From Big Tech to a 19-Sq-Ft Photo Booth: Building Memento with Ireland McGill

Alan Li (00:01)
Welcome to opening soon, a podcast where we interview retail founders about how they started and run their brick and mortar businesses. I'm your host, Alan Li, I run Signs and Mirrors where we make beautiful signs and furniture for retail stores. I also help run FotoLab a self-portrait studio with locations in New York city and Houston.

Alan Li (00:25)
Ireland, thanks so much for joining the opening soon podcast.

Ireland McGill (00:28)
Yes, thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here.

Alan Li (00:31)
Awesome.

Well, I'm really excited to dive into your story and what you've built with New York Memento. But before we get started, we'd love to just hear a little bit more about yourself.

Ireland McGill (00:39)
Yeah, thank you. ⁓ Just to give you some background on me and where I'm from. So context going way back, I grew up in a small town in southern Oklahoma, so a little bit different than New York City. And from there went to University of Oklahoma, so stayed in the state. And ⁓ from there, I moved to New York shortly after graduation. ⁓ That's another story for another day.

you know, no apartment and nowhere to go, but I was pretty determined to, you know, shake it up and, you know, forge that path for myself. So, been here for the past, goodness, three and a half years now, and it's been incredible. ⁓ As we kind of spoke about before, I jumped into like the big tech corporate world once I got here, and ⁓ am now planning to leave that soon, but have had such an amazing experience.

⁓ working in a large tech company and I'm excited to kind of take some of my knowledge and experience and translate that into memento.

Alan Li (01:43)
Mm-hmm.

Awesome.

So you came to New York in 2022, is that right? Okay, that is just, I think I came back end of 2022 as well. That was sort of like COVID was ending-ish and things were opening up a little bit. How did it feel when you got here?

Ireland McGill (01:55)
Yes, correct.

Exactly.

Yeah, it was interesting. ⁓ Like I said, I didn't really have an apartment and not for lack of trying at all. I ⁓ was, you know, stocking street easy like most New Yorkers do, but from afar for months. And I was just desperate. was like, I will take anything. And it was so, challenging to even find a spot because this was like the era of people like waiting outside in lines just to like view a like closet basically. And I was, you know,

Alan Li (02:23)
same.

Ireland McGill (02:40)
half of the country away. So I was just like begging any broker to like consider me for an application. Like, hey, I'm a 22 year old, fresh out of college with, you know, a moderate credit score and no income. Could you let me have an apartment? And so that was a struggle. But ⁓ I knew like once I got here that I could hopefully figure something out. And long story short, finally secured an apartment, which ended up being such a great place for like my first two years here. ⁓ But the city itself, feel like

Alan Li (02:47)
Yep.

Yeah.

Hahaha.

Ireland McGill (03:10)
Maybe it was for the best. Some might say that it was like a slower pace of New York during that time. I think it was like we were coming out of that post-COVID era. So I don't know if it was like the true, like authentic, you know, pre-COVID New York. But for me, ⁓ I immediately just like fell in love with it and just the energy I could still.

feel it all around me and it was great and I think maybe that slower entrance was probably good for me in retrospect coming from ⁓ you know never really experiencing that but slowly growing into it and I have just grown to like love the city and all the people and opportunities that it brings.

Alan Li (03:52)
That's awesome. That's really good

to hear. ⁓ And tell me a little bit more about the tech job. What do you do there? ⁓ You've worked there for the past two years and what's inspired you to make the leap to ⁓ doing New York Memento full-time?

Ireland McGill (04:01)
Yeah.

Yeah, of course. ⁓ So kind of I feel like to give a bit more context, like going back, way back to like kind of what inspired me to start Memento and what kind of, you know, urged me to exit the corporate ⁓ kind of ladder relatively early in my career is giving some context way back is I've always been a very entrepreneurial kid or like was as a child and ⁓ like

For example, I used to like go door to door selling like branded organic dog cookies to anyone who would like open their door. And this was like in 2008. So, you know, very.

Alan Li (04:47)
Did you say dog

cookies?

Ireland McGill (04:49)
Yeah, so I was like, I don't know what my eight year old brain, how even it came up with this idea, because this was like pre, you know, doggy boutique daycare or like fresh pet or any of those type of things. But I lived in like a very, I guess, pet prevalent neighborhood and I was into baking and I loved animals. So was like, what if I made this like branded organic dog treat? I don't know if the dogs would even eat them, but ⁓ I would go like door to

Alan Li (05:02)
Uh-huh.

⁓ Wow.

Ireland McGill (05:19)
or selling them, but just because I found it fun and creative and, you know, a little business savvy. And I say this all in retrospect because, of course, I didn't know what I was doing at the time. I was just having fun. yeah.

Alan Li (05:30)
Sure. Modern day lemonade stand.

Ireland McGill (05:33)
Exactly, exactly. And

Alan Li (05:34)
Yeah.

