Inspiring Conversations with Stephanie Carbajal of Made In Yuma

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Carbajal.

Hi Stephanie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
My husband and I started our business, Made In Yuma, in 2021. At the time, we had a custom printing shop. I pitched the idea to him about having a store where multiple small/local businesses could have their items in a storefront so the community could purchase from & support multiple businesses under 1 roof in a one-stop shop. The concept was to help local small businesses that made their items in town thrive and grow by having a place where they could sell their items to the community without the hassle of attending farmer markets and events and having a more consistent place for their items. Before we opened our storefront, we started the idea of Made In Yuma by sponsoring a booth at an event to help local creatives get their work in front of the community. We invited a new local maker to showcase their work every weekend from November until March when the event season would end in our area.

In March of 2022, we found a location to establish a storefront, and by April, we were able to open our doors. The concept was to help small & local businesses grow by having their items available where the community could consistently purchase them. This would eliminate some of the challenges a small business may face when they need a brick-and-mortar location they could consistently offer their items.

Within our first eight months in business, we received abundant support from our community. We were elected winners in two categories in our city’s “Yuma Sun Readers Choice Awards.” We won Yuma’s Favorite Specialty Retail & Gift Shop along with Yuma’s Favorite Locally Made Products. It was an honor to receive these two awards within our first year of business. As time passes, and we are in our second year of business, we continue to thrive and support our local small business community. We continue to improve our shop and introduce new things for our community. We are now offering events and workshops in our store where the community can come in and create different art & projects while collaborating with businesses to host the events or be a part of them as a food & beverage offering during these events.

We recently introduced the Hat Bar in our shop, the first hat bar in our town. A hat bar is where one can come to the shop or attend one of our events to create a unique, customized, one-of-a-kind hat by selecting from various hat styles and colors and adding different embellishments, ribbons, branding & designs. It’s been successful as we sold out of tickets to our first Hat Bar Event and continue to host them. It’s been a lot of fun!

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a smooth and fun adventure so far! I’m thankful to have my husband Johnny by my side, who makes everything possible, from covering shifts and loading/unloading events to being the handyman. Things wouldn’t be like this without him, without a doubt.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Made In Yuma?
Made In Yuma is known for supporting our town’s local makers & small business community. When you shop at Made In Yuma, you can support multiple businesses, dreams, and families. It’s truly a great place to support locals. We consistently receive new inventory and offer a buy online pick up in-store service for our customers. Aside from managing our store, we also make many of the products in-house. We are well known for having Yuma-themed items that make great souvenirs for those looking to take a little piece of our city back home. We say “YU-MA favorite place to be” because we wouldn’t be offering souvenirs if it weren’t.

What sets us apart is that we’re not afraid to step out of our comfort zone to better our business. We like being innovative and looking for new and unique things to offer our customers. While we may not be the first collaborative-styled business in our city, we are the only collaborative business to offer online sales, host events/workshops, and win a Yuma Sun Readers Choice award. We want to provide our customers and community with the best experience possible and continuously work to improve ourselves. I’m most proud of winning Yuma’s Favorite in 2 categories. When planning our business’s structure, I told Johnny, “One day, I wanna win Yuma’s Best.” I never expected to be a part of Yuma’s best and favorites within our first year! That’s something that I will always cherish and be proud of.

Please talk to us about happiness and what makes you happy.
Knowing that our community enjoys our store makes me happy. It’s not just the customers that come in and shop. It’s knowing that people are referring people they know to our store. The follows, likes, comments, and shares on social media also greatly help boost our accounts. We value all our supporters equally. What also makes me happy is being able to help our local business community. Having a store full of unique things that are coming from amazing people we know and have grown a relationship with. Seeing their businesses grow and thrive makes me happy and proud. We love offering their items, sharing their stories, and referring our clientele to them if a customer is looking for something we need in-store. We’re happy to have had this idea, and our community embraced us and continues supporting us and the businesses in our store.

Contact Info:

• Website: madeinyuma.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeinyuma/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madeinyuma/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/made-in-yuma-yuma

Image Credits
Only one photo requires credit. File “1.jpg” credit Daliela Photography