LAS CRUCES - Gypsy Azul NM, a local handmade retailer, has taken advantage of restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic to broaden its online presence. They've included other women-led businesses, as well, in biweekly livestreams with multiple classes, branding themselves "Mujeres Chingonas who Teach."
State public health orders restricting in-person activity at local non-essential businesses won't be going away until at least May 15. In the meantime, some local places have learned to transition their business online, gaining new and useful aspects that they could use going forward.
Gypsy Azul NM, which makes and sells things like art, T-shirts, earrings and other crafts, would typically set up shop once a week at the Saturday Farmers and Crafts Market in downtown Las Cruces.
Since the pandemic, they've had to stop that routine. Their recently-opened storefront at 525 Mesquite St. has also temporarily shuttered due to the pandemic.
"(Business) plummeted of course," co-owner Patricia Gamez Torres told the Sun-News. "The Saturday market is our moneymaker."
'It's like I'm paying it back'
To compensate, they've shifted their actions online by regularly streaming free lessons and classes on Instagram Live. The business has also done some giveaways on the photo-centric social media site.
“We’ve always used Instagram and Facebook. We’ve always tried to post daily, but it wasn’t a huge focus,” Gamez Torres said.
She said Gypsy Azul now uses Instagram Live at least twice a week to broadcast tutorials on handmade products they create — such as how to make a hair bow, how to sew a homemade mask and how to make a bracelet.
Their followers and customers are getting these lessons for free. In contrast, Gypsy Azul used to host painting nights at restaurants in town that required tickets. Since the pandemic, free painting lessons on Instagram Live have replaced that.
Gamez Torres said she feels like she's giving back to the community.
"In the past — before COVID — I've done craft classes in the community, but I've charged. I've done paint nights and I've charged. And the community comes out. They support Gypsy Azul," Gamez Torres said. "So now, it's like I'm paying it back."
Every other week, Gypsy Azul has invited other businesses onto their livestreams from "Mujeres Chingonas who Teach," to share live lessons from those businesses as well.
Joining forces
One of the nine businesses that participate in the biweekly Instagram live sessions is Mew and Company, a local handmade crafter that sells jewelry, home goods, handbags and stationery.
Owner Mary Wunderlich had never done a live video on Instagram before the pandemic, and admitted she hates watching and listening to herself on camera. But, with the classes she usually taught at her store on Main Steet suspended, she decided to take to social media to interact with customers.
"It's been fun," Wunderlich said. "Definitely challenging, but fun."
She described the difficulty of streaming a video of herself teaching and trying to stay lively to entertain people. And she's typically someone who can be self-conscious of her own work, she said, so quarantine streaming forced her to gain self-confidence.
"I really struggle with online," Wunderlich said. "That's not really my strong suit, so I really had to learn a lot."
As she's switched to online sales — which wasn't traditional for her company — she said she struggles writing product descriptions and taking good product photos that have good lighting and are well-edited.
Wunderlich said, as online orders have exploded for her company, she's also stepped out of her comfort zone.
Starting a new thing
Gamez Torres said she hopes to continue the tutorials, post-pandemic, and was happy her company was able to adapt.
“Instead of closing or stopping, just having the mindset of pivoting... ‘Okay, now what are we going to do?’” Gamez Torres, who runs the business with her three daughters, said. “For us, it’s a positive change and it’s just helping us grow. Because we have a following, the market is there."
The shift to online has paid off.
Gypsy Azul's Instagram page has gained about 200 followers in the last month or so, Gamez Torres estimates. With revenue from the physical locations having gone dormant, their Instagram strategies appear to be boosting online sales.
While business plummeted at the beginning of the state's health emergency measures, in the last two weeks Gamez Torres has seen an uptick in their online sales from craft retailer Etsy. Most of their sales traffic to Etsy comes from Instagram, Gamez Torres said.
Gamez Torres said the uptick was unusual in another way. Typically, the online sales the business saw were from out-of-staters. But now, she's seeing Etsy sales coming from locals in Las Cruces, Deming and El Paso more than she's ever seen before.
Sales are "nowhere near" where Gamez Torres said they used to be, but it's helped Gypsy Azul NM get by.
Michael McDevitt can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.
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