Ireland McGill (05:36)
I say that because, you know, as I went through the education system and went into college, that part of me, I feel like I kind of was just like neglected and was like, that was just like something I did as a kid and was kind of fuddled into the more traditional job pursuit of go be like a doctor, a lawyer, engineer or something like stable. And I definitely, you know, toiled with all of those possibilities and never really found something that clicked. And eventually

kind

of landed on pursuing a degree in marketing and consumer behavior. And that's when I was like, there's like something here. And I get I had like that spark again, that kind of like reignited that kind of childlike passion in me. ⁓ And so after that, I was like, OK, have some there's something here, but I don't really know what to turn it into. But my, you know, best guess at the time was get in the right rooms, get in the environment where there's more

⁓ you know opportunity possibilities. So that's what led me to New York and to kind of circle back to your original question of working in big tech and like what I was doing ⁓ primarily working in digital strategy and advertising for had the privilege to work with some of the top 50 largest consumer brands ⁓ in the world which is an incredible thing to have had exposure to expect especially earliest in my career.

And that was super exciting and really kind of filled that like innovative, ideative side of me and getting to like observe and see that in real time in kind of parallel to like acceleration of how fast digital marketing and AI and automation was kind of going like right before our eyes. Like it was incredible. But then I think there was part of me that was always like, okay, we're on this upward trajectory of kind

optimization and ⁓ you know.

curation when it comes to this like digital first landscape, but like what's the other end of that? Like where's the balance here? And I think kind of tying into my story of moving to New York, ⁓ it's such a fast paced place. And you it's like you, come in here and you're, you're going from like day one. And that's kind of how I was feeling on the screens or in the digital world too. And I'm like, where is this balance? Who's going to like pull back and you

kind of bring the humanity back to all of this. And so that always lingered in my mind. it ⁓ is an existential question and it's like very vague and I feel like...

Alan Li (08:13)
It's a very existential question.

Yeah.

Ireland McGill (08:22)
our generation or maybe probably most people feel that is, you know, we are on this hamster wheel of going so fast and, you know, whether you're a digitally native or adaptive person, like it's all consuming at all times, but there's part of us that's just human and craves that tangible in-person connection that seems to be a bit more of like a fleeting luxury these days than like a normal occurrence. ⁓

Alan Li (08:27)
Yes, for sure.

Yes.

Ireland McGill (08:52)
So as I was saying, kind of observing and seeing how quickly like ⁓ technology and AI is evolving, it's super exciting. And then again, I'm like, wait, wait, wait, where's the humanity? Where's the community? Like we're still missing something here. And so I think that's really where the idea and like the ethos for Memento came from was, you know, creating a space to like allow people even just three minutes of their day.

Just to kind of like step away from the screen like have a human connection whether it be with themselves or with another person or a group of people and Just be present like be in the moment have something tangible to hold on to when you leave and you know go back into the rat race of it all but Having those moments of stillness and just kind of bringing that ⁓ Humanity back to it is kind of where it stemmed from and it's kind of a stretch when you're like, it's a photo booth, but truly that's like

where the inspiration started and kind of what it's evolved into now.

Alan Li (09:58)
when did you have this initial idea or these existential thoughts? ⁓ Like, was it the first day on the job, a year in, and then when did you actually start memento

Ireland McGill (10:09)
Yeah, great question. ⁓

I don't know if there was like a specific moment where I was like, click realize and in the sense of the kind of human connection piece, because honestly, I feel like the first 24 years of my life, I was just like on a treadmill, like sprinting. And I love that. Like that's definitely my energy. Like I'm a very go-go-go person and love to be busy and action oriented and all of those things. And, you know, it was just like, what's the next goal? What's the next goal? What's the next goal? And I would say like my big tech job that I

am that I'm currently ⁓ in was my, you know, top of the mountain for a long time. And once I achieved that, I was like, okay, now what? And so I think that allowed me the space to be go back to just being in a learning curiosity mindset and take advantage of, you know, my physical, you know, world that I live in the city and just the people and the connections and all of those things.

I've always, like I kind of mentioned in the beginning, had like a very entrepreneurial part of me and like...

embarrassingly, like in my free time, I've always just like made like pitch decks or like just research things and like, I've had past ideas that I never executed on. And so it's always been that's like a part of my brain that's kind of always on I guess, and kind of mixing with, you know, just the evolution of kind of growing up and all of the things that occur through life. And I came up with the idea in October of 2024. So a little over a year ago. And that's when it

Alan Li (11:41)
Okay.

Ireland McGill (11:45)
kind of hit me and it was one of those first ideas that hit me and I was like this I think I could actually execute on this I think I can actually do this and I can see vaguely like how I would get there and that was kind of the start of the actual build out itself.

Alan Li (12:02)
Okay,

awesome. All right, so October, 2024, you're, you ⁓ know, thinking of bringing a space together for people to step outside of the digital realm, be more physical and in person. ⁓ What's next? How do you go about creating the business plan, finding the space, ⁓ talking to brokers? I know you had trouble with, with even finding the apartment and then commercial real estate is a whole nother, whole nother beast. So ⁓ walk me through the next steps.

