Mallory's Camera

1) Hmmmmmm... Not sure. I'll have to get back to you on that one.

2) I started my business from necessity. The company I was working for restructured my division; I was laid off from my lucrative executive job (marketing, business development.) I looked for another job in the same area for close to a year before finally it dawned on me: I was over fifty and there wasn't anybody who was going to hire a fifty year old woman to do business development. At the best of time, biz dev is seen as a male specialty.

Since no one was going to give me work, I had to make work of my own.

I live in Monterey whose only industry is tourism. So it was clear that I was going to have to do something related to tourism.

Now, I have always liked to cook and I have always liked spices. So I decided to open up a chile store. The store is called Slow Burn, the website is here: www.slowburning.com

3. Totally a niche market. The majority of people could care less about spicy foods but for approximately 10% of the population, it's a passion. We carry about 2,000 chile products from all over the world. Walmart and Target's value proposition is serving the needs of the majority; ours is serving the needs of that 10%.

4. The business could certainly be scaled up. I think it would be very successful and as a matter of fact I am doing consulting now with two other people who are opening similar businesses, one in Toronto and one in Atlanta. I have cash flow problems -- the business is very seasonal -- but those are mostly due to the business's location in a tourist spot.

5. Our website is a way for us to continue the relationship we begin with our customers when they walk into our store. I would say about 25% of our sales are Internet sales.

Hope this helps!