Help Shift Wheeler reach the next level!

We’re excited to announce that we’ve secured a new location for Shift + Wheeler! We are stoked!/ thrilled!/ terrified!/ ready for this big change for ourselves and our little business that could.

Because this is all happening really fast, we need a little help from you, our Shift + Wheeler family, to make the move.

Our new space is close to our current space, on the corner of 11th and Marine Drive here in downtown Astoria. It’s much larger (phew!) and in a better location for foot traffic and drive-by traffic too. For locals in the know, it’s the former Rusty Dahlia location.

We need your help to allow this dream to come to fruition!

Who we are:

Hello, we’re Becky and Nick, owners of Shift + Wheeler, a clothing and bag business out of Astoria, Oregon. We have steadily grown our business over the past four years in our current location and are bursting at the seams, having outgrown our workspaces and showroom!

We focus on durability, low-waste, and biodegradable products, the opposite of what the larger fashion industry offers! We believe small, local makers are the best way forward for the community and the earth. We emphasize catering to fat and queer people, but we’re for everyone.

Why do we need to grow?

While we have been able to grow steadily over the last four years, we have repeatedly had many weeks where we were just squeaking by. In 2023, we cut pay to ourselves as owners, and still, things have been tight, baby! Our cash flow issues are getting better with our steady growth and our ever-expanding financial literacy (that learning curve tho, Lordy!) We believe that increased sales and exposure will put us in a better space financially, both personally and business-wise.

A new space will allow us to:

-offer workshops, pop ups, and other community events

-expand our workspace and increase production

-increase employee hours

-expand our showroom and product offerings

-be open 5 days a week! (At our current space, it has only been worth it to be open 3 days a week)

-increase accessibility

-increase drive-by exposure and customer base

-Increase pedestrian traffic

In other words, we believe the new space will help initiate growth for us!

Why do we need help?

Often, when businesses reach the state we’re at (we need and have the opportunity to grow), they reach out to family members to help financially. We aren’t able to do that, so we are reaching out to you, our Shift + Wheeler family!

How we will use the money:

Deposit and first month’s rent for the new space - $4000

Business operations while we pause production to move - $4000

Lumber, paint, and building supplies - $1500

New merch to fill the new shop - $2500

Smaller moving expenses like vehicle rental, boxes - $500

More showroom display furniture - $500

New outdoor signage - $1500

A Fat mannequin - $500

What we've accomplished so far

We have loved our time at our current location and it has allowed us to join our businesses together and build a space where we both had room to grow and produce what we make more efficiently. Sharing our resources enabled us to purchase equipment, more space has allowed us to add employees to help with production, and has given us a place for customers to visit, try things on, and see products in person and connect with us.

As a step forward from our beginnings at the Sunday Market and Special Event booths, our move to the YMCA was a huge success! We have accomplished a lot! Especially given the challenging and weird years due to Covid (remember when we opened the WEEK BEFORE the initial COVID lockdown?! We don’t…. We’ve blocked it out.)

In the YMCA space, our sales have steadily grown about 20% each year, which is a triumph in this era, and we’d like to continue to grow and get to a place that is sustainable and where we can comfortably do business.

We have accomplished so much, and we’re ready for the next aspect of our adventure. We’d love to have your help for this next step, our dear and wonderful supporters.