Meet Tory and Jane—Two Women Who Reinvented Themselves

Meet two local moms and business owners, Tory Brangham and Jane Winston, the women behind the popular Church Street shoe store, Tory Janes. Read on to find out more about the women behind the shoes, and the story behind the store.

THEY’RE ALL THAT: Tory Brangham and Jane Winston

MOVED TO MONTCLAIR:

Tory: 2001 from NYC, Chelsea

Jane: 2005 from Larchmont

KIDS: 3 each

Tory: Boy, 10, 4th grade, Watchung; boy, 8, 2nd grade, Watchung; girl, almost 6, K, Watchung.

Jane: Girl, 13, 7th grade, Glenfield; boy, 11, 5th grade, Watchung; girl, 7, 1st grade, Watchung.

WHY THEY’RE ALL THAT: Tory and Jane are examples of women who dared to take a chance, reinvent themselves and open the shop of their dreams. They could be all that for that reason alone, but we also think they’re all that because of how honestly they balance the realities with the dream: although they’d both love to hang out at Tory Jane’s and talk shoes all day, they both work other jobs, take care of multiple children, pets, and husbands, and always have to be nice in public!

In their words. . .

HOW YOU MET:

J & T: We met at a dinner party in October 2006. We sat next to each other; it was like a great first date, we talked all night. I said, “I want to open a shoe store,” and Tory said, “Me too.” Tory emailed me the next day, and then we met at Raymond’s for breakfast later that week. Jane quit her job in December, and we opened Tory Janes in March 2007.

WHERE YOU BUY SHOES FOR YOU:

T: I’ve only bought one pair anywhere other than Tory Janes in five years and I returned them because they weren’t comfortable.

J: 99% here, but I do buy some dressier shoes elsewhere.

INSIDE SCOOP ON TORY JANES:

J: We’ve changed our inventory in response to the economy. Our top price has dropped, and we have a lot more shoes under $100. We’ve honed in on who our customer is.

T: We are also two different shoe personalities. I’m more clog and Birkenstock. I’m about comfort, so I tend to gravitate toward and buy that sort of shoe. But I’ll place orders that I know Jane would like, or I’ll have a customer in mind when I place an order.

J: I’m more about ‘pretty’ shoes. More fashion-forward. So we buy shoes for ourselves, and with each other in mind, and with specific customers in mind. I’ll think “so and so would totally love this” so we buy it for the store. Then those customers often do come in and love what we pick for them!

T: We shy away from promotion. We’re not good at tooting our own horn. The store is less easy than when the economy was good. We wouldn’t both have other jobs if we didn’t need to.

J: I feel like it’s a salon, like a living room. It’s comfortable. We really wanted it to be like that. It’s a great place to hang out. Owning Tory Janes is a dream job for both of us. If it could support us, I would come five days a week. We’re doing the best we can.

T: Running your own business is thrilling and exciting and affords lots of flexibility. The downside is that it is a 24/7 operation that you can't leave behind.

J: If anyone is thinking of opening their own business, I would say that they should be prepared to feel proud and excited but also to have many sleepless nights of worry.

THE OTHER JOBS:

T: I work at diapers.com; it’s an e-commerce web site. I’ve been there for two years, and I work four days a week in Jersey City. But I check in every day with the store, and we always get the end-of-day numbers.

J: I work at Redbook magazine in the marketing department, 3 days a week in NYC. I come in to Tory Janes on Wednesdays and Fridays, and as Tory said, we both check in by phone and text during the day and at the end of the day.

LIFE BEFORE TORY JANES:

T: I was a full-time stay at home mom, and before that I worked at iVillage in e-commerce.

J: I worked full-time at Martha Stewart Living Magazine in Marketing.

GIVING BACK:

T & J: We sponsor a lot of auctions through the store in which we donate a “shoe party” to be auctioned off. Over the lifetime of the store, we’ve devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to this type of event. We’ve done it for the Red Cross, Van Vleck, many of the public schools, churches, and synagogues. We give people an evening to invite 10 friends to the store, provide wine and cheese, discounts, etc. It’s a great thing to be able to do. This, we can do. Volunteering in a more traditional sense is much harder for us right now. But we’re happy to donate this to community organizations and it’s a really popular auction item that raises a lot of money for them.

KIDS ACTIVITIES/THE SCHLEPPING:

T: My older son plays travel soccer and wrestles, my younger son plays travel soccer, travel baseball, and wrestles, and my daughter has play dates with Jane’s daughter.

J: My older daughter does jazz, ballet, and modern dance, my son plays baseball, baseball, baseball (travel, rec, and lessons), and my daughter loves play dates, reading, and playing with Tory’s daughter.