Ireland McGill (12:20)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, totally. That was a very...

interesting moment. I don't know what possessed me in October of 2024, if there was a full moon or what gave me the confidence to just like full send and do it, but I did. I came with the idea and I was like, okay, let's just like look. Like I've never looked at commercial real estate. And like you said, haven't had the best or easiest experience with real estate in general in the city before. And within like my first search, I stumbled upon this space, which is now where Memento is. Yes.

Alan Li (13:02)
Really? Your first search?

That's incredible.

Ireland McGill (13:06)
I think maybe it was the real estate gods thanking me for my patience in the beginning. I don't know, but it definitely was very lucky. And I was like, no way. ⁓

Alan Li (13:11)
Yeah.

Did you use

like a loop net or a cruxie or like a broker? How did you even find it?

Ireland McGill (13:21)
Yes, I found them on Loopnet just through a listing and reached out to the broker and he was great. within that first week, I went over and looked at the space in person and that's kind of where it all began.

Alan Li (13:37)
That's awesome. ⁓ And this space is super unique. So I'd love for you to describe to the audience a bit what it actually is, where it is, how big it is.

Ireland McGill (13:42)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

for sure.

very unique. So when I found this space, I was like, oh, this is is the spot. And I think every other person in the world would have been like, what do you mean? It's literally a tiny empty shell of nothing in the shape of a triangle. And there was no walls, no, no infrastructure. It was just an empty nothingness in its 19 square feet.

Alan Li (14:15)
19 square feet. Okay.

Ireland McGill (14:17)
19 square feet in the shape of a triangle with just

like a pole in the middle and no walls. There's just like garage gates that lifted up and I was like, this is it. And I'm people were like, what do you mean? And it really was the location for me. It's on 7th Avenue and West 10th Street in the West Village, which is such a beautiful area. And one holds such like special meaning to me, but also is just like such a cultural touch point.

for downtown Manhattan and has so much liveliness to the neighborhood. So I was like, this is the spot. Like nothing's going to beat this or rival this. So ⁓ super high energy. Yeah. And that's really what motivated me to be like, if it's not this space, I can't imagine, you know, what else will pop up and not to say there wouldn't have been, but it was something about it just felt right in my gut. So that's really what we jump into it before knowing a single thing about

Alan Li (14:57)
super high energy area.

Ireland McGill (15:17)
about how to even really turn on a camera, ⁓ much less contracting or anything in that realm. But it was kind of a, we're gonna trust the gut and go for it.

Alan Li (15:30)
Yeah. One of our

customers for Science Mirrors is Fellini Coffee, which is across the street, which reminds me of Memento because their first location was also a tiny triangle, which is not much bigger than probably 20 square feet as well. But they've since expanded to, I think, four or five locations throughout the city and they're doing really well.

Ireland McGill (15:35)
yes, they're across the street.

Yeah, which is so impressive.

Yeah, that's a great point. I think they definitely were part of my ⁓ belief, I guess, that I could make it happen, knowing like, okay, Fellini has created a corner coffee shop, which arguably is much more complex than a photo booth in many ways, because you're dealing with heating and cooling and, ⁓ you know, perishable goods. And I was like, okay, if they can do it, I can figure it out. ⁓

So that's a really good ⁓ tie in there and their neighbors.

Alan Li (16:31)
Yeah,

always you can get a good Americano or espresso, you know, whenever you need. Okay, so the space is 19 square feet. It's in the form of a triangle. ⁓ Talk to me about how you thought about renovations, who did the design, the architecture, how much is rent? What are all those details?

Ireland McGill (16:35)
Absolutely.

Yeah, for sure. So after I kind of was like, all right, here we go, sign the dotted line. I was like, well, better figure out how to bring it to life because there's nothing here. And I don't have a history or like education in like design or architecture or any of that. But I one thing I can do is I'm pretty savvy with Canva, which I know is controversial in many ways to like other design platforms. But it's the beginner friendly, you know, and I was like, I can make my way around.

Alan Li (17:18)
Amazing tool.

Ireland McGill (17:22)
so that's genuinely how I created the blueprints was on like a whiteboard in Canva and the best of my abilities and the dimensions and you know from what I could learn on the internet and began reaching out to contractors just online just Throwing it out there. didn't I had no connections. I didn't know at first I was like, maybe I could do it myself and then quickly realized You know There's things that you have strong capabilities in and areas that you're weak. You just got it higher the best and

Alan Li (17:36)
Wow.

Ireland McGill (17:52)
And I...

also got very lucky that I found a contractor who saw the vision and shockingly really believed in it and thought it was a really cool idea and was willing to kind of take on this quirky space and execute on it based on my, you know, very amateur sketches that I provided him. And so that was a really key relationship from the beginning that I think was like a very, you know, foundational pillar of being able

Alan Li (18:07)
Mm-hmm.

Nice.

Ireland McGill (18:23)
able

to even bring this to life. ⁓

That was interesting. then from there, like you mentioned, design and the pitch deck and branding, that was all just nights and weekends of digging in and learning and lots of ⁓ searching and scouring Pinterest for inspiration and doing a lot of master classes and lots of YouTube and podcasts and slowly but surely just chipping away at it. ⁓ And went from there because...

Alan Li (18:53)
Well kudos, because I've seen your

branding deck and it looks amazing.

