Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Hsia.
Elizabeth, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have always been a creative, gift-giver, and caretaker. When I lost my medical for flying due to injuries from a motor vehicle accident, I was in a rough place and turned toward creating things that would bring cheer to others as well as myself. Having lost the possibility of a career that I dreamed of was pretty life-changing and I found myself wondering what I should pour my focus into next.
My brother asked if I wanted to start a business and open a shop. The rest is history. Owning a small business has been an exhausting endeavor but equally as rewarding. The sense of community and support was overwhelming (Opening our doors only months prior to the pandemic was not something I could have prepared for). If it weren’t for our community of artists, plant enthusiasts, fellow small business owners, and social media followers showing their love and support, we would not be here.
We have evolved from when we opened and although a lot of it was foreign territory, it was beneficial for us and has opened us up to lots of new ventures and connections.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Ha! On the contrary. No, it has been a struggle pretty much since we opened. I had never owned a business prior to Reclamation. I didn’t go to business school, I just had a vision and put the pedal to the metal and went for it. I learned that I was not prepared for most things in small business.
(I legitimately thought I was going to run the shop and work at the animal clinic for the first year of our opening) There are so many things that you have to handle yourself as a business owner. I had to think not only about the survival and success of my new business but that of my employees and community as well. Work never ends. There was NO separation from work, work/ life balance is no such thing. I would get emails and messages in the middle of the night, constantly glued to my phone wherever I was, trying to place orders, set out fires, pay bills for things that I had no idea I needed.
Then the pandemic hit and we shut down and I depleted my savings to keep the shop afloat. Uncertainty was very high and it was a defeating feeling but we kept pushing through and finding ways to adapt and push forward. All I can say is community love is incredible and so strong in Portland!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My main artistic background is mixed media and printmaking. I also love taking old items and deconstructing them and turning them into something with a new purpose. You can find lots of displays in my shop that do just that. (ie: an old-time clock card puncher, that I ripped the guts out of, and installed a light and some hooks to make a necklace display)
I started out making unique jewelry prior to opening the shop. Once I opened the storefront, I found myself with little time to create new pieces as it wasn’t conducive to run the shop and dive into creating pieces as my studio isn’t on-site, I started making terrariums utilizing vintage items as the containers, making tiny terrariums and miniatures and decorations and selling plants propagated from my personal collection.
Now, we are known as “the plant shop with the tortoise”. While we aren’t a plant shop but a gift shop that sells plants, it looks that way as all the plants are near the windows (there is no light in portland in the winter) and our resident shop tortoise Elliot is quite the character and attraction. We have folx that has traveled from Tennessee to visit him! We sell a lot of miniature tiny things. The tinier- the better! We sell lots of work from local artists and businesses in our shop.
We love businesses that give back, like us, and we love to highlight their work. Community over competition. We want everyone to feel welcome in our space and most folx that come compliment us on our store, and we frequently hear “this shop is so cool! there is so much to look at! and the tortoise!” We are so grateful to still be standing and we try to share that gratitude and love.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
We had a giant backyard with massive trees. My mother would do ALL the yard work (yard work that was meant for a team of 5+ gardeners!) My mother hacked down this massive massive tree (it’s utterly incredible the determination and strength it took for a petite woman to take down this tree) and being a tomboy, I played and got into trouble outside, a lot.
I was digging around that stump a while later and I found this giant white grub living its best life in the tree stump. it was incredible, I had never seen one so big. It was like the Michelin tire man in a grub form and it was SO fast and shiny. I ran inside and grabbed a glass jar and put the grub into it to take to school to share. That was one of my first memories of falling in love and being fascinated by the natural world.
Since then, my poor mother, bless her heart had to deal with me bringing rescued bugs, fish, reptiles, birds, homeless dogs and cats, and anything that lived, home with me. My love and fascination with the natural world has never left, and a lot of that comes through in my day to day life and translates into the items seen in our shop
Contact Info:
- Email: shopreclamationpdx@gmail.com
- Website: shopreclamation.com
- Instagram: @reclamationpdx
Image Credits
@reclamationpdx
