Meet Jonathan Alberico | Owner & Weirdo

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

Hi Jonathan, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The Learned Lemur was founded on and has always maintained extremely high ethical standards, which can be a very challenging tenet to achieve within the oddities world. Over the past 15 years in business, we have worked very hard to establish connections across the country and abroad to ensure we are providing high quality products which we feel good about selling and our clients feel good about collecting. We sell many antique and vintage items, which contributes to eco-friendly ideals of reusing, recycling, & preservation.

Our business was also built around the strong ideals of the punk rock community, which entail the safety and inclusion of all. We pride ourselves on being a safe and inclusive space for anyone who interacts with our business in any way. Treating all of our associates and patrons with respect, equality, and kindness is one of our most important ethical standards and absolutely contributes to the success of our brand.

Additionally, we try to foster a supportive and encouraging community for other weirdos and creatives by hosting low-cost highly advertised markets for small local businesses to grow within communities like ours, circus sideshows where performers keep all profits and tips, and ghost tours of our local area. All these events also support our neighboring businesses through the patronage of those who participate.

High ethical standards in regards to responsibility, inclusion, and support for other weirdos has enriched and grown our business over the last 15 years and we will never allow those ethics to be compromised.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
As a business, the values we hold highest are what set us apart from others. We are dedicated to engaging with our community, fostering relationships with our fellow weirdos, educating our clientele, and supporting other small businesses and their successes. We are aware of the responsibilities we have taken on as an oddities shop, and are never willing to compromise on our values or standards for capital gain. We do not rely on questionable business practices or dealings to add to our financial success, nor do we engage in a competitive mindset against other similar businesses; the quality and accessibility of our products and events are thanks to our own hard work, experience, and expertise within our fields. This has not been an easy undertaking; of course, it can be much easier to give in to simpler and more lucrative routes, but we refuse to lower our ethical standards to benefit our bottom dollar. The satisfaction we get from adhering to our values makes the difficulties worth facing.

We are most proud of the community we have created, and continue to grow. Our circus sideshow, The Conspiracy Circus, employs a growing number of talented performers, and with one of the highest performance payment guarantees our show grants them the ability to make a living doing what they love. Our retail store hosts a number of local artists at a competitively low consigner percentage on prices they set, so all the artists we represent are compensated fairly for their time and skill. Our Graveyard Markets host a growing number of other small local businesses at a very low fee which goes toward promoting the events, giving visibility and access to a larger market of customers to these small independent businesses.

We would love for the world to know that weirdos are always welcome at our store, and we will always be a safe and inclusive space for anyone who’s ever been made to feel other.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Being small business owners means we don’t have much free time, and we spend a lot of time in and around our shop. Luckily it is a great area with lots of amazing food and things to do.

Savageau Coffee and Ice Cream is two doors down from us and we frequent their shop all too often, Urban Cookie is next door for more delicious sweets, and we order from Peter’s Chinese Cafe at least 2x a month. The Crypt is a fun and spooky bar right down the street from us, and we always recommend Buckhorn Exchange to folks from out of town. Truffle Cheese Shop is another favorite spot of ours, owned by some awesome local folks! The Electric Cure is a rad bar that always has fun things going on, like Horror movie trivia. We also try to frequent local art galleries, like Union Hall Arts Space and Pirate: Contemporary Art. Being involved with so many performers means that if we aren’t hosting a show there is probably one to attend, Consensual Circus and Clocktower Cabaret are both great show productions that have events all the time!

We would probably also take our guest on one of our Nocturnal Creatures ghost tours, guided by our hilarious and talented friends at Prism Colorado Paranormal, because they are just too much fun and such a beautiful walk around the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The first inspiration I had to pursue my own path in life was the antique shop I grew up in, Frippery’s. My parents started their own antique business when I was about 3 years old, after my dad grew tired of the career he had built in a personally unfulfilling business. Starting their own antique store was a massive undertaking and risk, and seeing how hard they worked to make their shop successful, relevant, and personally fulfilling was very inspiring to me throughout my childhood and adolescence. I gained an incredible wealth of knowledge and skills growing up and working in their store, including the values that are necessary to run a successful small business of your own. I learned how to network, make smart financial decisions, and work harder for myself than anyone else. Having access to the antiques world from a young age ignited my love for the strange and unusual, and gave me the drive to grow my business to what it has become today.

About six years ago I invited my then friend Bex to join me in managing the shop and all the out of state tours. After months of working together how could I not ask her out? For almost five years now Bex has been one of the most supportive, driven, and focused, partners and friends I could ask for. The Learned Lemur isn’t even recognizable now from the business it started as fifteen years ago and it wouldn’t be where it is now without her. Having the trust, support, hard work, dedication, and sometimes reel-it-in-a-bit realism of someone like her has got us to where we are today.

Website: www.learnedlemur.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_learned_lemur/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learnedlemur/

Other: emails: jonathan@learnedlemur.com bex@learnedlemur.com

Image Credits
Photographer for 3 of the submitted photos is IG: @crashlandonmedia