Ireland McGill (18:58)
thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Alan Li (18:59)
I honestly thought it

was professionally done. Yeah.

Ireland McGill (19:02)
my gosh, that's so kind. Thank you. ⁓

I was definitely, you know, I had a budget from the beginning of, okay.

I'm signing this contract. I am clearly going to have to, you know, have people help me build this out. And I was working with finite funds at that point. So was like, if I even have 50 % of the way there, like it's going to have to be good enough for now. And we can, you know, refine and iterate as, you know, step by step. So that's really what I did. And I know you mentioned rent, which is a funny topic because you and everyone on TikTok seems to be really curious about that as well, which I find hilarious.

very open and transparent about it because it is an absurd number for 19 square feet. It's about $47.50 a month.

⁓ which is moat probably, which was significantly more than my own personal apartment. ⁓ But again, I think that really kind of ties back into like, had such a strong vision for what this was and like what it could be that that didn't even scare me, even though to, you know, anyone walking the street, that's a crazy number for a closet, which it definitely is. But I saw the value and the potential in it. So it didn't scare me away too bad.

Alan Li (19:50)
wow.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think whenever anyone outside of New York hears about apartment rents or commercial rents, they're just like, I'd get a four bedroom house for that price of a studio or like a one bed, but it's a different place. ⁓ And especially in area that you're in in West Village, it's probably one of the most sought after zip codes in New York, compared to outside of SoHo or...

Ireland McGill (20:34)
Exactly.

100%.

Absolutely. ⁓

Alan Li (20:47)
maybe fifth app or something. So ⁓ very, very popular spot. Okay. ⁓ So you found a great contractor. You did the designs yourself. ⁓ How did you get the photo booth? Is it an analog photo booth or describe like the type?

Ireland McGill (20:49)
Totally.

Yeah, so.

Again, going into this, I didn't know a ton about photo booths or photography in general, just aside from the basics. So that was one of the paths I had to kind of navigate and do some research on and initially went down the rabbit hole of doing ⁓ analog film and quickly realized that the maintenance and just the technical and specificity and just knowledge you have to have around that is almost a full time job in itself. And I

Alan Li (21:33)
Very complex.

Ireland McGill (21:34)
very much commend every single person or ⁓ photo booth that runs those because they're very challenging. so also I think part of the reason that that kind of I kind of put that option on the side and went more towards a digital route was that I wanted it to be customizable ⁓ and iterative. I wanted the templates and the prints themselves and the experience to evolve. ⁓

over time and not be, you know, so fixed in a one and done. I wanted ⁓ one for the consumer to be able to come back, you know, every few months and have a unique moment and a unique memory and, ⁓ you know, unique memento to hold on to. Not the same one necessarily every time. And then also a longer term ⁓ vision was to have like brand partnerships. So to really kind of tie it all back to my experience working with brands and advertisers.

How can they really bring their ⁓ human connection back in that community piece? And so being able to rebrand the photo strips with their logos or their coloring or whatever they prefer. Same with the UI. And so that's what got me really excited about the digital ⁓ piece of it and started really going down that rabbit hole and ⁓ pretty just putting multiple elements and pieces together to kind of give it that vintage analog feel, but still having the

kind of control for like that custom customization.

Alan Li (23:08)
Nice. ⁓

And talk to me little bit about how you thought about the business model, because I know you mentioned you wanted to do partnerships with brands, and then obviously it's also a photo booth, so you have customers walking down the street. How did you think about that?

Ireland McGill (23:21)
Yeah, of course. And I think I definitely took it in stride, but I think there's...

two key buckets that I saw as kind of the initial foundation of what I wanted to execute on. The first one, and I would say our primary right now, is just, again, going back to that day-to-day consumer, creating a space for a unique moment in time to kind of be still, be present, and just be in the moment and have that physical keepsake to take along with them and human connection. And that's

absolutely like bread and butter day to day, like what I strive to bring to the community and continue to improve all the time. And from there, building out onto the more brand partnership bucket, we'll call it. ⁓ Once, you know, kind of was like, I need to get a sense of like, what is the foot traffic like? Like, what are we organically ⁓ bringing in? What are consumers saying? What is the feedback? Things like that and ensuring that it's a very well-oiled

machine and then pivoting into the more brand partnership side because I kind of realized quickly as you probably are familiar, New York pop-ups or pop-up culture is definitely a thing and for I think good reason. ⁓ Any pop-up that I've stumbled upon or been to or intentionally gone to, I feel like those are the brands that stick out in my head as I have some sense of loyalty to them whereas ⁓ more digitally native.

Alan Li (24:40)
Huge.

