Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane and Joe Mayes.
Hi Diane and Joe, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We’ll start the story of how Patchouli Joe’s got its start with a fairy tale involving the owners of Patchouli Joe’s Books & Indulgences, Diane and Joe Mayes. Once upon a time, more than 40 years and some 5,200 miles ago, two teenagers’ paths converged in a way that would forever alter their lives. In 1977, Joe’s mother was an Air Force civilian employee assigned to Hahn Air Base, about 80 miles west Frankfurt in what was then West Germany. Diane’s brother taught at the high school Joe attended and was Joe’s football coach. Diane was born and raised in Dallas and prior to her junior year in high school, Diane made the case to her parents that it would be good for her to expand her view of the world beyond the Dallas city limits.
Reluctantly, they agreed and in the summer before the school year began, she arrived at Hahn. Diane and Joe met within days of her arrival and they dated for a short time. Through the typical teenage drama, they managed to remain friends, growing closer as the school year drew to a close. In June 1978, Diane returned to Dallas and Joe remained in Germany for another year. They corresponded a few times before losing touch about the time Diane headed to college and Joe enlisted in the US Air Force. Diane and Joe travelled very different paths, but both were rocky. Through alcoholism, failed marriages, and some of life’s toughest challenges, the two navigated their journeys apart.
Then, on December 31, 2016, Joe’s face popped across Diane’s social media feed. “People you may know.” She contacted him with, “I don’t know if you remember me…” He remembered her. The two chatted, at first online, then on the phone and via Skype, for several months. Diane was in Denton, where she had completed college and remained, raising her children and teaching elementary school. Joe had lived something of a nomadic life, spending 20 years traveling the world in the Air Force, landing in Jacksonville, Florida just three years prior. After the friendship had been rekindled from 1,000 miles away, Joe visited Diane in Denton, looking for a place where he could finally plant the roots he craved. When they saw each other, sparks flew immediately. The friendship became a return to the fledgling romance from nearly forty years prior.. In February 2018, the two married at the home of Diane’s brother and his widow, less than five miles from her childhood home.
In June 2018, the two moved to Leander and lived happily ever after. But that’s not where the story ends. Diane had dreamed of spending her time working in a “smelly-good” store after she retired from teaching. Joe had hoped of one day opening a bookstore. So after moving to Leander, we got serious about making our dreams come true. The roots of Patchouli Joe’s started in Germany. Near the base was a tiny gift shop called “Two Sisters.” Diane fondly recalled the scent of patchouli — it was the ’70’s after all — every time she visited that store. So when it was time to come up with a name for our store, patchouli would have to be part of it. “Patchouli Joe’s” just rolled off the tongue, she said, so despite Joe’s resistance, the name was settled. In February 2019, we attended a bookstore training course back in Florida.
We began all the planning while there, and visited independent bookstores all through the southeastern US. We organized the business, ordered books, and decided to start small, doing pop-ups wherever possible. We were adamant about putting our store in Leander. We lived in Leander and wanted the store to be part of the community we lived in. Finding a location proved difficult and we had resigned ourselves to doing pop-ups instead of having an actual brick and mortar store. We were afraid that Patchouli Joe’s was going to be more of a hobby than a full-fledged combination bookstore and smelly-good store. One evening in mid-June of 2019, after our first pop-up, we received a message from a stranger. “I hear you may be looking for a location for a business. We should talk.” Apparently a friend told a friend who told a friend who told the owner of a building in Old Town Leander that we were looking. Less than three months later, on August 31, 2019, Patchouli Joe’s Books & Indulgences opened its doors to the public.
Our dream of creating a bastion of love and acceptance in our community, of planting roots in a beautiful town like Leander, came to life. The next four months is a blur, capped off by the Leander Christmas Festival and parade in Old Town Leander. We were part of the heart of the community and it was magical. Meanwhile, a little thing called Coronavirus began to find its way into the news and the world’s consciousness. Besides Diane (Joe still works a full-time job aside from the store), Patchouli Joe’s had two full-time employees. In March, we had to make the difficult decision to lock our doors and try to keep our little dream alive. So we fought. We created ways to “see the store from the couch,” adding online ordering and other things. Working from home, the four of us came up with ways to offer curbside pickup and “Patchouli Porch” home delivery within five miles of the store. We sold jigsaw puzzles. Lots and lots of jigsaw puzzles. We leveraged social media to keep our name alive and to stay in contact with our wonderful friends and neighbors. Customers (or, as we call them, “Patchouliacs”) made it a point to keep on ordering books and gifts to make sure we would be there when the world returned to whatever normal was going to end up looking like.
Above all, we were not going to let a little thing like a global pandemic kill a dream that had its roots in the cold war a half a world away. Finally in June, we were able to open the doors on a limited scale. Masks were required and hand sanitizer is scattered throughout the store. We limit the number of people who can be in the store at one time. But the love from the community has kept our dream alive. And we made it to our first anniversary of the store opening on August 31, 2020. In October, a writer from Forbes heard about us and wrote a story on Forbes.com. In November, we were honored to be selected as the Best Bookstore and Best Gift Shop by the Hill Country News reader’s poll. The battle to keep our store alive is far from over. But every time our spirits lag, we’re lifted up by the visitors to the store. As Diane says, “We’re here for the people who need us to be here.” So we’ll keep on fighting.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest challenge we’ve faced is the same that every small business has faced: the global pandemic. The thing a physical independent bookstore has over online sellers is the sensory experience customers can get. When you walk into Patchouli Joe’s the scent of the soaps greets you at the door. The gentle music from the past welcomes you and takes you back to an earlier time in your life. Feeling the heft and importance of the book in your hand is an experience that can’t be downloaded. We’re an analog experience in an increasingly digital world. So when people are afraid to venture out shopping, it’s tough to replicate that experience any other way. The best thing we can do is to fight to stay alive so that when more people feel safe getting out, we’ll be there to welcome them with open arms.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Besides Patchouli Joe’s, Diane and Joe are both writers. Diane is in final edit of her first book, a young-adult novel that chronicles the experiences of a young, wide-eyed Texas teenager who spends a year at a US air base in Germany. Joe has published one book, “The Chronicles of Shameus,” and is currently working on the sequel. Personally signed copies of “Chronicles of Shameus” are available, of course, at Patchouli Joe’s.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
The small-business community in Leander has been wonderful. There are several other businesses which opened at about the same time we did, as well as others who’ve been around for much longer. All have been wonderful in sharing experiences, supporting each other, and cross-promoting as much as possible. The best advice we would offer is to not be afraid to ask for help if you’re thinking of starting a business. You will learn the lessons…it’s up to you to decide whether you have to learn them the hard way or if you’re willing to avail yourself of the benefit of someone else’s experience.
Contact Info:
- Email: Contact@PatchouliJoesBooks.com
- Website: https://PatchouliJoesBooks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patchoulijoes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatchouliJoes
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/patchoulijoes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HDsAufTcke4cWHE_i3T-g
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/patchouli-joes-books-and-indulgences-leander
Image Credits
Diane and Joseph Mayes
