Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynn Cutsforth & Makenzie Murphy.
Hi Lynn & Makenzie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Lynn: Albert & Ida Co. has been a dream of mine since 2018. The name Albert & Ida come from my paternal great grandparents. The store is not only a vision come to life, but also a way to honor where we came from.
In 2021 I bought a building on the town square in Paola, KS. I updated the second level, turning the old space into six new apartments. The ground level has four storefronts, one of which is being partially rented by a hairstylist. After several months online only, we have taken the lobby area of that space and transformed it to be the brick-and-mortar for Albert & Ida Co.
We attempted to give Albert & Ida Co a trial run in 2023 and had a pop-up on a small business Saturday, but needed to put things on hold as life was busy and we weren’t in a place where we could dedicate the time needed to run a store.
Makenzie: Fast forward to 2025, I had recently quite my job and was figuring out what to do next. My mom and I revisited the idea of Albert & Ida once again. This time, we decided to start with dropship items that were made to order by a third party distributer, but designed by us. I began working on designing product right away. After a couple of months, we had come up with close to 100 products and started our online presence via Etsy. We had nominal success, but not quite what we had been hoping for. We also wanted to expand our product-line. It became clear that we needed to say goodbye to Etsy and create our own website. I quickly shifted gears and started working on albertandidaco.com. Finally, we were live! We slowly started expanding our inventory with other quality brands and became more intentional about growing our social media presence.
I’ll be honest, it still wasn’t going quite as well as we would’ve liked. The world wide web is vast and we were a tiny boutique-style store getting lost in a sea of stores, both large and small. It was time to shift gears, yet again. In the fall we got wind of a few craft shows happening on the square at the Town Square Event Center in November. We jumped on it! We needed to get in front of people’s faces and this was our chance. After our first show on November 2nd, it was clear that this was the right move. We spent the next month investing in more inventory and preparing to officially open our brick-and-mortar on the square. December came and we were up and running!
We still have so much vision for the store! Our current inventory consists of women’s clothing, home decor, and stationary items. We have recently added our Book Nook that holds several classics and more, and we are starting a book club in early February. Community is important to us being in a small town, so we hope to host unique events and partner with local vendors and artisans from the Kansas City area.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Lynn: Can you say face-plant into cement?!? As you can tell it was a process to get to where we are now.
Makenzie: We have had to learn so much along the way! Figuring out sales tax alone was a journey I personally look back on fondly (that was sarcasm in case you couldn’t tell)
Lynn: It’s still a process to understand our market and know what type of inventory to carry. I would be lying if I said we haven’t bought items for the store and been the only ones to purchase them. But, it has gotten better and we are getting a better grasp of what our customers like.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Albert & Ida Co?
We are a retail store that strives to carry a unique array of items, and aim to appeal to both young and mature clientele. In carrying clothes, home goods, and more, we hope to cater to every shopper’s needs. We want to bring convenience to gifting as well, so we offer gift basket options that you can build on your own or we can put together for you. We love to highlight presentation, beauty and organization. Since this isn’t everyone’s strong-suit, we feel we can confidently fill in the gaps where needed.
We are very proud of our name, Albert & Ida, and being able to give homage to our family history. Our family lineage consists of many highly creative people with entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, and even writers . We want our store to reflect a classic style, but also incorporate the creative and artistic side from our family as well.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
People can shop on our website www.albertandidaco.com and in store at 22 S Silver St Paola, KS. We also offer local pick-up thru our website (select pick-up at checkout) if you are in the area and want to save on shipping. A great way to keep informed is to sign up for our monthly newsletter for updates on sales and events. And of course, we are very active on Facebook and Instagram, so follow us to see new products and changes as we continue to grow!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.albertandidaco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/albertandidaco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Albert-Ida-Co/100092472049616/
