Meet Jeremy Smick | Owner of Thick As Thieves Palm Springs

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeremy Smick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeremy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Before we started this business, our friends would visit our home and would talk about how awesome it would be if they could shop the things in our home. That idea stuck with us, and one day we decided to seriously look into it. Our vision for the shop was that it would mimic our authentic lifestyle from our unique antiques, to the furniture that we sit on, to the clothes in our closet. It would be highly curated and designed with only things we ourselves would want to be surrounded by. Once we had the direction, it was a matter of finding where we wanted to open. After scouting a handful of cities, locations and buildings, we eventually we landed on Palm Springs, CA!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I knew at a pretty young age that I’d have a career in the creative field. I went to school at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where I worked through the fundamentals of drawing, painting, design, etc. After graduating, I worked at a corporate firm in St. Louis where I developed a solid typesetting skillset by day and was designing edgy band posters and t-shirts by night. While I was introduced to Photoshop and Illustrator in school, I really taught myself how to push the boundaries of these tools when I was designing my own projects at my own pace. After doing this for 5 years, I finally got my first job at a design firm. From there I would work at a hand full of agencies around town where I was an art director for brands such as Energizer, Sony, Anheuser-Busch and Bacardi. After working in the advertising world for 10 years, I decided that I needed change. When we decided to open our shop, I took all of this experience and applied it to our store. Today I design everything including creative assets, t-shirts, our website and social channels, product labels, pennants, postcards, you name it! This allows us to have total creative control over the entire look and feel of the shop. What sets us aside from other brands is that we are creatives that are constantly evolving and able to pivot on a dime. We push ourselves to stand out and not blend in. Our drive is what keeps us bright and hungry.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When we have guests in town, we love to take them to all of our favorite places. For breakfast we usually grab a bagel and a coffee from Townie Bagel. For lunch we’ll hit up Gabino’s Creperie. For drinks we stop by Las Palmas Brewery. And for dinner it’s always fun to get dressed up and head to Bar Cecil. In between eating, we like to shop at The Frippery for some great vintage finds and if time allows, we love to take a day trip up to Joshua Tree National Park to get some fresh air and exercise.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m both a perfectionist and an overthinker. So, I need a solid game plan before jumping into the deep end. When we decided to quit our careers in advertising, sell our house and move across the country to open a retail store, there’s only one person that could push me out of my comfort zone and that’s my wife and co-owner, Samantha Caltagirone. She encourages me to take risks, push boundaries and to have fun along the way. Not only is she a great business partner but she’s a great cook and a wonderful mother to our kids. We are truly thick as thieves in life. I’m very blessed and grateful for all that she has done to get us to where we are today. This road hasn’t been easy but there’s no one that I’d rather do this with.

Website: shopthieves.com

Instagram: @shopthieves

Facebook: @shopthieves

Image Credits
Jeremy Smick