Meet Our Retailers: Findings Market

We've known Whitney Reed, owner of Findings Market and newer shops Findings Flea, since our days in LA.  It has been so inspiring to see Whitney blossom in Ventura and grow her business over the years. Somehow, during the hectic time of Q4 (!!) she opened her third shop, a second Findings Flea,this time in Ojai. Not only does Whitney run three brick and mortars, she also produces multiple Findings makers markets in Ventura during the year!! We are in awe!!

How long have you had your store(s)?

I opened Findings Market seven years ago at 27 S. Oak St. in Downtown Ventura — a shop centered around independent makers and local creatives. In the spring of 2024, I expanded with Findings Flea, a curated vintage collective in Downtown Ventura featuring 28 incredible dealers and collectors.

Have you always been an entrepreneur?

I have not! I had worked retail at Nordstroms for about 5 years in my early 20’s and then transitioned to working for a corporate Tradeshow company that put on MAGIC in Las Vegas and later took a role at the CMC helping reimagine their tradeshow business as well as the LA Textile show. For nearly 10 years I was working in the corporate fashion world yet I felt like I was always trying to build my passions within those businesses and pursue the pieces that brought me joy

What is your story on how you decided to open your shop? 

After 4 or so years in tradeshows I called it quits to pursue Findings Market full time. I had been doing it on the side of my full time job for over a year and was incredibly unhappy with corporate life. At the time, in 2017, Findings Market was a pop-up outdoor marketplace/mini craft fair. I was so in love with what I was creating and building that I decided to take the leap and convert it into a brick and mortar store. I launched it as a holiday pop-up shop in 2018 in a building that had been vacant for years. After my four month lease was nearing I decided to prolong the lease and signed for another year and seven years later here we are!

What do you love about retail/having a store?

I love having a platform that allows us to showcase creatives who inspire me. Curating and discovering talented makers and artists — both from our local community and beyond — is one of my favorite parts of what I do. There’s so much undiscovered talent out there, and it brings me so much joy to share people’s passions and hard work in our shop for others to discover and enjoy.

I also love having the freedom to get creative and try new ideas — from pop-ups to makers markets — and to create spaces where people can connect. Bringing the community together through these gatherings is such a rewarding piece of it all.

Since we are retailers too, I love talking shop with other shop owners. What are some challenges you face?

Not having enough time in the day! I have two little ones ( 3yr old and 1yr old) and am trying to balance motherhood and my first born, Findings. Right now I feel like I have this immense pull to my business and wanting to latch onto all the ideas and the vision I have for where I want Findings to go. It feels like my baby is in lift off mode and we’ve leveled up to this new stage that I’m grasping to keep up with. Honestly, my biggest challenge right now is keeping up with it all and trying to find a work- life balance as well as learning how to delegate, how to let go of things and how to refine, fine tune and dial in what I want my businesses to be.

I also believe in putting your vision out in the world. Do you have any visions or goals for the shop that you would like to share?

So many!! Hence the answer above haha. I think after 7 years in business, 2 stores and 1 one more on the way as well as honing in on motherhood, I’ve found this resurgence in who I am and the vision I have for my shops and business. One huge factor is figuring out to trust my gut in nearly all my choices. It usually leads me to the right thing and when I get lost I’ve found that I need to come back to who I am and what my vision has always been for Findings.

This Fall Findings Market has been going through construction on the exterior of our building and in our backroom as the building owners have thankfully been upgrading the space. In turn, the construction has forced us to move some things around and it really got me thinking about a complete shop refresh through the process. The refresh turned into a slight identity question mark and timed up to a season where our sister shop, Findings Flea has taken off. These days the Flea is really pulling at my heart strings and bringing me a lot of joy and in turn I’ve been assessing how to pull that same joy into Findings Market again. After some soul digging I realized I want to dive back into the roots of FM and focus on our local community and dial in on our local creatives and small batch producers. Discovering artists and indie brands and curating them for the community to enjoy is what brings me life, so I want to hone in on that more and drill back into our in-store experience. 

I’m also tempted to pull our online shop for the sake of digital freedom and focusing on the stores themselves. It feels crazy to do that but I kind of love crazy ideas these days and am feeling this pull from the digital landscape. A desire to root into community and real life. Anyhow, such a convoluted and winding answer there but so many exciting visions for Findings these days!

We are so honored that you carry All Roads’ tabletop textiles through all these years.. Thank you Whitney! xjanelle

Love what you create Janelle! Your vision and eye is inspiring and I’m honored to carry your pieces and to share your work!