Meet an Oxford Entrepreneur With Ole Miss Roots, Missy Hopkins

 

When Missy Hopkins was a student at Ole Miss majoring in Marketing and enjoying the fellowship at the Kappa house, she never envisioned that one day she would be back in Oxford managing and owning a furniture company.
The Green Door Company is a most unique business that was the vision of Missy and her husband Will. The company is located at 1501 Molly Barr Road. What makes The Green Door Company unique is that most of its inventory consists of “one of a kind” items. Will and Missy specialize in custom-built options. Their philosophy is “bring us a key (concept) and we’ll build you a car (finished product). The philosophy seems to be working.
Missy’s Ole Miss roots are deep. Not only did she and Will attend Ole Miss (Will played baseball), her mother (Wanda Wilkinson) was a cheerleader and her dad (Buddy Crosby) was a member of one of the greatest football eras in collegiate history, the 59-63 Ole Miss  juggernaut. Missy grew up in Jackson.
We visited about the business which is now 3 years old. I asked Missy why she brought the business to Oxford. “We moved here in 2009,” she said. “I married an Oxford native who has a rare natural talent in building specialty furniture items. Because there was no career fit for me at the time, we decided to open the business especially when the space (10,000 square feet) became available.”
We then discussed the history of her business and its outlook for the future. “Up to this point The Green Door Company has met and exceeded our expectations,” Missy said with her characteristic bright smile. “The consumer response as well as our internal (personal) growth have been rewarding. We have become a regional business as 45-50 percent of our customers reside outside of Lafayette County. Our advertising and marketing initiatives have been reaching the targeted audience through our print ads which are local and statewide. We also rely heavily on social media, primarily Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We have a website, but it is not interactive primarily because of our inventory uniqueness and emphasis on custom built orders.”
Missy doesn’t see a problem not being located on West Jackson. “I could make a case for being where we are or also for being there,” she explained. “The amount of space we need to operate would be difficult to find on West Jackson. However, the traffic counts would certainly provide more visual exposure.”
The future appears very bright for the Hopkins and The Green Door Company, and not just because of Oxford’s growth projections. “Looking 5 years into the future I can envision a 15-20 percent sales increase to where are are presently,’ Missy added. “I believe this is conservative  overall. However, the retail business in Oxford can change suddenly. Furniture stores are our biggest competitors although we have have the ability to create what the customer wants.
The Green Door Company has an exciting, new inventory expansion which features an in store gallery of reclaimed wood flooring, ceiling beams, bricks and slabs of wood that were milled from trees off the Ole Miss campus.”
Missy explained the name of their business originated from a green door that Will found in Arkansas while in the midst of their house building plans. She is often asked about running a business as a husband and wife team. “It works for us because we assume different roles. Will creates and builds. I handle all the internal functions of advertising, marketing, accounting, inventory, public relations and customer service. We do have a hard and fast rule…there are limits to discussing the business away from work. We do our best to keep everything in its proper perspective.”
It’s easy to see why the couple and their business concept are successful. They have a passion for what they’re doing and where they’re doing it. The positive feedback from the consumers is keeping The Green Door Company swinging wide open.
Steve Vassallo is HottyToddy.com’s newest contributor. Steve will be writing on Ole Miss athletics and other subjects. He is an Ole Miss grad and former radio announcer for the basketball team. Currently, Steve is a highly successful leader in the real estate business who lives in Oxford with his wife Rosie.