By women ...but not necessarily for women

There's no doubt that the number of women in the workplace has risen over the past few decades, but the number of women who are now the boss has increased as well.

The number of women-owned firms in the U.S. is 50 percent higher than it was in 1997, and in South Carolina that number is 63.6 percent higher.

Locally, women continue to strike out on their own, often juggling a family with the daily grind of running their own business.

Here are three very different businesses owned by women in the Charleston metro area: Canvas Hair Color & Design in downtown Charleston, Neita's Charleston Vinaigrettes and Marinades of Mount Pleasant and Stroble's Farmers Market in Summerville.

Lorentz, Watson find right mix with salon

Just as financial markets collapsed in the fall of 2008, Marie Lorentz and Turner Watson were in the midst of transforming a former antiques shop in downtown Charleston into a space for their new business.

The two had never struck out on their own, but they already had invested the money and trusted their instincts that they had what it took to run their own shop, despite the faltering economy.

'We decided we wanted to do more for our families,' said Lorentz, who is married with two young children, as is Watson.

They called their new venture Canvas Hair Color & Design, a name they chose because they think hairstylists are artists and clients are their canvas.

Lorentz and Watson opened in November 2008 with four stylists and themselves, clipping, dying and styling hair, which both had done for nearly 10 years each just down the street at Allure Salon.

Just over two years later, they have not only survived the deep recession, they have doubled the shop's staff as well as the amount of workable space by recently renovating the Upper King Street building's upstairs and adding pedicures and manicures.

'This business will survive a downturn in the economy,' Lorentz said. 'Women will never miss a hair color appointment. When they look good, they feel good.' The hardest part of opening the business was the fear of failure, Lorentz said. 'I didn't know if it was going to work.'

But they called the transition from employee to business owner seamless. 'It was like we had been doing it forever,' she said. 'We also had a very loyal clientele that followed us.'

That doesn't mean a lot of sweat and toil didn't go into their new roles.

'We've scrubbed the toilets and floors,' she said. 'We have done our fair share of the grunt work, but that makes it all worth it.'

For Watson, the most difficult aspect of venturing in a new direction was the fact that she was pregnant and had an 18-month-old at home when they opened.

'It's tough trying to juggle being a mother, wife and employer at the same time,' Watson said. 'But you can do it. Since we are both mothers, you know how to multitask. You can run a business and be a mother at the same time.'

They chose the Upper King Street location because they wanted to be in a vibrant part of the city that was attracting new businesses and because they took one look at the vacant building and knew it would work.

'We felt like this was the place to be,' Lorentz said. 'It's a happening place.'

On Thursday they will be right in the middle of the Upper King Design District's Spring Design Walk, from 5 to 8 p.m., and they plan to show off their shop.

Wiese's vinaigrettes a recipe for success

As a gift to friends and clients at Christmas or dinner parties, Neita Wiese often handed out old wine bottles filled with a special salad dressing from a family recipe.

People loved it, and she would occasionally find empty bottles sitting on her desk from fans who wanted more of the homemade vinaigrette.

She didn't sell it. She just enjoyed handing it out as gifts.

Then in June 2005, after moving to Charleston and starting a career in real estate, the seemingly fit Wiese suffered a major heart attack and flat-lined three times before emergency responders and medical staff saved her life.

During the weeks and months of recovery that followed, she started thinking about her future.

A friend suggested that she turn her hobby of making her well-liked vinaigrette into a business, since people often asked for her recipe before her heart attack.

One year later, Neita's Charleston Vinaigrettes & Marinades was on the shelf at a Piggly Wiggly supermarket in Mount Pleasant.

Not long after that, Dean and Deluca's gourmet markets picked it up. Then Whole Foods and Earth Fare, two other high-end supermarkets, stocked it. Harris Teeter carries it locally, and other food-savvy shops in select cities across the nation sell it too.

Late last year Sysco picked it up as an institutional product for hotels, restaurants and schools.

