We All Helped

It’s called Penny Path because we walked on a path of pennies to build this place. It was created during a time when I literally had no money, but I had the skillset and the equipment. Everyone said it would fail, but I had always wanted to do something creative. I had worked for myself for so long that I hated punching a clock, so we struggled. By choice I was unemployed for about 6 to 8 months. During that time I scavenged and created this place on my own. There were all these abandoned showrooms across High Point that people had broken in to and stripped for copper. So I asked the owners if I could scavenge the showrooms and give them a portion of the money I made from selling what I found. I spent countless days wandering around abandoned buildings with an LED light and a shopping cart, hunting for copper remnants and whatever I could find. I built these benches, my wife did the paintings, the whole family helped.

One day we didn’t have money to pay the bills. This place was about 95% done, so I looked at my family and said, “We’re opening Saturday.” They weren’t pleased. I borrowed $1500 from a friend and went to Costco the day before. We had no menu, I told my daughter to write $5 crepes on a sign. We did no advertising, but we had a Facebook page with about 200 followers. I worked all night Friday, getting everything as finished as it could be. We opened at 8am, a few customers trickled in and then suddenly we were packed. We made up a menu that first week. Our first month we made about $22,000. It wasn’t easy, and sometimes it still isn’t, but I love it. I love standing behind that counter, even if I only make $30 the whole day. I don’t care about making money. The most important thing is doing what I want to do, and doing it well. -Miro Butov