photo by Steve VanGunda

Willie Barnes opened his store, Bags-n-Beyond, just before Christmas in 2007 but before that he sold his merchandise out of the back of a van in the Natchez area. Bags-n-Beyond is stocked with a variety of merchandise including designer-like handbags and cold drinks and snacks.

Barnes grows business from truck to brand new store

By Jennifer Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Sunday, May 25, 2008

NATCHEZ —Transitioning from a long teaching career into retail store owner may not seem easy or natural to an ordinary Joe. But this isn’t Joe. It’s Willie Barnes and it is his experience as a teacher that made his transition into the business world fairly smooth.

Barnes retired as a science teacher in Louisiana and taught for seven and a half years as a biology teacher at Natchez High School before retiring again to focus full-time on his store, Bags-N-Beyond. The store, which opened just before Christmas in 2007, sells a variety of items including convenience store goods, designer-look purses and cell phone accessories.

“In a teaching career you learn about people, especially teaching high school,” Barnes said. “That experience is one factor that has helped me deal with people and made people feel more comfortable dealing with me.”

Working with people came natural to Barnes but his business sense wasn’t quite as defined.

“A lot of what I learned about the business side of things came through trial and error,” he said.

Barnes’ venture into the retail world began in 1999 when he began selling purses and bags out of the back of a truck on weekends to bring in some extra cash. Barnes said he wanted to offer Natchezians items that they couldn’t find without traveling out of town.

“When you are traveling you see those sort of vendors all the time. Especially in California where they can basically walk down the street to the wholesaler,” Barnes said. “I wanted to bring unique, quality merchandise that is just getting popular to Natchez.”

And his idea is working — his business has moved from the back of a truck, to a bread truck like van and now to a brand new building on U.S. 61 North. Barnes remembers one weekend when he was still working out of his truck that he sold completely out of merchandise. It was then that he decided to move into a larger vehicle and eventually to a building.

“I started it just to have something to do and make some extra money,” he said. “Then I looked at it and it was something I really enjoyed. Some weekends my wife and son were out there with me so it was the whole family.”

The growing demand also played a role in his decision to leave the teaching profession. Barnes needed to focus strictly on Bags-N-Beyond to ensure its success and wasn’t able to do that with the demands of a full-time job.

“My phone for the business was ringing all the time and to be successful I had to be working all the time.”

But the success didn’t come without obstacles and challenges. The biggest of which was the financial restraints that come with financing a business. Barnes chose to finance the business out of his own pocket to keep from having large debt weighing on him.

“Eveything in here from the building to the merchandise came out of my pocket. I talked to someone about a small business loan but decided to go at it a little at a time to stay out of debt,” Barnes said.

With expansion plans already in his head, Barnes said his big goal for the business it to have an establishment that sells prepared food items like plate dinners and sandwiches.

But those, like everything else will happen a little at a time.

“I am a big believer in long term planning and in retail you have to be moving and thinking,” he said.

“But first I have to make sure the traffic is constant and people know we are out here.”