Pungo shop tries its luck on fundraising website

VIRGINIA BEACH

April and Al Habit own an old-fashioned business.

They sell vintage glassware, handcrafted soaps and baked goods in an old brick building on a bend in the road in Pungo, miles from the trappings of modern retail commerce.

The Habits want to expand their Southern Fried Studio & Shop to sell soups and sandwiches, much like former owners did when the store was Brinkley's Market, a 1960s-era grocer and lunch counter. All they need is $22,000 to buy equipment.

They've tried the old-fashioned way of getting money. They visited the bank. Without much savings, though, they couldn't get a loan. They rent the building and couldn't offer it as collateral.

So they decided to try something newfangled.

Last month, they put their project online at Kickstarter. The website allows artists, entrepreneurs and others to seek wider support - a few dollars at a time.

"When it comes down to it, there's not a lot of help out there for you," said April Habit, 37.

"Why not use a global platform? It's out there. It's available. And we'd be fools not to try it."

Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing proposition. If the Habits cannot raise all $22,000, they get zero.

"It's a new way to democratize funding," said Justin Kazmark, a Kickstarter spokesman.

Most of the company's projects are for writers, musicians, visual artists, performers, fashion designers and technology inventors, but the goals of an independent retailer aren't much different, Kazmark said. "They're really just trying to get their ideas off the ground, and they're looking for support from their friends and their families and their fans."

About 45 percent of those who try Kickstarter reach or exceed their goal, and more than 5,000 have successfully funded projects, he said.

Kickstarter participants must apply to have their projects accepted and must offer rewards for each pledge level. Southern Fried will list the names of supporters on its website and invite them to its thank you party. Larger donors will receive a dozen cookies and a T-shirt. Those at the $1,000 level will have a sandwich named after them.

"Is this a long shot? Maybe. Are we the underdogs? Yes," April Habit said. "But in the end, everybody wants to see Charlie Brown kick that football."

Southern Fried looks like an old general store from the front, with its wide porch, multipaned windows and vintage-style sign. Inside is a mix of home decor and gifts, a dipping case for Hershey's ice cream, and cinnamon rolls, cookies and cupcakes.

Shortly after it opened in January, April Habit said, customers starting asking for more. The owners hadn't planned to get into the restaurant business, but to succeed, they knew they needed to respond to customer demand.

The Habits aren't new to retail. They met in 1992 at Al Habit's now-defunct clothing store, The Factory Streetwear, near the Oceanfront. They married in 1994; The Factory closed three years later. They helped run a business that sold weight-loss supplements and later opened Austin Rocco, a furniture and home-decor boutique in the Hilltop area. In 2009, in the thick of the economic downturn, they sold that store to another retailer.

Despite their experience, Southern Fried has proved a learning process. The property was zoned agricultural, so they had to request a zoning change.

Still, the Habits are committed to Southern Fried.

By Monday, their campaign had 24 backers and $1,175. Pledges start at $1 and go to $5,000 or more, though the largest any individual had offered was $100. The campaign has one week to go.

If Kickstarter doesn't work, the Habits plan to sell their house around the corner from the store and move their two sons to a smaller place. They will use the proceeds to pay for the upgrades.

"No matter what we do, it's not going to be this million-dollar business," said Al Habit, 50. "But it has the potential to make us a comfortable living if we do everything we want to do here."

Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com