Her three flavors — garlic, red wine and sugar-free citrus — are made in Hanahan and Dallas through a carefully guarded recipe. She's toying with the idea of introducing a new line.

Besides herself, the Mount Pleasant resident employs four part-time workers and three interns from the College of Charleston and the Art Institute of Charleston. She also is looking for a business partner to help her keep up with the growing business.

Marketing the product was the smartest move she ever made, Wiese said.

'It has been extremely educational and taught me a lot of good habits than working in a corporate environment,' she said.

'You are never bored. You are accountable to yourself. You always want to do your best and challenge yourself to meet your goals and look beyond the horizon. It's been an incredible journey, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.'

Stroble's store focuses on fresh, organic food

In her former craft store in Summerville, Deborah Goldich rented out spaces to vendors.

Richard Stroble sold jellies and jams there that he made on his Harleyville farm.

The two jelled and recently married.

Deborah took her husband's last name, decided to sell her collective called Tea Farm Cottage and open a shop selling his homemade products with items she loved to make as well.

The creation became Stroble's Farmers Market, an old-timey fruit and vegetable stand in a 1,700-square-foot shop on Bacons Bridge Road in Summerville that has seen its share of other businesses come and go. Among them: a grocery store, preschool, thrift store and tool rental shop.

Now it's filled with handmade tables carrying baskets and bins of butternut squash, Vidalia onions and boiled peanuts, among the alphabet of fruits and vegetables she has to offer.

Lining the shelves are apples, bananas, bell peppers, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, garlic, green beans, jalapenos, lettuce, lemons, limes, mushrooms, oranges, potatoes, radishes, strawberries, tomatoes and watermelons.

But that's not all the shop carries.

Handmade pancake mixes of blueberry, coffee cake, oatmeal and cream biscuit sit among packets of stone-ground grits, yellow cornmeal and Carolina rice. Jars of honey, sorghum, syrup and artichoke relish join a variety of ciders and wine jellies.

A cooler offers fresh milk and butter, and an ice cream freezer, the kind once found in country stores, offers tasty treats.

Many of the out-of-season products come from the State Farmer's Market in Columbia, but a lot of it will come from the Strobles' farm.

Her husband recently bought five acres in Colleton County, where they plan to grow many of their own vegetables.

'The idea is that all or most of our produce will be organic,' Deborah Stroble said. 'We are making all of the homemade stuff at the farm now, but we are going to make it here as soon as the kitchen opens in the back.'

Once that happens, she plans to add baked-from-scratch desserts, breads and tomato pie.

Stroble is no stranger to running her own business.

She operated an antique store for seven years in San Francisco before moving to Florida and then Summerville, where she ran the collective until she sold it after a year.

'This is a good business because people buy food,' she said. 'It's a necessity type of item.'

The hardest part is figuring out how much to buy, because produce has a short shelf life, Stroble said.

'We are buying smaller quantities, but we buy more frequently,' she said. 'Some of the things that don't sell, we bottle and pickle.'

Stroble has a lot of plans for the business, including adding flowering plants to sell once the shop is a bit more established.

'Our goal is to provide people with fresh, local and organic food whenever possible and grow as much of it as we can,' she said.

Business has been brisk since she opened just three weeks ago.

'It's paying for itself,' she said.

By the numbers

Women-owned businesses

Year 1997 2002 2007 2011 (est.) % Change 1997-2011

U.S.

No. of Firms 5,417,034 6,489,483 7,793,139 8,125,800 +50%

Employment 7,076,081 7,146,229 7,579,876 7,650,400 +8.1%

Sales ($000) $818,669,084 $940,774,986 $1,202,115,758 $1,255,798,300 +53.4%

South Carolina

No. of Firms 64,232 76,831 99,458 105,100* 63.6% (8th in U.S.)

Employment 100,284 92,773 100,308 100,300* 0%

Sales ($000) $10,634,412 $10,890,936 $14,149,756 $14,713,600 38.4% (44th in U.S.)

Firms with one employee are counted in the number of firms but not in employment.