PETS:

T: We have two cats, Pepper and Tiki. They’re kind of a problem, because Jane’s son is allergic to them.

J: We have a labradoodle named Torre. He’s really named after Joe Torre, but it’s pronounced the same as Tory. It causes a lot of confusion when Tory comes over – ‘Down, Torre! Sit, Torre!’

EXERCISE ROUTINE:

T: I go to Hot Yoga at Garden State Yoga, and I walk. I’ve realized that if I have 25 or 30 minutes, I’ll go for it and do something. It’s better than nothing. I used to think if I didn’t have a full hour, forget it, but now I’ll do what I can when I can.

J: I do hot yoga four times a week at Garden State Yoga, but I do nothing else. I love it there.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE:

T: I hate to rush and my schedule requires me to. I also wish I could be more present with my kids.

J: Not having enough time. I want to do everything all day – I want to be with my kids all day, I want to be at work all day, I want to be in each of those worlds all day and it’s impossible.

WHAT GIVES:

T: My husband. I feel like I could give him more. I also don’t cook at all. I feed. So that probably gives.

J: I feel like I do everything 75%—I don’t feel like I can do anything enough. I have nothing left, but I feel like I should be doing everything more.

WHAT YOU’RE READING:

T: I just finished The Paris Wife. It was so good, but I finished it on the plane and was crying so hard.

J: The Invisible Bridge. We’re also in the same book club.

BIGGEST HELPER:

T: My husband. He helps with the cooking, gardening, parenting, everything. And also our babysitter—she’s like a third parent!

J: My husband, definitely with the parenting. I tend to be stressed out and very fast-paced. He keeps me balanced. The other day he said, “let’s decatastrophize.” Isn’t that great? He’s incredibly grateful for everything we have, optimistic, and positive. A definite half-full sort of person.

HOW YOU GET DINNER ON THE TABLE DURING THE WEEK:

T: My sitter feeds them or my husband will slow cook on Sunday and save it for a few meals during the week. The only thing I really like making is Breakfast for Dinner—scrambled eggs and toast or pancakes.

J: I like to cook on Wednesdays and Fridays when I’m home. I like to provide children with food. I make a mean meat sauce. I also make tacos or pork chops. I tend to stick with things at least two out of three kids like.

PET PEEVE:

T: Being late makes me totally nuts. I am genetically five minutes early to almost everything. That doesn't mean it bothers me when other people are late—just me.

J: Mess! I hate it. I hate clutter and love to throw things away.

FAVORITE RESTAURANT FOR DELIVERY:

T: T.S. Ma or Tinga.

J: T.S. Ma or Tinga, but we don’t order in very often.

KIDS’ FAVORITE RESTAURANT:

T: T.S. Ma, Tinga or Mr. Dino’s.

J: T.S. Ma, Tinga, Mr. Dino’s, the Charbroil and Dai Kichi.

FAVORITE NIGHT OUT WITHOUT KIDS:

T: A dinner party at someone’s house with other couples.

J: Dinner and a movie. CulinAriane is our favorite restaurant.

BEST VACATION:

T: We just got back from Sonoma. My in-laws live there.

J: I love Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve been going there every summer since birth.

BEST PLACE TO PICK UP KIDS’ BDAY GIFT:

T: Learning Express or Aunt Jean’s Toys and Treats.

J: Learning Express.

FAVORITE MTC CLOTHING STORE FOR YOU:

T: Barbara Eclectic, the Gap, or D’Moni.

J: Anthropologie or Dot Reeder.

FAVORITE MTC ACTIVITY/DESTINATION:

T: Hiking at Mills Creek. There’s a hawk watch there, which is really cool. We also ice skate at Clary Anderson.

J: We’re not so good about things like hiking. We like visiting people, or having people over. Maybe for brunch.

WHAT YOU LOVE ABOUT MONTCLAIR:

T: The people. I like the say the property tax is really a friends tax. You pay it because the quality of the people here is exceptional.

J: Yes, definitely the people. There are so many women I’d love to have the time to get to know better. I’ve never been able to say that anywhere else I’ve lived.

WHAT YOU WISH YOU COULD CHANGE:

T: I wish the taxes were lower. I’m worried people will have to leave. That’s the single biggest issue now, not to have people fleeing.

J: I don’t think I’d change much except for the taxes. We just put our house on the market. We’re looking for something smaller.

ADVICE FOR OTHER BUSY MOMS:

T: Every Sunday my husband and I go through the schedules of kids, work, babysitter, everything. We sit down with our calendars and a glass of wine or a beer after the kids are asleep and plan out the week; who is coming home late what night, who needs to be where, etc. It’s enormously helpful.

J: Drink wine. Do yoga. And live more in the present.