By Drew Layton
It is not a common occurrence for a seventh grader to open her own business, but that didn’t stop Perry County Middle School student Hadley Warren from achieving her goals.
“My mom had a business when I was younger,” said Hadley, 12, when asked about her inspiration, “so I have always wanted to have my own since I was 8.”
Hadley — with some assistance from her parents, Mike and Morgan Warren — recently opened Hadley’s Candy Shoppe at 115 N. Jackson St. in downtown Perryville.
Hadley said her decision to open a candy store filled a gap in the local business community and that she’d like to stick around for a while.
“Everyone likes candy,” Hadley said, pointing out the lack of candy shops in Perryville. “I’d love to work here as long as I can, and it would be nice to expand it to have other locations.”
When asked what her favorite candy was, Hadley had trouble trying to narrow it down.
“Any type of chocolate,” Hadley said after a bit of prompting from her mother, who said Hadley has been asking for years to open up a business.
After a few years of being told “When you’re older, we’ll show you how to start a business,” her parents finally relented.
“When she came to us this past spring, she wanted to start a candy shop, she wanted to start it with us, and she wanted to do it now,” Morgan said.
The Warrens — who operate Main Street Signs in Perryville — believed that if their daughter Hadley thought she was ready to learn how to run a business, then they would show her. They believed it would be a good thing for the whole family, and reached a final decision in March.
During the past three months, the family worked together to prepare everything for their ribbon cutting last month.
Morgan said luck was a major factor in the decision and pushed the family into high gear.
“This building was available and we thought it would be the perfect location,” Hadley said. “If not here, then where would we have it? It all happened so fast, which was definitely for the best since we didn’t have too much time to think about it.”
Morgan gave Hadley credit for taking such a hands-on approach, by working the counter to choosing and helping order inventory, which they plan to expand in the coming months.
Hadley and Morgan said they are very grateful for the support the community has shown them, and look forward to what’s ahead.
Hadley’s message to other young people working to achieve their dreams is to keep trying throughout all of the failures that may happen. “Just keep trying, because you’re going to fail at times, but you just have to keep using your strength and it will all work out,” Hadley said.
