One Thread at a Time

An entrepreneurial spirit and a curiosity for self-learning have made North Mankato resident Jenna Odegard a success in the children and baby boutiques market.

Odegard owns Bumbelou, a boutique that sells high-quality baby and toddler fashion, maternity and postpartum items, puzzles, art tools and books. The company has brick-and-mortar stores on Riverfront Drive in downtown Mankato and Minnesota Street in downtown New Ulm, as well as a large online presence.

Bumbelou is the second business venture for Odegard, who got her start in the entrepreneurial field at the young age of 17 when she began an e-commerce business in the niche market of crafting handmade clutches for the wedding industry.

“It’s all I’ve ever done,” Odegard said on owning her own business. “It really started as a boot-strapping situation with handmade items. I was curious how to make things and was wondering if I could sell them.”

Odegard began making and selling custom clutches for brides, bridal parties and mothers of the brides on Etsy (an online marketplace for handmade products) before expanding by launching her own website.

“I really found success in that area,” she said. “I’ve always had a creative eye, so I did my own marketing and even taught myself to use a DSLR camera because this was before cellphones came with high-end cameras. I learned how to use Photoshop, how to do email marketing, and everything else owning a business takes, just by being curious.”

The New Ulm native continued to own and operate the business until her first daughter, Lexi, was six months old. At that time, Odegard sold her original business, which allowed her to take time off and be a stay-at-home mom.

“Even though being a mom is the joy of my life and I truly love being a mother and caregiver, I realized I was missing being an entrepreneur,” she said. “I’m the type of person that’s meant to be in the creative entrepreneurial space. Focusing on businesses like these doesn’t drain me, but it refuels me.”

Odegard spent time reflecting on her circumstances and focusing on her knowledge and talents and began making hair accessories for little girls.

“Bumbelou started during my daughter’s naps,” Odegard said with a laugh. “I started marketing the pieces and putting them online. After a while of doing that and then becoming pregnant with my second daughter, Lyra, two years later, I realized that Bumbelou could help put me back in the creative field.”

Making hair accessories quickly expanded to include a children’s clothing line in which Odegard designed and sewed each piece herself. Eventually, Odegard knew she was ready to hire staff to assist her in creating the pieces. Odegard and her team operated out of the basement of her home for nearly four years before they outgrew the space.

Though Bumbelou now operates out of two locations, that wasn’t the original idea that Odegard had in mind when she contacted a realtor in the area.

“I told him I needed a manufacturing space, even if it was a pole barn,” she recalled. “I just wanted some kind of raw space we could work in.”

While touring potential locations, Odegard and her realtor stopped at a site in Old Town Mankato. It was Odegard’s realtor who asked her whether or not she would ever want a storefront for her business.

“I didn’t know about that,” she recalled.

“I hadn’t thought about it too much before, but when I saw the building we are in now, I knew I could be ready to add in all of our other brands to include a retail space.”

When deciding whether or not to purchase a storefront, Odegard reflected on what products her family uses and supports in the baby industry.

“It really made sense once I saw the space for the first time,” she said. “There really wasn’t anything available like it in the region – there was absolutely an opening in the baby market. I wouldn’t have done it had there been two or three competitors in the area. It just wouldn’t have made sense. But, when looking at the market, there was a need.”

Bumbelou opened as a baby boutique at 405 North Riverfront Drive in Mankato in September 2018 and embarked on what Odegard called “an interesting first year.”

“In January 2019, there was a polar vortex, and one of the pipes ended up bursting in our building,” she recalled. “We had to close the store only a few months after opening it. My husband and I did a lot of the renovations ourselves the first time, and we had to gut the whole thing back down to the studs and take up flooring. Thankfully, we had an amazing contractor and were open three months later. They really did an efficient job considering how extensive the damage was.”

Though it would have been easy to toss in the towel on Bumbelou and not go through the expense and stress of renovating for the