What started out as a hobby when he was 23, turned serious about six years later when Begola, now 35, quit his day job to focus on wedding rings.
Operating out of an office building behind Lucky’s Steak House on Silver Parkway became too informal. He opened the Bridge Street Exchange at 109 North Bridge St. in Linden two years ago and said it’s a “flip” of what usually happens.
“I started on the Internet and then became brick and mortar, whereas most people do brick and mortar and think they can sell on the Internet,” he said.
“When I was coming up with this idea, I was watching other places across the country do it and I was like ‘why not try it?’ We have so many guys coming here for their wedding rings,” he said. “Flip the shopping experience around on woman. We still get a lot of women.”
People come from all over, like Chicago and Canada, to the store and see the wedding bands.
Begola’s claim to fame was camouflage wedding and engagement bands in 2007, but everyone copied it. “If you come up with something cool enough, people will talk and people will come here,” he said.
Linden is a nice small town community, Begola said. It’s a destination spot for him.
“Everyone wants to see Linden grow, wants to see more businesses stay,” he said. “We liked the town, liked everything about it.”
Bridge Street Exchange has had some notable customers, like country music star Jason Aldean.
In 2014, the store was host to an event attended by TV reality show stars Ron and Amy Shirley, owners of Lizard Lick Towing and Recovery. Begola made a line of rings for them.
Titanium Buzz now has more than 40,000 likes on Facebook, as well as a Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest presence.
“I knew what I was getting myself into in a small town,” Begola said. “We were proving that people were coming here for wedding rings. I thought I could definitely get people to come for the other stuff.”
没有评论:
发表评论