Ireland McGill (24:58)
brands, I don't necessarily feel that. Not that I don't buy from them, I do, ⁓ but it's just a different sense of connection and creating a space where brands that I love can, you know, bring that community human-centric aspect back even if they're only, you know, reaching a thousand people in that one, you know, few hour pop-up. That's a thousand people that are going to have their brand logo front and center on their fridge because that's

to them and they made them feel good in that moment. And I thought that was really exciting and cool to kind of execute on. But I don't think you can't have one without the other. And I think that the foundational element of just creating like the space and like the ethos around memento and like the culture ⁓ is fundamental. And then building from there ⁓ is really exciting and have had some exciting brand partnerships over the past month in October. Did one with rent the runway, which went

really well. would say that was our first big one and it was such an incredible experience. So much fun. We did like a little partnership with Cafe Arone, which is a local coffee shop in the area and they ⁓ partnered with us and did some co-branded like merchandise and coffee and like a cart and it was a really great like community building experience and really enjoyed that and learned a lot and excited for you know future ones down the line.

Alan Li (25:58)
wow.

Nice.

Yeah, no, I'm

excited to see and dive into how things are going, but I just would love to wrap up. So you had the idea October 2024, when did you complete sort of build out construction, the photo booth, how long did it take and how much was the all in investment for getting it up and running?

Ireland McGill (26:44)
Yeah,

that's a great, great question. ⁓ So October, 2024, found the space. I was like, let's go. I was like, we're going to open. Opening day is going to be on New Year's Eve. I was like, sure. I can totally do this in six weeks. Sure, for sure. You know, I was like, can do anything about my mind to you. How iconic a New Year's Eve opening. Just to spoil the plot, we opened in June. Yes.

Alan Li (26:58)
wow.

Yeah.

my gosh.

Ireland McGill (27:13)
In June,

June 1st, that was opening day officially. ⁓ And there was multiple reasons for the delays. ⁓ I mean, I would say foundationally, we're working with a tiny space that is a very unique shape with uneven floors with no walls and quite literally nothing there. It's a...

Alan Li (27:19)
Okay, yep.

Ireland McGill (27:38)
there was one wall on the interior side and then on the outside there was nothing. And so on top of how do we get the tech equipment, because this isn't a photo booth that you just buy off the shelf. Like every single piece in here is custom built. ⁓ The camera, the tablet, the print, all of it's separate and integrated into a whole. How do I keep all that secure and aesthetic while...

you know, fitting it all in this tiny space. So there was a lot of logistics that went there. And then also the winter weather last year really impacted it. ⁓ It's on this really lovely space or this corner that the wind really tends to like tunnel there. So there were many days where we were like, OK, today's the day we're putting the wall up. Today's the day we're putting the wall up. And it would create like this wind tunnel in the space. So quite literally could not put a wall up until about March.

and from... yeah.

Alan Li (28:35)
things that people don't think about as in their business

plan. They don't realize the wind tunnel prevents you from doing things.

Ireland McGill (28:40)
Yeah, yeah, that was

definitely not on the listing for the space. Maybe in the future. But it's one of those things where you just really have to be.

Alan Li (28:44)
Yes.

Ireland McGill (28:50)
resilient and ⁓ thrive in the ambiguous space of it all and just be adaptive and figure it out like every single day. And that's what it was for quite literally seven months straight was just figuring it out. I don't think anything from the original plan was exactly how it turned out, but all for the best. So yeah, it was a very long seven months. There was definitely moments where I wasn't sure if it was ever going to it was going to come to life. But

had to keep the vision. Yes, I was, yes.

Alan Li (29:22)
Were you paying rent throughout this entire time as well? Wow. Okay.

Ireland McGill (29:28)
Yeah, so I was paying that hefty rent for with, you know, no income from the source for that long. And it was scary. And it was a lot of money to be putting up and then on top of, you know, buying the equipment and paying the contractors and technology and fees and all the things was a lot. But going into it back in October when I was like making the decision to even take the leap and do it was OK, it's.

Alan Li (29:38)
Yeah. Yeah.

Ireland McGill (29:58)
12 months of this is going to be this amount of money. That's exactly how much I have in my savings account right now.

Alan Li (30:06)
Mmm.

Ireland McGill (30:08)
And I was like, am I willing to lose it all? And I had to ask myself, like, I have to be willing to lose all of it. And I was like, yes, because it's worth every penny to go through the experience. Because I know either if this is the thing or whatever is next, like I want to own a business, I want to be an entrepreneur. And this is going to essentially be an accelerated real life MBA in many ways. And, you know, kind of the opportunity cost there was worth it to me, even if at the end of the day, it was

was

not successful and I started back at zero. ⁓ I've learned so much throughout the process and can attest that even if today our doors weren't open, I would still do it again just through all the learnings that I've had personally and professionally and in the entrepreneurial space. So ⁓ luckily that did not happen. We have since ⁓ broken even and then some, which is super exciting to see that the vision has come to life and it's resonating.

So super excited to keep building on it.

Alan Li (31:11)
Wow,

that's really admirable. ⁓ Literally willing to go back to zero ⁓ for your business and take that leap is not easy, which is why business is hard and nothing's guaranteed. ⁓ it's why it takes a certain type of individual to start their own business and go from zero to one. But thank you for sharing that.

Ireland McGill (31:34)
Yeah,

great book by the way. Love that.

Alan Li (31:37)
Yeah, also, also

a great book. ⁓ okay. Well, you finally got it open in June, ⁓ into the warm summer New York months, which is perfect in West village. ⁓ tell me how the reception is. How did you get the word out? ⁓ how many people are stopping by to take photos on a like weekly or monthly basis?

