From Marine Engineering to Consignment with Paige Jehnke

Collider is passionate about sharing the stories of Rochester entrepreneurs and small business owners! We recently had the pleasure of meeting with Paige Jehnke, owner and founder of Janky Gear, a local gear shop that sells top brand outdoor clothing and equipment on consignment, who was willing to tell us her story and share some insight on what it’s like opening a small business in Rochester. 

Photo by Corrie Strommen

Paige’s journey with Janky Gear, though it wouldn’t open for another 13 years, started when she graduated from Mayo High School in 2008. After graduating, she spent the summer working at a camp in Northern Minnesota, with plans to attend college in the fall in pursuit of an art history degree. But amidst her days spent taking kids outdoors, hiking, backpacking and sailing, she couldn’t shake the doubts she had about pursuing that path.  During a “freak out” she decided to change course, and zip codes, in a big kind of way! For the next year, Paige worked in Alaska with at-risk youth through AmeriCorps before instead pursuing further education at the University of Alaska, majoring in Outdoor Recreation. 

After her time in Alaska, Paige headed to Colorado where she worked a variety of jobs, from being a ski attendant to working on trail crews, all in her favorite field- literally anything outdoors. She had found her desired lifestyle, but she wanted it to be more sustainable. Driven by a desire for stability and health insurance, Paige returned to school, this time to become a marine engineer with the end goal of working on ships. 

During her time in Alaska, she was a deckhand on a few boats and met people who worked three months on, three months off as marine engineers- not a bad gig -and hey, it provided health insurance! She acquired her degree and a US Coast Guard license to operate ships with both steam and diesel engines, of unlimited horsepower and tonnage, and off she sailed into the sunset- or rather the Great Lakes. Later on, she moved west to work on tugboats and eventually, and most recently, worked as a contracted civilian engineer on a military transport vessel stationed in Okinawa, Japan. 

In the following years, Paige would most often be far away from home. And when she did occasionally return to the States, amidst training, traveling and visiting friends, she did not often make her way back to Rochester.  

Cue that all too present and life changing event, the Covid-19 pandemic. 

When it hit, Paige was stuck overseas and confined to a ship with little to no clear communication from leadership about a timeline for getting home (or where exactly their groceries were coming from). Paige used this time of strain and uncertainty to consider what to do next, and started writing a business plan. Once Paige was finally able to leave her ship mid-pandemic she could’ve gone anywhere. She found, however, that after all her work across the country and the world, that she was craving somewhere familiar and headed homeward to Rochester.

Paige’s inspiration for Janky Gear started during her time spent out west, where she always had an outdoor store to go to for clothing and gear. At the center of her business plan are three points: get outside, be active, and try new things. Looking at the people of Rochester, from millennial girls to retirees, Paige saw people that love the area they’re in, and who enjoy being outdoors- or at least like wearing The North Face jackets and leggings. Rochester was the spot, and now she just needed to get started. 

The summer before opening Janky Gear, Paige joined us here at Collider for our Basics of Entrepreneurship Class. She was surprised by the structure and time commitment of the class, finding it to be more college class adjacent than expected. 

“I appreciated the blend of formal class format, learning from already established business owners, and then also having classes dedicated to us and our own businesses, doing the homework within our own experience and sharing what we found and learned. There was a wide range of people and business plans in the class which opened doors for future collaboration and community building,” she explained. 

“Obviously I didn’t connect with every business owner or idea, but there were definitely instances that helped me learn a lot. I was also able to hone in on my target market which was really useful. I thought it was great that Amanda and Jamie were there for every class and had really helpful insights for each topic. I find often now as I’m planning and thinking of ways to improve my business and get people through the door, that a lot of my ideas and thought process reach back to the class and the skills I learned there.  I would honestly love to sign up again, it was extremely minimal in cost and I learned so much. As things in the business world constantly evolve, it would be good to make sure that I’m still spot on in my knowledge of how to best run my business.” 

When the time came to prepare for the grand opening of Janky Gear- projected for July 2021- the process was not without challenges. The build out process in particular- meeting with contractors, getting bids, wrestling with labor shortages, and setting a realistic timeline- all proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Having worked on shipyards and managed projects, Paige at times wondered as she jumped in mid demolition project, “Shouldn't a contractor be doing this?” But she put in some elbow grease, tested her patience, and eventually the store was able to open in mid September. 

Photo by Corrie Strommen

She mentioned “I’d like to reassure other prospective business starters that buildout will likely take longer than you think and it will be frustrating, but eventually it’ll come together and that’s alright.”

Another challenge, and a more perpetual one, is stocking the store with merchandise and keeping up with seasons. 

“Since my business model is consignment, all of the product in the store comes directly from people in the community bringing it in. I constantly have to figure out ways to both get customers through the door and also get consignors to bring things in, which is always a worry for me.” 

So far so good, however, as Paige has been happy to see how the space has taken off and filled up rather quickly. 

Her advice to other aspiring business owners? Write out a thorough business plan and be open to change. 

During her self designated ‘weekends' on Mondays and Tuesdays when the store is closed, Paige does her best to not work and enjoy her time off. She loves being outdoors, as I’m sure you’ve gathered, and spends time outside skiing (downhill and cross country), hiking, and biking. She enjoys hanging out at Forager and, an introvert at heart, curling up at home with a book. 

Paige is grateful for the community support of Janky Gear and says, “I’m not making a lot of money, but you know what, I’m happy and that’s okay.”

Photo by Corrie Strommen