As a child, Jonathan Brimer turned his bedroom into a boutique department stores, with pricetags on everything from stuffed animals to a stereo. “Customers” – aka his parents – would come “shop” with Jonathan ringing up purchases on an adding machine and transacting with Monopoly money. At age eight, Jonathan consistently won fundraising challenges at school. At age ten, he ran a successful lemonade stand. Suffice to say, he’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
After declaring initially as a meteorology major, Jonathan later graduated from Florida State University’s Dedman School of hospitality and subsequently spent twelve years with Marriott International in a variety of roles. The dream of business ownership never died.
In 2014, Jonathan jumped at the opportunity to develop and grow a business niche that brought together both retail and the hospitality industries: boutique sunglass gifting experiences at corporate and incentive events. Since then, the company he now co-owns – Select Shades – has grown into five retail stores in three states and has traveled the world delivering custom, interactive sunglass experiences at meetings of all sizes and formats with nearly $3 million in revenues in 2019.
Always seeking personal and business growth while intensely dedicated to staying true to core values, Jonathan and his business partner, Jason are excited to see their Atlanta-based Select Shades organization thrive, create jobs, and create opportunities for travel and experiences for his team members.
Follow Select Shades on LinkedIn and Facebook.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- How Jonathan got his start
- What sets Select Shades apart from Sunglass Hut
- Why Jonathan chose to open a sunglasses store
- The events side of your Select Shades
- What Select Shades is passionate about as an organization
- How Select Shades is evolving during COVID19
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