Ireland McGill (31:43)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ From the day that we opened, think it really came to the point where, like I said, it was a long seven months. I was like, I just want the doors open. Like I just, I don't have any dog left in me to like go out there. And like, I just need to take a minute. need to go beat, like just give me a day to not, you know, be running a hundred miles an hour. And I was also curious to see like, hmm, what happens if I just don't do any marketing? I don't really push the word out there. just, or

organically

see like what comes because it is a high traffic area and someone's bound to stumble in there at some point and honestly what happened next was

blew my mind. Like it was so incredible. The amount of just like organic content that was generated ⁓ from people on Instagram and TikTok and just sharing their experience and creating these really high quality reels and you know short form videos and Instagram stories and just like seeing it all come to life. I was like, my gosh, like it's happening and I feel like I'm not doing anything. Of course, there was a lot of work that went on the back end. But at that point I was like,

I've to get some perspective here. And that's really kind of what started that second spark of like, wow, it's actually coming to life. ⁓ And from there, I think on the, we'll say, marketing side of things and spreading the word, I've really just kind of let it into the hands of...

like the consumer of the community of people who are naturally inclined to want to share. And that's for many reasons. For one, I think it's very authentic. ⁓ And, you know, if they're willingly just going and posting about it, it's clearly a genuine connection. And then on the other hand, from a very honest POV is I also have been working a full time job this whole time. And I just, you know, I was like, there's got to be priorities and like that.

Alan Li (33:30)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Ireland McGill (33:58)
was one of the buckets that kind of had to had to go because ⁓ even day to day there was still a lot to maintain and also continuously iterating like when I opened those doors on June 1st it was functioning but it is a little cringy to look back on now because I've since which is I think a great thing because I've since made so many improvements and gotten so much feedback which I was kind of working in a silo for that whole time of not having really any feedback or knowing what people

Alan Li (34:15)
Mm.

Ireland McGill (34:28)
who

were gonna like, what was gonna land, what wasn't. I'm no graphic designer, so continuously tweaking it over time, like almost multiple times a week ⁓ was a huge piece of those, I would say, three months, honestly. ⁓ And looking back, like I said, it's a little cringy and embarrassing, and I'm like, my gosh, whoever has that first photo, I'm sorry, it was not the best quality, please come back, I will give you a free session, I promise. ⁓

But yeah, that was really kind of those first few months. And I mean, I still continue to.

do that and iterate daily. And I'm really excited for this next chapter where I have so much more time to give into it and execute on so many of the ideas that I've had to push to the back burner for a little bit just out of sheer, you know, balancing time and energy. So, I'm excited for what's to come and, you know, kind of hit on those spots that I've, you know, witnessed throughout the past five months of being open.

Alan Li (35:30)
Mm-hmm.

I think one really interesting thing to touch upon there is ⁓

the rent that you pay and the traffic that comes through is that's embedded into your rent. Say if you were in like a remote area and paying like one or $2,000, you'd still have to spend a few thousand dollars on marketing just to get people to your space. So it's like, there's like embedded marketing costs that you're saving. like people see the headline number on rent and they're like, oh my God, that's so much money. But then, you know, how much money are you going to have to spend on?

Ireland McGill (35:53)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Alan Li (36:04)
Facebook and Google ads to get people to your space. and it's just, yeah, it's something that ⁓ I think is, I don't know, people generally don't think of, and there's a reason why, you know, popular areas are more rent because, you know, there's thousands of really high quality or tens of thousands of really high quality people passing by every day.

Ireland McGill (36:07)
That's so true. That's a great point.

Yeah.

No, 100%. And that's so true about New York. Kind of going back to our initial conversation of, people outside of the city just don't understand why it's so expensive. And I even when I was, you know, making zero dollars in my first job here, I, I called it the happiness tax because I feel like, know, I was like, but you don't understand. It's like the opportunities that are around you, the energy, the people, like that's what you're paying for. Like that's what those extra few thousand dollars a month are.

and then for business like you were saying like it's like that opportunity tax in a way like there's a lot of ⁓ you know hidden benefits to being here and the eyes and just the things that you would have never guessed the people are going to walk into your space can you know completely change your business all for the better so really love that point it's very true.

Alan Li (37:05)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Awesome.

And then are you able to share roughly like how many people are coming on like a weekly basis or monthly basis of people taking photos?

Ireland McGill (37:29)
Yeah, mean, we so over the past five months, ⁓ very gladly, it's been quite consistent, which in a great way ⁓ over like turbulent weather, of course, you know, whatever if it's a stormy, windy, rainy day, I'm not going to expect much traffic. But if it's a lucky, you know, gorgeous fall day in October and, you know, a crisp 65 and sunny, it's a much better day. ⁓ And those first few months, I was kind of shocked by.

the volume, like in a good way, like it was very high and have, you know, consistently seen those numbers hit month over month, which is pretty reassuring. And I would say the first half of us being open, so we'll say the first two and half months, we were averaging about 120 on

like per day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So total that's, you know, close to 350, 400 people. And then weekdays.

