Success Story - Sew-A-Lot

Sew-A-Lot

Sue Estes, principal owner of Sew-A-Lot, located at 201 W. Walnut St., Carbondale, Illinois.

Opened: 2010 Principle Owner: Sue Estes

Sue Estes, 2009 participant and grant winner through the SBDC's Operation Bootstrap program, has taken her business to a new level this fall by opening her own storefront in downtown Carbondale. Sew-A-Lot, a sole proprietorship owned and operated by Ms. Estes is a full-service sewing and alterations shop. She also hopes to begin creating her own line of shirts and dresses for retail sale. Having worked in the sewing and alterations business for many years, Sue has had the dream of opening her own shop for the past couple of years. Following her training with the SBDC's Operation Bootstrap training program, she had renewed energy and hope of fullfilling her dream. Within the past year, as her own business has grown and word-of-mouth spread, she has been able to cut her hours at her regular job and devote more to building her business, Sew-A-Lot. This fall, she found the opportunity and investment capital to open a storefront location in the heart of Carbondale, enabling her to expand her presence within the market. Though having a storefront requires more hours and more work to upkeep, she is excited about this new opportunity and looks to a more profitable future. She continues to utilize the SBDC to work on improving her marketing efforts, ensuring proper paperwork completion, etc.