To understand what’s made the Hip & Humble brand successful, just spend a few minutes with its co-founder and CEO, Sheridan Mordue. She’s colorful, bold, humble and not afraid to embrace her emotions. These are also the traits she’s infused into the business and what she credits with its success.
Mordue’s advice to budding entrepreneurs, especially women, isn’t about being more competitive, cutting-edge or ambitious. Instead, she believes creating a successful brand and community starts with a listening ear, a willingness to change and being attuned to your emotions.
From humble beginnings to hip locations
Founded in 1999, Mordue and her sister, Suzette Eaton, started Hip & Humble as strictly a furniture store. Mordue says they come from a “legacy of entrepreneurship.” Both their grandfathers, their father, and several uncles and brothers had started businesses, so it felt like a natural fit.
The store offered blended antique finds alongside modern pieces, all thoughtfully curated to fit the smaller-sized homes of the Salt Lake City neighborhoods they grew up in.
Mordue had a vision for expanding the brand. For years, her largest obstacle was raising enough capital to make the changes. At the time, women-owned businesses were still the minority in Utah.
“Bankers would look at us and say, ‘Oh, you’re trying to make a business out of a hobby,’” Mordue says. “It was hard to convince them otherwise because they’d never seen it before.”
As the business grew, so did its impact on the sisters’ relationship.
“My sister and I had both come to the conclusion that we could either be partners or we could be sisters,” Mordue says. “And we both decided at the time that our relationship as sisters was the most important thing to us. And it still is.”
Eventually, Mordue took over the business. She made changes like solidifying branding and adding more technology. Then, an unexpected opportunity for Hib & Humble emerged.
“It was really bizarre. I started getting calls from city council people and airport people and the mayor at the time saying, ‘Hey, have you thought about bidding on a space at the airport?’” Mordue says.
At this point, she knew retail well, but the idea of airport retail was overwhelming. Mordue decided to take the meetings and see where they all led. She felt there was potential, and eventually partnered with an airport retail group to bid on a space in the new airport.
Despite opening right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020, the new airport location was an immediate hit. Things were selling out and Mordue struggled to keep the store stocked during supply chain issues.
It was during this time that she had an overwhelming feeling that the store needed to expand to other airport locations.
“This is what people are wanting — they want that boutique experience. They’re tired of key chains and the shot glasses and the cheesy plushies,” Mordue says. “They want a shopping experience that feels like the main street of their town, where they know the shop owner and there’s just a vibe and a coolness about it.”
Hip & Humble now has eight running airport store contracts, with two more on the way.
Change your mind
None of Hip & Humble’s current airport locations or success would exist if Mordue hadn’t been willing to pivot.
“We really try to cherish the ability to change our mind, to pivot and try something different,” Mordue says.
When the brand was met with competition from big-box furniture stores, they moved from large furniture pieces to home decor accessories. Other small items — like soaps and hand towels — were also added, and Mordue noticed these small gifts and trinkets started to take off.
They decided it was time to embrace what the customers enjoyed. When they made the move to their current location on 9th and 9th in Salt Lake City, the business shifted.
“We made a really strong pivot, exiting big furniture sales and really going hard into gifts, and this is what our community had been telling us [to do],” Mordue says.
The willingness to change also applies to business decisions. Mordue says that business owners can’t hold onto anything too tightly and should be willing to pivot, whether it’s a marketing campaign or implementing feedback from customers.
Follow your gut
Mordue describes herself as a “highly emotional person,” something that has worked to her benefit as a business owner. Embracing those sensitivities, she says, has led her to make decisions that may not have seemed obvious to others.
“I try to just lean into that,” Mordue says. “I think that is a strength we have that a lot of businesses don’t utilize. You can call it instinct, you can call it a gut feeling, but it’s just an emotionalism about what the right thing to do is.”
Backing up that instinct with data is also important, Mordue says. Looking at sales performance data is what confirmed the belief that moving to smaller items was the right move for Hip & Humble.
She says the data should inform the final decisions, and leaders should seek the right balance between the emotions and the data. It was this balance between instinct and emotion that led to exploring the idea of expanding the airport retail locations.
It paid off, and Hip & Humble recently went international with a contract in Canada.
Know your brand
After taking over the business, one of Mordue’s first actions was to solidify the brand’s guidelines and identity. This step continues to inform business decisions even today, especially when it comes to merchandising.
“If you go into our store, it’s super colorful. And that’s what we’re about — we’re about color and being joyful,” Mordue explains.
Having a strong brand identity has created a customer base that knows they’ll get fun, unique finds no matter which location they visit. It’s also helped Mordue stay true to Hip & Humble’s vibe even when home decor trends took a turn toward cool grays, black, and white. She decided to stay true to their roots of vibrant color because the store is a trusted source for people looking to add personality to their space.
Items in Hip & Humble have to meet three criteria: They need to elicit an emotional reaction, be colorful, and have data to support why it’s a good option.
An example of a perfect match would be a pair of chicken-and-egg-shaped salt-and-pepper shakers. They were fun and colorful, and sales of salt and pepper shakers were strong. Check, check and check.
Being synced with the brand made launching Hip & Humble’s proprietary line of fragrances and gifts — called Pasko — a no-brainer. Mordue never found a hand cream or fragrance that “matched our vibe,” so she decided to create her own.
“It was scary for me, personally,” Mordue says. “I was really putting myself out there. But it has turned out just beautifully … and the sales are so good. We’re planning on continuing to move with that expansion of our brand.”
Create a community
Community has always been a core part of Hip & Humble. Each store feels the same, but has certain tweaks made to feel like the city where it’s located. Taking it even further, including a social-good component to the business has become a strong part of Hip & Humble’s ethos.
“Another part of community is being able to support them,” Mordue says.
Inspired by her struggles as a female business owner to be taken seriously and by the female employees she’d seen over the years, Mordue founded Kind Women for Women Kind. The organization partners with and supports women’s organizations in every city where Hip & Humble operates.
“I just felt really strongly that I needed to share that as women, we can be whatever we want,” she says. “We have a potential that is just as great as anyone else, and we are deserving.”
