Tom Wilmes
Thanks largely to a sustained, grassroots marketing campaign that emphasizes billboards, radio and other local media, Ginny Saville is widely known around town as founder and “benevolent dictator” of The Botany Bay. While Saville doesn’t mind the term head shop— “people generally know what that means,” she said—she prefers “counterculture center” to describe the diverse array of lifestyle products that her shops carry. As The Botany Bay prepares to move into its new location at 1757 Alexandria Drive in early August, and with a second Lexington location set to open in the Woodhill Shopping Center later this fall, Business Lexington sat down with Saville to discuss her 22 years in independent retail.
Starting on a ‘broken shoestring’:
In 1996, Saville purchased $3,500 worth of hemp goods from Gatewood Galbraith and traveled to festivals and events selling linens and paper products, soaps and shampoo, backpacks, hats, wallets and other hemp-made goods out of the back of her station wagon. She would also host Tupperware-style parties in people’s homes.
“This was the ’90s—people weren’t talking about [hemp] then like they are now—so we had a movie that we would show and try to educate people about the different uses that the hemp plant could have in modern society and in the production of all kinds of goods in a more natural, environmentally friendly way,” she said.
In 1997, Saville opened her first storefront “on a broken shoestring” in Richmond, Kentucky. As the business grew, she expanded The Botany Bay into Lexington and currently has 26 full-time employees. “This shop is as much a part of my family as my children are,” she said.
What makes the business work?
“We have a lot of product lines and most of the things we do would be very hard to achieve a profitable business with on their own,” Saville said. “We’re like a little department store. We have disc golf, body jewelry, smoke accessories, vape supplies, CBD and Kratom—we call it our herbal remedies section now because it’s growing,” she said. “I’ve seen these waves where [products like CBD and vaporizers] come in and make it easy to start a business based around one product line, but hardly anybody survives when the shakeout comes. I like keeping it open to other things to throw in the mix that are on the fringe in the counterculture arena—but it’s becoming more and more normal.”
Tom Wilmes
On sound fiscal management:
Saville graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with an accounting degree in 1993; a background she says that was critical in giving her the courage to start her own business. She also continued to work full time until 2002 as former Mayor Jim Gray’s personal assistant at Gray Construction, while getting The Botany Bay up and running.
“I’ve never had debt, and I’m going to get through all of [these moves] without debt too, which is amazing,” Saville said. “We always have a good amount of cash that we save for any kind of problem, and the more we’ve grown, our finances have gotten better and better.”
The importance of a consistent message:
“It’s all marketing—you have to advertise,” Saville said. “For small businesses, I think that’s the No. 1 place where they do poorly, consistently.” Saville’s advertising budget target is 5 percent of sales, she said, and her strategy is similar to that of big-box stores, mattress outlets and other retail businesses that run numerous advertisements across various media. “Why do they advertise so much? Because you never forget them, that’s why,” Saville said.
“It’s something that you have to build and grow and invest in and continue to invest in and expand your budget—just like with your inventory and everything else that you do,” she said. “It’s a long-term process. You can’t do a short-term advertising stint and expect much out of it. I have a good advertising budget, and I get a lot of bang for my buck. We are so strongly branded.”
“It’s all marketing—you have to advertise. For small businesses, I think that’s the No. 1 place where they do poorly, consistently.” —Ginny Saville
How do you measure return?
When she’s in need of business inspiration, Saville turns to books written by and about successful people. “I read a book many years ago, and there was a quote from the CEO of McDonald’s, who said, ‘we know only half of our advertising works, but we don’t know which half, so we have to do it all.’ Sometimes it’s really obvious and we can do things that test—like I can run an ad on a certain [local radio] show and I’ll know” if it’s effective or not, she said. “Plus, my ads are funny, so people remember them and they stick in your head.”
Growing with the times:
In addition to a location in Richmond and with two locations opening in Lexington, Saville says she’s exploring opportunities to franchise The Botany Bay concept. “I’m ready to grow. It’s the perfect time and we have a good, strong brand,” she said. Saville originally envisioned The Botany Bay as strictly a small, local operation, but “now I kind of think The Botany Bay should be like Starbucks. Somebody’s going to do it, why not us?” she said. “I’ve built an incredibly successful business model, and it only makes sense to share it with people and to be able to lend the use of our name as cannabis policies advance.”
On personal liberties and politics:
“I’m sitting in a good spot right now, but it hasn’t always been so acceptable to be me,” Saville said. “I’ve done a lot of activism and political work on liberty in general. I kind of drop in and out of politics because I find it so negative and frustrating. I like business, because business thrives on win-win situations between everybody. My vendors, my employees, my customers—it all has to be a positive situation or we go elsewhere. … I’m a businessperson, but I am also, at heart, entirely, 100 percent dedicated to freeing the cannabis plant all the way. I won’t be happy until we can grow it between the tomatoes and the peppers in our garden as we should.”