Ireland and Old Lace Owner Has Seen Her Share of Tough Times

Kelly Coleman stood behind the counter of her store Thursday morning as a steady flow of customers made their way through her business. Purchases were made, stories were shared, and one woman divulged it’s been her lifelong dream to go to Ireland. She was signing up for a raffle Coleman’s store is holding for a trip to Ireland.

After customers tell her about their dreams, the owner of reminisces about a time when she was living her life’s dream.

Coleman graduated from Fordham University in 1990 with a degree in communications. Right out of college at the age of 21, Coleman went to work for ABC Sports as a production manager, setting the ground rules for everything involved with the production of the live broadcast, including which game to switch to if the locally televised game is a blowout, and what to do if the game goes into overtime.

Three years later, she as an international marketing agent for MTV Entertainment, which includes Nickelodeon, VH1, TV Land and CMT, among other networks.

In 2001, Coleman was shot with cupid’s arrow and moved to Monmouth County, New Jersey, to be closer to her future husband, Mark Radziewicz. She left her job in the entertainment industry for a job with Maddington Mills, a flooring company, based in Salem.

She was traveling to New York twice a month, and was able to live her dream vicariously through her husband, a DJ who has worked in the Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Pittsburgh markets.

She was happy.

Then, shortly after selling her condo, closing on a house and getting engaged, Maddington Mills laid off one-third of its work force, including Coleman, in November 2001.

“Sales were down,” Coleman said. “It was shortly after 9/11, and people were staying home more to be with their families.”

Suddenly, Coleman needed a job.

“There are only so many jobs in (the entertainment industry) down here,” Coleman said. “Going back to New York would’ve been counterproductive to what we were doing.”

She also said jobs overall were scarce in the area after 9/11, so she had a decision to make. That decision was to open her own store.

“I made the decision to open the store in January of 2002,” Coleman said. “I rented the space in February, and the store opened May 1.

“I had no choice. I had to make a living. I had to have my mortgage paid. I had to make it work.”

Coleman’s family is from Ireland, and she’s three-quarters Irish, one-quarter Italian.

She traveled to Europe when she worked with MTV Entertainment, and she felt the Irish were misrepresented in America.

When it came time to open a store, the theme was obvious.

How to get started running that store, however, was a little hazy.

“I didn’t know anything about trade shows,” Coleman said. “I made a business card and I jumped on a plane to Dublin.”

She met with manufacturers to find out how she could sell their products in her store. That’s where she learned she could visit trade shows in her own country to find out what products are available and how she can sell them in her own store.

Business has been much better since then. Coleman purchased one of the bigger stores in Smithville for no other reason than she had to.

“There was a smaller store available, but I didn’t want to take it and if I expanded and wanted to move into a larger store, have it not be there,” Coleman said. “It forced me to jump into it.”

In 2007, she won the Small Business Association Award for Growth.

Staying true to her love for the entertainment industry, she’s had popular Irish bands perform at her store, including the Dropkick Murphys and Gaelic Storm.

The tough times were not over for Coleman and her husband.

After selling the house they had previously purchased before she was laid off, the two were married in 2004, and were closing on yet another house in October of that year.

One month before the closing was to take place however, Radziewicz lost his job. They were still able to purchase the home, but it was two years before he was able to find another full time job, Coleman said.

He freelanced for two years, and she was running her business, and the two were able to make it through yet another round of financial hardship.

So when the economy took another nosedive in 2007, Coleman was able to adapt quickly.

“When the economy slowed down, I just ordered less and brought in the same profits,” said Coleman, who added that running a niche store has helped. “I have products here you can’t find in a department store.”

She also believes that with times being as tough as they are right now, Americans are beginning to favor quality products.

“People can buy a handmade hat in my store for $50, and it will last them for years,” Coleman said. “They can buy a hat somewhere else for $10, and it’s cheaper, but it will only last them a couple months.”

Today, things are stable for Coleman, her 49-year-old husband, and her 17-year-old stepson, David Raziewicz. Mark, known as Mark Razz on the air, is still in the entertainment business, acting as a music director, and is participating in a bike ride to honor first-responders who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

However, the 42-year-old Coleman knows how unpredictable the future can be.

“You never see down the road when you start something like this,” Coleman said of her store. “It’s 10 years later, and I’m still here. I didn’t think it would be temporary. I didn’t think it would be long term. I had to do something and I did it.”

It wasn’t her dream, but Coleman is no less happy because of it.

“I’m not happy with the circumstances that cause it,” Coleman said. “But I am happy with the end result.”