AMHERST, N.S. — AMHERST - Every business starts with an idea.
Eight-year-old Cole Davis-MacIvor and Oliver MacIvor have dreamed about going to Walt Disney World in Florida, but they were told by their parents that they'd have to come up with the money to do it.
Instead of doing chores like yardwork, the step-brothers dreamed big and came up with the idea of creating their own clothing line. And Tidnish Bridge Beach Bum was born.
What began as a small project, with T-shirts, has now grown to include hoodies, hats and tank tops and plans are in the works to put their logo on toques and other clothing items.
"Their original goal was to make some money to save for Disney ... their grandmother gave them 30 shirts to start with and they sold out within 48 hours," mother Amanda MacIvor said. "It's just grown from there."
MacIvor said the boys, who are students at Spring Street Academy in Amherst, began the clothing line in July and it was selling so fast they couldn't keep product in stock.
"It's two eight-year-olds running a business," she said.
It wasn't hard to come up with the name either, since the two boys are always hanging around the beach near their Tidnish Bridge home.
"They are definitely beach bums. We call them our beach bums," she said.
"We love to swim and play on the beach," Cole said.
To promote the business, they feature the clothing on Facebook every Friday and photos are shown of people wearing their Beach Bum branded merchandise.
Besides saving money for their trip, the boys have also talked about supporting good causes. Patrick MacIvor said the business has grown from selling out of their home to it being sold at Maritime Mosaic in the Dayle's Grand Market in downtown Amherst.
"Karen (MacKinnon of Maritime Mosaic) called us about selling here, but the biggest problem was having enough stock. We started with 30 and they were sold and then we had 60 more and they sold quickly as well. In a lot of cases they were gone before we got them."
Amanda MacIvor said the boys have lots of other ideas and she's impressed with their business sense.
"They have their logo on their bookbags for school and now they want to put it on their hockey helmets," she said, adding they may not know it but the more the logo gets out there the more marketing it creates and that translates into more demand for the product.
While most of their sales have been local, Patrick said, the boys have shipped product as far as Alberta and Quebec while another customer from Ontario purchased three hoodies while visiting Amherst.
Tidnish Beach Bum hoodies sell for $40, T-shirt's $20, tank tops $25, ball hats $20. Hoodies come in adult and youth sizes, T-shirt's toddler, youth and adult, tank tops come in adult men and women sizes, and ball hats are youth and adults sizes.
The boys also have plans with how they want to spend their earnings after they raise enough for a trip to Disney.
"We want to buy an RV," Oliver said.
Patrick, who drives a truck delivering high-end vehicles, joked the boys told him they hope he keeps doing it so he can deliver their product in a few years.
"They seem to have it all planned out," he said.
Karen MacKinnon said she is also impressed with the boys' entrepreneurship.
"I saw them (Tidnish Beach Bum) on Facebook and I'm an avid beach-lover. I think their clothes are cute and they're going to do well," she said. "When I see a diamond in the rough I try to get it here and I believe they really are diamonds in the rough."
She said they are just the latest example of young people showing their business sense. There is a nine-year-old girl selling hair scrunchies at the market and last summer another boy, Dylan Marshall of Dylan's Dylicious Dylectables, sold baked treats to raise money to send children to camp.
"I really think a lot of (this interest in business happens) when they start small and think about wanting to save money," MacKinnon said. "There are some smart, entrepreneurial kids in this area and we want to help promote that."
To her, it's also an example of what the market, located in the former Margolians and Dayle's Department Store building, is all about. In November, the market is celebrating its third anniversary in its current quarters.