Alan Li (38:25)
Wow.

Ireland McGill (38:31)
Again, weather dependent, holiday dependent, we'll give it anywhere from like 20 people a day to like 60. Really depends. ⁓ Now those numbers are definitely higher. Typically on weekends, like last weekend, I think was our biggest Saturday ever with over 300 ⁓ people, which was, yeah, which was, I was shocked. I woke up the next day and I looked and I was like.

Alan Li (38:51)
300 people? Wow.

Ireland McGill (38:58)
what happened last night and granted it was like one of those perfect crisp beautiful October days or I guess November ⁓ but it was yeah that was incredible so really manifesting more you know weekends and days like that and starting to put systems in place to anticipate that volume ⁓ but thank you I appreciate it.

Alan Li (39:12)
That's so great, congrats.

Yeah. And how much is a photo strip or how much does it cost?

Ireland McGill (39:24)
Yeah, so there's, I guess you could say three options, but ⁓ you have the option when you start your session, if you want a print and you can pick how many you want, a digital download, which just gets sent to your email if you want it more for like sharing or texting or things like that. Again, kind of tying that social media, bringing the social back to our media landscape. I think it's nice ⁓ to have the option or you can get both. ⁓

1111 which kind of ties into angel numbers and you know kind of I felt very resonant to me and to like the ethos of the brand so 1111 for a physical and 777 for a digital download and

Alan Li (40:00)
I like it.

Ireland McGill (40:12)
I've gotten a little pushback here and there on the price, but you also get two strips per session. So really it's around like $5 and some change ⁓ per strip. yeah.

Alan Li (40:26)
That's awesome. I mean, you're close to, you probably almost made back your rent on that one Saturday, you know, last month, which is great. So yeah, the one thing about New York is everything's more expensive, but people are also willing to spend more ⁓ by virtue of being here. ⁓ That's so great. And then I know that you said you did the partnership with Rent the Runway.

Ireland McGill (40:37)
Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly. Yeah, of course, of course. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Alan Li (40:54)
and

you're moving into sort of the brand side as well. ⁓ Are those organic or did you reach out to them and what's your plan for the brand partnerships?

Ireland McGill (41:02)
Yeah.

Yeah, so out of...

a miracle, I guess that was organic. ⁓ One of the, you know, community directors, one of their friends had stumbled into the booth and I think I had some business cards in there and had texted her and was like, this is such a cute spot. Like you should look into this. And mind you, I definitely did have the language and like the process on my website for brand partnerships because I knew from day one, I was like, this is something I want to execute on. However,

Alan Li (41:20)
Nice.

Ireland McGill (41:38)
I don't have the bandwidth to reach out and commit to brands right now, again, working a full-time job and still just trying to keep the lights on. ⁓ But I kept it on my website just in case someone stumbled upon it, which they did. ⁓ And they reached out and it was such a great partnership. They really were aligned with exactly what I had kind of envisioned for this type of pop-up event. ⁓

Alan Li (41:48)
Yeah.

Ireland McGill (42:08)
And I'm really grateful that they trusted me in doing this, especially with such a large company and being a small business and a 25-year-old. It was sure a huge risk in some people's eyes, and I'm super grateful that they did. And hopefully, I think it went really well.

Alan Li (42:31)
Awesome. And Ireland, is there ⁓ someone there at the booth ⁓ to like, not for the event, but just generally on a day-to-day basis? Or how often do you have to like check up if there isn't someone there daily?

Ireland McGill (42:40)
Mm.

Yeah,

so there's not. Not on a day-to-day basis. ⁓ Obviously, that's different for events. ⁓ But in terms of having a security guard or someone there, no, it's all self-service. But I do open it every day. ⁓

Alan Li (42:50)
Yeah, for sure.

Ireland McGill (43:01)
Past schedule has been opening it before work. Future schedule will probably be honestly around the same time. And closing it at night. I do keep it open though on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays now because at first I was definitely hesitant just because everyone was like, my gosh, know, people are going to break your equipment and sleep in there or do crazy things. But knock on wood, maybe I have too much faith in humanity. But really there hasn't been anything terribly crazy.

Alan Li (43:20)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Ireland McGill (43:31)
few stories for off air, nothing that was damaging. You know, I didn't have to get the insurance policy out. And I'm like, I don't want to cut the fun off. Like if someone wants to go at midnight, like just because I'm a grandma and go to bed at eight doesn't mean that they shouldn't be able to go. So I do leave it open on the weekends, but I typically do go over there at least twice a day. So definitely when I open and ⁓ right now I go like after work just to like check in, make sure everything's okay, maybe clean up a little bit.

Alan Li (43:33)
Sure. Okay.

Yes.

Ireland McGill (44:01)
just because it is like high foot traffic in such a small space like I want it to feel like clean and have that you know aesthetic feel to it. ⁓ So I would say average twice a day on weekends if I have the time I definitely try to go over there more and just check in make sure everything's okay ⁓ and we also have like security cameras of course inside and out just for added measure.

