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ourstory
Welcome to JASPER+PINE, a curated collection of lifestyle goods and supplies that truly support the ideal of living your best life, and being the best version of yourself. Our goal is to be a shop where everyone who walks through our door (well, clicks through rather) — no matter what age, gender, skin color, size, or way of life — should feel welcome, seen, and appreciated! Because the adventure of shopping for quality, curated products shouldn't be reserved for a select few.
a letter from
our founder
Hey everyone!
What better way to start than with a bit of an introduction. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Jake Michael. I'm a born and raised Okie now living in Tulsa, OK with my partner, Dex, and our three pups, Drake, Dylin, and Bentley! (Who you will soon learn I’m kind of obsessed with.)
JASPER+PINE has been a dream of mine for just about as long as I can remember. I have always wanted to own my own store, and after years of working in the retail industry from stock to Regional Brand Merchandiser positions, my dream has finally come to fruition. I am so grateful, and well I suppose you could say spoiled, that at 29 years old I had the opportunity to step away from a typical 9-5 *faint Dolly Parton can be heard playing in the background* job and pursue my dream. In no way, shape, or form could this have been possible without the overwhelming support of my family, friends, and of course Dex, who god love him, has been in the front seat of my roller coaster of emotional madness and anxiety that venturing into the world of small business has ushered into our lives.
Photo by: Grayson Taylor Photography
Before I started this venture, I thought I had a pretty solid grasp on what goes into making a business operate smoothly, and of course, profitably. Boy was I in for a wake up call. There's A LOT that goes into starting a business from the ground up, WAY more than I could have ever prepared myself for. Choices you have to make daily, hourly, sometimes months in advance, or extremely in the moment (which is NOT my favorite thing). There are countless ideas you need to somehow create into a tangible and realistic goal. There are policies you have to write, shipping labels you have to design, and believe it or not, there are THOUSANDS of types and styles of tissue paper you have to pick from. IT’S HARD, more so than I would ever have imagined. BUT we're here.
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In the pre-COVID spring of 2020, I took a good hard look at the calendar and set a date for J+P’s launch day, April 1st. Little did I know my April Fools day pick was just the start of what would be a real joke of the year. Amiright? Two weeks prior to launch day, we had a house fire. Yep. Fire trucks, firefighters, the Deluxe 2020 Shit Show Starter Package. Resulting in a two month hotel stay, (with 3 dogs mind you) while the house was being put back together. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Exactly one week post fire, which again, was one week pre-launch day, we would all come to learn that the entire world would shut down. Enter COVID.
Photo by: Grayson Taylor Photography
I've said all that, and if you're still reading bless you, to say this; as the world slowly returns to post-COVID normalcy, and I'm somehow still finding somethings that's covered in sheetrock dust, from the bottom of my (vaccinated) heart, thank you! Thank you to those who weathered the 2020 shit storm with me, and if you’re new around here, thank you for stopping by! Thank you for liking our Facebook page, thank you for sharing our posts, and liking our photos. Thank you for messaging me with orders and ideas. And most importantly, thank you for making a small town Oklahoma boy, turned city boy's (which scares my Memaw absolutely to death) dream come true.
Best today & a better tomorrow,
