Wife, mom inspire engineer to enter retail business

If you ask David Touwsma about the key to his success in the retail business, he’ll say go into business with your wife and mother.

That’s what Touwsma, 35, did four years ago when he and the two women founded Limetree, “a gift experience.”

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SEAN DRAKES/Special

Limetree CEO David P. Touwsma, explaining how his shops have fared in lean times, says that people always give gifts.

THE DAVID P. TOUWSMA FILE

Residence: Buckhead
Family: Wife, Angel Brown Touwsma; daughter, Lucia, 18 months.
Hobbies: Travel. Favorite locations: St. Lucia and Highlands, N.C.
Favorite books: I don't read fiction. I only read business books. One of my favorites for entrepreneurs is "E-Myth Revisited."
Favorite movie (all-time): "Field of Dreams."
Expensive toy: 1986 CJ-7 black Jeep.

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Their first shop opened in Peachtree Battle Shopping Center. Today, they have five locations and a lease for a sixth store in Newnan. The stores ring up more than $1 million in revenue each.

It may seem counterintuitive, but his retail chain is growing even as consumer spending has taken a hit from high gas and food prices, as well as constrained credit.

But Touwsma believes Limetree has a formula that works.

The stores offer gifts for weddings, hostesses and just about any special occasion. There are cocktail napkins, including tongue-in-cheek ones that say, “It’s hard to be optimistic when your ‘fat’ pants are tight.” Plus personalized stationery, stickers and dog collars with college logos, picture frames, a bright pink leather address book for $22, corkscrews and wine bags, not to mention serving platters and all kinds of bath products.

Here are a few things he’s learned as he’s gone on this retail adventure with his wife, Angel Brown Touwsma, and his mom, Gail Touwsma .

Q: How did an industrial engineering grad from Georgia Tech decide to go into retail?

A: I was in the technology business, working for Accenture and other companies as a consultant. For 20 years, my mom and dad owned the Vista Grove Hardware and Gift shop in Northeast Atlanta. My mom didn’t want to open additional locations, but she said she would sell purses on Peachtree Street if she could do anything else. That was the springboard.

Q: Do you sell purses?

A: Yes, we carry a full line of Vera Bradley purses [colorful, cloth bags]. We host “trade-in” days. Anyone can bring in one bag and get Limetree dollars to spend. We give the old bags to The Bridge, a charity that helps troubled adolescents. We’ve recently been selected as the first store in the Southeast to have a Vera Bradley Signature Store. We’ll open it [a store within a store] in our new store in Newnan, in Ashley Park, a development by Stan Thomas. It’s going to feel like you’ve walked into Vera Bradley’s living room.

Q: How’d you come up with the name, Limetree?

A: My mother picked out three colors from Crayola.com: periwinkle, plum and lime. Then we came up with Limetree, and it stuck.

Q: You told me you’d like to expand to 40 stores in five markets from Dallas to Charleston. Why limit yourself to the Southeast?

A: We feel like we know the customer base at the moment. The Northeast is not out of the question, but we hit a home run in Atlanta with gift giving and party hosting. We think the other Southeastern cities are similar to Atlanta. Dallas and Charleston are on our very short list.

Q: How do you manage to work with your wife and mother?

A: We’re a good team. We have well-defined roles and we don’t step on each other’s toes. My mom does the accounting and loves people. We want her in the stores as much as possible. My wife does the buying and marketing. I’m more forward-looking. I do the site development and finance.

Q: Didn’t you get a little bit of help from your friends in developing the store?

A: Yes. I was a fraternity brother of Brian Leary [vice president of AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., the co-developer of Atlantic Station]. He helped me with ideas for the space, as well as the storefront [which features a bright green facade]. The architects and interior designers, including Dan Maas, at ai3 also helped.

Q: What do you do to keep your customers’ attention in leaner times?

A: We believe heavily in direct [e-mail] marketing. We also host events for the Junior League and the Georgia Tech Business Network. We just launched our e-commerce site, www.limetreegifts.com. We have about 2,000 items now and will build it up to 10,000. Plus, we offer sales and discounts. People love bargains and sales. Angel, as the buyer, is looking for bargains, then she pushes that up the chain.

Q: Have you seen your revenues drop due to the economy?

A: At two of our stores, year-over-year revenues are up. At one they are flat and at the other two they are down. We’ve seen the impact. I think we’re seeing less traffic, but we’re satisfying more of their needs. People are still giving gifts. You still bring a hostess gift.

Q: What are your most popular items?

A: Hostess gifts, serving pieces, totes.