Marcie Allen and Derek Van Mol
With a current market crisis and cratering restaurant revenues, things are looking bleak for many establishments. But one local operation has actually seen a 700 percent increase in its sales since the world stopped spinning in early March.
Anzie Blue is a modern mercantile, health and wellness shop and coffeehouse in Belle Meade’s Stanford Square, and owners Marcie Allen and Derek Van Mol have achieved some astonishing results through good old-fashioned customer service. Oh, and CBD. The husband-and-wife team opened their store late last winter with plans to ride the wave of interest in CBD products, but with a personal touch.
“From the very beginning we wanted to focus on health, wellness and coffee,” says Marcie. “We knew we needed to differentiate ourselves from the crowded marketplace of CBD products and that we’d need to create an entire experience. There’s a real lack of education out there about CBD and its benefits, and we wanted people to be able to ‘taste test’ the best products that we could offer. Seventy-five percent of our customers say they’ve never tried CBD before coming to Anzie Blue, so they’re trusting us to guide and educate them. We always tell them, ‘We’re not doctors, but we are avid users,’ and we can share what has worked for us.”
Anzie Blue is a side hustle for both the Van Mols. Derek runs a home-restoration business, and Marcie is the president and founder of music industry sponsorship company MAC Presents, as well as an adjunct professor at NYU. The couple has spent years commuting between Nashville and an apartment in Manhattan, an experience that informed the concept for their fledgling business. “It’s modeled after the fact that I’ve lived and worked in New York,” says Marcie. “I got used to being able to head down to the neighborhood bodega or coffee shop where you can buy jewelry, you can buy wine and a panini, and you can get CBD. That’s what we thought was missing in Nashville.”
The Van Mols decided to double down instead of retrenching in the face of the pandemic. With little prior retail experience, they turned to a tried-and-true source of information to plan their next moves. “We’ve been listening to our customers!” Marcie says with a laugh. “They told us that they wanted food, liquor and patio seating, so we expanded our food offering, got our liquor license and added outdoor seats.”
This is in addition to their core offering of coffee and CBD products ranging from tinctures and mint strips to creams, sports balm and dog treats. The Van Mols are very proud of their product line and the work that went into developing it.
“We don’t just buy somebody else’s product and ‘white label’ it,” explains Derek. Sourcing the CBD from Nevada and working directly with a processing facility in California, Derek is the point man on product development. “I’ve spent weeks on the phone and months out at our manufacturer outside of L.A. developing the items for the Anzie Blue line of products. We try to keep our formulas as natural as possible. You can go online and buy CBD on Amazon, but Anzie Blue is a higher-end luxury product. We do third-party lab testing as well to make sure that what we’re saying is in the bottle is actually in the bottle.”
This is still pretty unusual in an industry where many brands just slap a label on something they bought from a large manufacturer. Marcie describes the industry environment this way: “There’s no regulation right now, and people do whatever they want. We are following the rules, because if you read what’s in the press, 90 percent of the CBD companies are going to go away when they start monitoring and regulating everything, because they’re not doing third-party testing, and they don’t have certificates of analysis for their products. We’re already doing all that, and we welcome the regulation!”
While 75 percent of Anzie Blue’s sales still come from CBD, the Van Mols have seen a marked increase in their food and drink business. Intentionally partnering with local suppliers like OSA Coffee, Firepot Teas and WithCo cocktail mixers, Anzie Blue also exhibits work from local artists on a rotating basis. Originally opening with just coffee, the cafe has since added items such as smoothies, lavender lemonade, milkshakes and cocktails, with the option to add a half-dropper of CBD tincture to any drink for $2 extra. “Probably 80 percent of our customers choose to add CBD to their drink orders,” says Marcie.
On the food side, Anzie Blue prepares much of its menu in-house, but they’ve additionally partnered with Corner Market and D’Andrews Bakery & Cafe for an expanded offering of bowls, soups, sandwiches, pizzas and snacks to share. A big hit has been the selection of thematic cheese and charcuterie boards served on wood blocks. “Obviously, you know where we got this inspiration,” says Marcie. “Hello, New York! Every single little corner wine bar you go into has those, but we get 50 to 60 cheese and charcuterie orders every weekend. We’re doing everything custom, because we figured out that’s what people want. We’re not trying to take on the restaurant community; we’re just trying to be Anzie Blue. We’re going to do a series of boards: biscuit boards, bagels, pancakes, crudites.”
Anzie Blue’s CBD products and other ancillary offerings are available to peruse at anzieblue.com, but the Van Mols prefer a more personal connection with their customers when they accept orders, especially for food and drink.
“We don’t have online ordering for our food and beverage,” says Marcie. “We chose to take a unique approach. I decided to take over the direct messages on Instagram because we wanted people to be able to get me. So I am on DM all the time! You can call the store; we’re open seven days a week. Or you can email us, or you can direct message. I’d say 60 percent of our sales come via direct message.”
Customers can reach out to place their orders for curbside pickup, and Anzie Blue also offers contactless delivery for free throughout Davidson County using some of their friends’ children as couriers. “We’ve become a one-stop shop for gifts, delivering to Zoom baby showers and grad parties,” says Marcie. “We’ll make a delivery to six houses, and they can all go online and share the same drinks and food while they visit.”
What patrons miss out through delivery, however, is the chance to experience the striking blue-and-white decor of the mod space that the Van Mols have created within Anzie Blue. “Our whole thing at Anzie Blue is about the experience, about coming and seeing people that you know in a clean place,” says Marcie. “Aesthetically, it’s unlike anything you’ll see in Nashville. … Obviously Stanford Square has a very ’70s feel. When you walk inside our store, people are taken aback. The Beer Board guy came in and said: ‘Whoa, this is not what I expected at all! This place is awesome. I gotta bring my wife!’ ”
Marcie says she and Derek are surprised and pleased by the results of their efforts.
“We’ve just created this sort of wonky system that seems to be working. If I could say anything to someone that was going to start a new business, it would be that there aren’t any rules right now of how to do something. You have to do what works for your customers. You have to listen! That’s what Derek and I have been doing, and that’s all we have right now.”