Alan Li (44:23)
Got it. Great.

Well, I know that you're about to leave your job soon. ⁓ Maybe briefly describe what your vision is for Memento over the next few years.

Ireland McGill (44:37)
Yeah, of course. ⁓ So I'll be honest, like...

anyone who knows me will tell you this, I'm definitely not a big, like five year or 10 year plan person. I definitely am more about just like feeling based and like living authentically and kind of looking at the next, you know, six to 12 months. I think that's more realistic and digestible. also things change so quickly. It's almost impossible to even predict more than a year out, at least for me. But really in that timeframe, I

really strive to focus on and build out memento like as its own like cultural brand and I want it to be you know recognizable like not just as like it's just a photo booth but like as when people hear the name or see the logo like they recognize that as like this you know movement that really is focused on bringing ⁓ social connection like back to our generation and just day-to-day lives ⁓ in a different bucket as well.

Alan Li (45:34)
Mm.

Ireland McGill (45:40)
I definitely have some ideas on pursuing like a more product-based line down the road thinking you know photo frames like for your printed photos, journals, potentially even like key chains like for your photo strips which I find I've had a few like mock-ups now that are pretty cute. ⁓ I would love to even evolve it into like a coffee table book with like stories of people who have like come through the booth and like inside and out and that's kind of a different bucket.

Alan Li (45:56)
Yeah.

Mmm.

Ireland McGill (46:10)
in its own, but ultimately just tie it all back to those touch points and having it be, you know, connecting with people on like a personal level and just cutting through the digital noise and just having that ⁓ genuine connection impact and ⁓ having that connotation with Momento of not just being like a photo booth.

Alan Li (46:34)
I really like the way you're

thinking about it because ⁓ that's a really admirable vision and goal, first of all, of connecting people. And then second, it allows you to do it through a lot of different mediums. And you've started off with the photo booth, but as you're describing these other products, I'm like, my gosh, this makes so much sense. And it fits under this brand. And you have maybe the physical and the e-commerce element and other ones in the future. So ⁓ that's really exciting. Yeah.

Ireland McGill (46:47)
Exactly.

Thank you,

thank you, I'm very excited.

Alan Li (47:05)
Um,

awesome. So I know we're running up a little bit on time, but, uh, one question I had for you is, looking back on your journey over, you know, the last year of, think it's almost, yeah, just been over a year now of starting and thinking about memento and knowing what you know now. Um, is there anything that you would have changed or done differently?

Ireland McGill (47:17)
Yeah, crazy.

Yeah, that's a great question. ⁓

I really don't feel like I have any looking back regrets or mistakes in the traditional sense. I truly think I did everything I could with the resources I had, with the knowledge I had, with what I had access to, and definitely maintained that figure it out mindset and just learner's mentality throughout. ⁓ Were there hiccups? Were there things I could have done better? Absolutely.

Realistic like I didn't know better at the time ⁓ and of course in the future won't do those things again it's just learning throughout so like from a practical standpoint ⁓ No regrets, no, you know huge mistakes and I'm like, ⁓ like wish I would have done that differently because you know You just iterate and you do it differently next time. But ⁓ I think a big lesson I learned over the past year was ⁓ Just prioritizing myself too because throughout that

Alan Li (48:27)
Hmm.

Ireland McGill (48:28)
I'm giving a hundred percent to my corporate job, a hundred percent to my Mento and trying to give a hundred percent to like all the people around me. And then at the end of the day, I'm exhausted and definitely hit a point where, you know, my immune system was just in the trash. I was just so stressed out all the time and wasn't prioritizing like what started it all, which was like myself and my experience. And, you know, I am every employee essentially.

that's really important. ⁓ And I definitely realized that throughout the process and have since learned so much and put in so many ⁓ practices and non-negotiables in my days and weeks to ensure that the foundation, being myself, is strong or else none of this is gonna be fruitful at the end of the day.

Alan Li (49:20)
That makes

a lot of sense. Awesome. Well, Ireland, if people want to stay in touch and follow along, what's the best way for them to do so?

Ireland McGill (49:30)
Yeah, absolutely. You can follow us on Instagram at New York Memento. That is the same for our website, newyorkmemento.com. For TikTok, personally, I am doing a blend of my personal account for New York Memento promotion, just to kind of blend that more, you know, personal human element. So Handel is just Ireland McGill. And yeah, hope to have some more new faces in and really enjoyed our conversation today.

Alan Li (49:59)
Yeah, thank you so much for taking the time and yeah, I still haven't made it out yet, but I don't live too far and I'm excited to get a post in.

Ireland McGill (50:05)
⁓

my gosh, well let me know. Definitely send you a little promo code. Thank you.

Alan Li (50:11)
Alright, thanks Ireland.

Alan Li (50:16)
Thanks for listening. If you liked this episode, feel free to visit openingsoonpodcast.com for all of our episodes online. If you run a retail store and need updated furniture or signage, please feel free to visit www.signsandmirrors.com. Lastly, if you have any feedback or would to be a guest on the show, email me at alan, A-L-A-N, at signsandmirrors.com. I promise I'll respond. Thanks for listening.