing, parallel bars and hopscotch.
In all, 15 kids can be on the bus at a time. The vehicle has carpeted and padded flooring and walls. When it's time to get off the bus, kids can exit through a slide attached to the rear door."We do birthday parties, [visit] homes, centers and preschool," said owner Patryc Lind, a former preschool director who took over the business this year from a previous owner.The bus is part of a national franchise based in New Jersey. Lind's bus serves Broward and Palm Beach counties, and there's another one in Miami-Dade County.Lind, of Coconut Creek, said the bus "allows you the freedom to choose how busy you would like to keep your business. My favorite part, hands-down, is being able to spread myself out all over Palm Beach and Broward counties to help and encourage all the children through an amazing experience."It doesn't feel like a job," she added. "Because we have the opportunity to sing, dance and play with children while exercising and incorporating their fine and gross motor skills."Business analyst Kimberly Taylor thinks mobile shops reflect the creative and unique entrepreneurial spirit found in South Florida."
There are a great many people who come from all over the world, who have started businesses in their home countries and then either open branches here, or just are in the mindset of being an entrepreneur and then decide to open new businesses here," said Taylor, an associate marketing professor at Florida International University. "And even [locals] often just prefer to follow their own path and open a business rather than try to follow a more corporate career."The ability to travel anywhere also makes the concept appealing to business owners who can test out different neighborhoods.These entrepreneurs "can reach customers from a much larger geographic area by going to the customer, as opposed to only serving those customers who would be local to their shop if they had a retail location,'' she added.Mobile operators use an occupational license under a store-on-wheels category, which is also used by food truck vendors. They also seek individual permits to participate at local art festivals and events in other cities.
Food truck builder Bruce Hicks outfitted Goldfarb-Sullivan's furniture business and has been fielding other requests."The mobile food business has now turned into other mobile things," said Hicks, owner of Food Truck Heaven in Davie. "The mobile times are here."His latest project: converting a truck into a mobile boutique to be called Level 21, for Miramar customer Nikiya Brathwaite.She has always wanted a boutique to sell clothes she has designed for men and women, she said, and was encouraged by the rise of other roving shops in the region."I have seen a lot of storefronts close, and I am seeing more mobile businesses pop up," said Brathwaite, a fleet service clerk at Miami International Airport.Brathwaite is in the process of seeking her occupational license, hoping to join other fashion-forward trucks on the road such as The Trendy Truck in Coral Springs and La Boutique on Wheels in Miami.On the salon front, there's Kids Cuts on Wheels, which serves western Palm Beach County. Comb To You launched this fall in Miami-Dade County, with plans to extend into Broward County next year.
The Comb To You truck looks like a former airport shuttle van but fitted with a large window and white shutters. The interior is also white, with a styling chair, wash bowl, dryers and mirrors. It's a full-service salon for trims, highlights, blowouts and hair extensions."People don't have time to be sitting in a salon for hours to do their hair," owner William Stable said. "We come to you."Furniture store: Jodi Goldfarb-Sullivan sells repurposed night stands, dressers and furniture from a former bread truck in Boca Raton. with their customer service and sales! Late last week I had a Not happy at all with my purchase of Pibbs 659 Capo Barber Chair I purchased over a year ago. Yes over a year, I say this because it's all shiny and new at firs Sheila Kiaser He has been so great to work with and the company is wonde came with Chinese notes in the box! I had to buy all new hardware for 4 sinks, and they STILL leak. Then half our Kelli Brandom love the salon equipment I chose through Buy-Rite.
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