Абби Клер открыла физический магазин бренда Lakes and Grapes в центре Тревис-Сити

TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City native Abby Clear has expanded her lifestyle brand, Lakes and Grapes, from an online business into a storefront on Front Street in downtown Traverse City. The brand originally launched as a blog before expanding into clothing and community events. Clear grew up in Traverse City, attending St. Francis Catholic School before leaving the area for college and a career in sports journalism. After returning home to work as marketing director for a winery on Old Mission Bay, she created the Lakes and Grapes blog as a creative outlet and trademarked the brand name. Clear played volleyball throughout her childhood in Traverse City and looked for colleges outside the Midwest. She initially enrolled at Saint Francis College, a Division I school in New York City, before transferring to complete her education.“When we were looking for colleges, I was like gung ho on looking in New York and Florida and other places outside of the Midwest,” Clear said. “ I landed on a school in New York City, a small Division one school called Saint Francis College. So funny how, I went from one Saint Francis to another Saint Francis. I was there for my first two years and then I ended up transferring to University of Minnesota, where I finished out my college career.” Following college, Clear began a career in sports journalism in Minneapolis, where she worked as an on-air commentator and sideline reporter for the Big Ten Network and worked with professional teams.“I was working for a Big Ten network and I actually did like on air commentating and then sideline reporting for them,” Clear said. “I have been working in sports for a few years and worked for in pro-teams too. I love sports. I could have continued down that road and been completely happy, but I don’t know if you just get tired at the end of the day or just trying to memorize guys 40 times and their heights and their weights... and I was like, is this really what I want to do forever?” Clear returned to Northern Michigan and took a position as marketing director for a winery on Old Mission Bay. Seeking a creative outlet, she created the blog and named it Lakes and Grapes, immediately beginning the trademark process.“When I was working in the wine industry, I started just like a blog because I need a creative outlet,” Clear said. “I’m a creative person it was very hard for me to come up with the name. I wanted it to be perfect. I finally came up with lakes and grapes. Right when I came up with it as a blog, I went and started the trademark process because I was like, oh my gosh, I’m obsessed with this name.” After designing a logo for the blog, demand grew for the design to be placed on apparel. Clear used her personal savings to produce her initial apparel run and hosted a pop-up event at Middle Coast Brewing two months later. The positive response online and at the pop-up allowed her to open her first physical storefront before relocating to downtown Traverse City.“I used my savings for my first round of apparel, two months later, I did a pop up at, Middle Coast Brewing then that went really well and it just kind of started picking up from there,” Clear said. “I was like, I can do a store now people are liking it online and people are liking it at the pop up. I was able to get my first brick and mortar and kind of like got it from there.” Clear noted that watching customers try on her clothing and gain confidence has been a meaningful part of operating the business.“I see my clothing change people’s self-confidence all the time,” Clear said. “I actually saw one girl start crying one time in the fitting room because of how it fit her. That was like very fun to see. She was so appreciative of that. That’s really rewarding and I just want to be able to keep doing stuff like that and being able to help people.” o foster community connections, Clear established a Walk Club through the business once she had a storefront large enough to host it. The weekly gathering started with 10 to 20 people in its first year, grew to 30 to 50 people in its second year and now attracts between 100 and 200 participants. “I‘ve been wanting to create what club for a long time and as soon as I had the storefront big enough to do it, it’s time,” Clear said. “ I think it goes back to like me, loving teamwork. Being involved in the community, I love bringing people together. It started small. I remember first few walks, we’d have like ten or 20 people, second year would be like 30, 40, 50 people. And now it’s, yeah, 100, 200 people.” Clear offered advice for aspiring female entrepreneurs while reflecting on how her younger self would view her current business success.“To a young girl thinking about starting her own business, I say you just have to be confident and follow your dreams and go after it,” Clear said. “I did a lot of people told me that I couldn’t do it. A lot of people today are telling me that I still can’t do it, but you just have to not listen to the no-sayers. You just have to follow your dreams. You have to keep learning every single day.” “I want to say, 16 year old Abby would believe it,” Clear added. “Yes and no. Because 16 year old Abby had a lot of goals and visions. She was very, like, confident. But she probably would still be in, like, disbelief.” The Lakes and Grapes Walk Club meets every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the storefront in Traverse City. In the coming weeks, 9&10 News will feature a dozen stories of local residents to celebrate America 250.