A frequently asked question is how do you incorporate your faith into your business? How do you make the foundation of your business reflect your Christian ideals and beliefs? Well it is a very hard thing to do, but there is, in my opinion, a store that does this very well.
Altar’ D State is a clothing store that really incorporates the Mission of the Church into their business model. In 2009, owners Brian Mason and Aaron Walters sat down and created their business plan. They wanted to take the clothing industry by storm and present a new option for shoppers, a “modernized Christian shopping experience.”
This is something that many different stores attempt at doing but Walters and Mason wanted to take a different approach and really make the gospel the foundation of their business plan. They wanted to reach others and make a difference through their stores. They started out as one single store/coffee shop that had a small variety of clothing options and tended to be more of a comfortable place to just hang out and relax than a place to go shopping. Both owners agreed that they wanted something more out of their business and wanted it to flourish in new ways.
After a year or two of brainstorming and rebuilding, Altar’ D State became a very popular women’s boutique, they now have 90 stores in 23 different states and are becoming very well known. There are a couple of things that make Altar’ D State stick out compared to other boutiques, one being their Core values and the other being their Mission Statement.
Core values:
S-elfless – others first
E-xcellence – in all that we do
R-esponsible – do the right thing
V-isionary – forward thinking
I-nspirational – to all
C-reativity – not capital
E -mpowering – lifting up all
As you may have noticed, their core values spell out SERVICE which is the main goal of this business. Altar’ D State has made it their mission to serve others through giving back the blessings that they have received. They do this in a variety of ways, they donate 1% of their sales to different local and international charities (over the years they have been able to donate over 7million dollars to different charities), they pay their employees for “volunteer” hours, where the employee goes out and volunteers at a local charity of some sort and the company pays them for the hours they would have been working. Altar’ D state also has each of their stores sponsor children in Peru, so that they will be supplied with food, medical care, and other needs. They are currently sponsoring over 170 children.
Another aspect of Altar’ D states business plan is their Mission Statement, which states that they are, “SERVING as an inspiration, EMPOWERING others by giving more than we receive, we stand out for good to glorify God.” This is the goal that they strive to meet every day. This is evident through their core values, and the fact that they try to partner with vendors who also share their mission statement. Another really cool idea that Altar’ D state has incorporated into their website, are Prayer Requests. You can write a prayer request down and send it to them and you can know that the owners and staff will be praying for you and your needs. This business plan really shows the customers that the company cares more about them and their needs and that they don’t just see them as the means to produce a profit.
Altar’ D state has really taken to heart their faith and what it means to live it out. They truly do reflect the Mission of the Church in their business model.
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Woah this is so cool!! so cool how you were able to look at a Christian business and really dig into their mission statement. As a business major, this is really awesome to see and understand! Great post!
I think it is really cool how they partner and reach out to vendors that have the same or similar mission statement as them. So they can work together to make a bigger impact. This is a really interesting and unique post.