Happy Birthday, Favor the Kind!

 Wow, how time flies, it still feels so new!

Our name change is a daily conversation in the stores, and we welcome the inquiries. Some people still can’t help calling us The Gypsy Wagon, even a year later. We totally get it, change is hard!

Since we get asked so often, we’ve launched a campaign called a “What does it mean to Favor the Kind?" We have the answers to your questions, so...bring ‘em!

Over the past year, the rumor mill has been filled with crazy stories of why we changed our name, some completely off-base, and others partly true. No, we weren’t sued or forced to change it! No, we don’t have a new owner!

Here’s the plain truth: we changed our name because we wanted to.

First, The Gypsy Wagon simply didn’t match what we were about. The name implied our boutique was filled with bedazzled jeans and fringe boots. We love a little sparkle and fringe, but those things are far from what we actually offer. Second, the name was culturally insensitive. No matter if you believe a “gypsy” is a free-spirited wanderer, it also can be considered derogatory towards a specific culture. Many people didn’t know that, which has been a big topic over the past year. I researched a lot about it and it finally clicked: you wouldn’t call your store The Indian Post if you weren’t American Indian. It’s the same thing.

We considered dropping “gypsy” to just be The Wagon. That didn’t feel right to me. If you know me, you know I am a go-big-or-go-home kind of gal. Our opportunity was not to do the easy thing, but the big, bold thing. So, we asked ourselves, let’s start from scratch: if we aren’t gypsies, then what are we?

And that was easy to answer: What we are is a store passionate about three big things: 1) cool stuff, 2) you, and 3) cultivating kindness. Our new name comes from the thought that fortune favors the kind. As in, the more you give, the more you get. The fortune we are referring to is joy. We truly measure our success in how we make you feel, not how much you spend.

In the last 11 years of owning a business, there is one nugget of advice which keeps revealing itself - something you hear your whole life, but can only learn with trial and error. Learning it requires taking risks, bouncing off walls, winning, losing, and then starting it all over again. The secret to success, and at times survival, is: stay true to who you are.

Sometimes you have to realize who truly you are by discovering who you aren’t. We feel Favor the Kind explains it all. So, happy first birthday to our new name! We wouldn’t change a thing.

Onward and upward!
Carley Seale