Georgia's Salem, Massachusetts Small-Biz Story

Georgia's dad built her that lemonade stand from old wooden pallets when she was three years old. As she had already become a regular visitor to the Peabody Essex Museum (listen to Georgia and her dad on the "Growing Up Curious" episode of the PEM podcast HERE), the PEM invited her to sell lemonade during one of their events. She got the proper permits from Salem's city hall, and the money earned was donated to the local YMCA to buy more toys for their playroom.

When Georgia was six, she would spend her mornings drawing at one of the tables at Front Street Coffeehouse. Her dad owns the Sully's clothing brand, and Georgia would help sell his T-shirts to fans of New England's sports teams visiting Salem during October. Wanting to have a T-shirt of her own to sell, her drawings of a skull, a jack-o-lantern, and a ghost, which she affectionately referred to as "Georgia's Monsters," were emblazoned on the first. Her lemonade stand was brought up from the basement, and a new sign was painted.

The response to her T-shirt was incredibly positive. She sold out in a weekend and donated the profits to her elementary school. So the following October, her lemonade stand was re-branded as "Georgia Made This," and each "monster" became a T-shirt of its own. Enamel pins, patches, and stickers were also made, and they all proved to be incredibly popular.

Realizing she was onto something, Georgia kept drawing. Her lemonade stand was painted black, and her collection of products continued to grow. A college fund was opened, and profits from the sale of Georgia's art started being invested for her future.

By the third season, Georgia's brand exclusively represented the top twenty items sold! Her dad's best-selling item didn't show up on the list until #21. Seeing this, he pulled the Sully's collection from Salem and focused on helping Georgia build her brand. Georgia introduced her first gold Salem coin which featured her art, and a new tradition of hiding gold coins around the city each October began!

For several years, Georgia held a seasonal residency on Salem's Artists' Row and continued to hone her craft. Her art resonated with the city's tourists and locals alike, and sales continued to rise. In 2025, eight years after she sold her first T-shirt from her lemonade stand, Georgia's collection of souvenirs and gifts "made by a Salem Kid" (and the lemonade stand where it all began) is now available year-round at her Little Salem Shop at 12 Front Street, two doors down from the coffee shop in the same building where she drew the "monsters" that started it all!