If you drove by 10-year-old Emerson Edgett’s Cutchogue house and caught a glimpse of the little windowed kiosk out front, you may well have done a double take. Instead of being filled with the requisite tomes that usually occupy the popular give-a-book, take-a-book portals, this clever kid and her dad are using the self-serve stands to sell Emerson’s own brand of beautiful beaded bracelets — and learn a little bit about commerce to boot.
“I enjoy making bracelets,” says Emerson Edgett, who has always loved talking about business with her family. “We always talked about, ‘If we had a business, we would do this,’ and then we took this [idea] to the next level and created it.”
With the help of her dad, Dan, the enterprising fifth grader launched the Beach Shack Bracelet Co., a self-service “mini boutique” to sell her colorful, beach-inspired baubles. The tiny shop runs on an honor system, with bracelets priced at $3 for one or two for $5.
Emerson’s entrepreneurial spirit is nothing new to Dan, who recalls that she first started selling her handmade bracelets at her lemonade stand. When Emerson and Dan talked about finding a more substantial way of selling the bracelets, they came up with the kiosk concept.
“We borrowed the idea from the little library concept and put up the shop in front of our house,” says Dan, and so far, the Beach Shack Bracelet Co. has been a big hit, as well as a learning experience.
“We learned the word ‘inventory’ the other day,” Dan says. “Now she has a whole box ready to back-fill as bracelets sell, and she’s constantly making more.”
To make each bracelet, Emerson picks out colors and creates a pattern for them, and she checks the box every day after school and restocks when inventory gets low.
“I can make quite a few in an hour,” she says.
The colorful bracelets have been noticed by kids and teachers at school, too, and Emerson’s teacher Ms. Haas stopped by to pick some up. The family’s neighbors and other folks have stopped Emerson and her family in town to compliment her on their bracelets.
But they’re not just pretty, beaded bracelets — some of the bracelets have a hidden message in Morse code, which Emerson learned from her teacher, Mr. Claudio. As for what the message translates to, customers will just have to learn the coded language for themselves.
To find Beach Shack Bracelet Co., head down Stillwater Avenue in Cutchogue and look for the colorful little box. Cash or Venmo is accepted.
