napa Woodstoves owner stacks up 25 years experience home, hearth, decor Nthe business for twenty-five years, credits the community forapa Woodstoves has been warming homes around the NapaValley for almost forty years, but Patti Perez, who has owned its staying power. “Our business has been successful because of the community support and our positive team,” beamed the humble Perez. But it’s Perez herself who deserves much of the credit. While working in the healthcare industry, she wanted to purchase investment property and was drawn to a building on Silverado Trail owned by Ed and Elizabeth Coyne —but there was a catch. They wanted to sell the building with the business intact. Perez laughs now that she didn’t know anything about woodstoves or home construction (the store’s biggest client), both businesses that were typically in a man’s world at the time. She reached down in her inner self and thought, “I don’t know anything about retail, but I can OPEN do this.” The Coynes agreed to train Perez for six months before she MAP purchased the business on December 1, 1987. HERE “Ed taught me everything I needed to know,” reminisced Perez. “Twenty-five years ago it was just stoves, and funky. I’ve brought the business up to hearth and home, adding gifts, accessories and furnishings.” The first five to eight years were the biggest challenge, according to Perez —trying to prove herself to all kinds of customers.
NVLife Jan-Feb 2013
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