Angie McLean at Psycho Sisters

[00:00:00] Speaker A: The interviews that you're listening to right now are from one of my favorite Atlanta neighborhoods. And this is a community project that's definitely taken a lot of time and coordination to put together. From the outside looking in, it's pretty obvious why this Little Five Points oral history project is so important. There are just such a great culture for many years, Lots of cool stories, lots of. Lots of interesting people, and you would just go anywhere in. In the city of Atlanta and find great memories of Little Five Points putting this show together. You know, every creative project, to put it lightly, is a learning experience. And for this one, just finding that, you know, so many of the. The people who were vital parts of those memories in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and today. Shout out Star 94. A lot of these people were just in different places, and it was important that I be able to capture them in person or on the road. And I did that pretty well. This is a really great interview series. It's just getting started. And if you're one of those vendors or store owners and you've got some great history to share, definitely reach out. All right, and this is the first episode. It's with Angie McLean from Psycho Sisters. If you've ever been to Psycho Sisters, it's amazing. We just talk a little bit about history, about fashion. I asked the same questions that you want to ask. Just how do you get such great taste for things? So cool. It's a great conversation. And enjoy. [00:02:14] Speaker B: Here was Angie McLean, who, you know, I. Whenever I talk about Psycho Sisters, this is always what I say. And this isn't just I'm saying it to you. I said, years before I met you, whenever I go anywhere and I'm wearing a shirt that I bought from Psycho Sisters, women will walk up to me and say, I love your shirt. And I'll go, yeah, thanks. Way to go. Consistently. Literally, consistently. People love what. Whatever I buy from there is a magnet for compliments. In the real world, that's the highest compliment that I could possibly give a store. The second thing that they say after I love your shirt is, where did you get it? And so I can always say it's from Psycho Sisters. If I'm in the neighborhood, I'll point, and if I'm not in the neighborhood, I say it's in Little Five Points. [00:03:04] Speaker C: That makes me happy. Yes, you're a walking, talking billboard. And that's why every customer is so important to us. [00:03:12] Speaker B: For. For any. For any male customer in the city of Atlanta, I. I advise them to become a walking billboard. Psycho Sisters. Just magnet for. [00:03:24] Speaker C: Yes, thank you. [00:03:25] Speaker B: But now I get to talk to the creative mind that helped curate that space. Angie, tell me a little bit about how did Psycho Sisters start? Tell me about when, where, who, what, why. [00:03:38] Speaker C: Okay. I went to University of Florida and had a lot of fun, got a degree, but then went to Florida State. And at Florida State, I opened up my first consignment shop, and it was pretty successful. So then I moved to Atlanta and opened my first Psycho Sisters in Sandy Springs with the idea of going corporate and having 262 stores across the country. I could never quite launch that. I valued my freedom more than being a corporate girl. And shortly after I opened, Plato's Closet came into play, and I let them take that one for the win. I did try to keep a few stores open, but I realized that if I just did one store and put all of my attention, love, creativity, training, and the best pieces of clothing in that one store, that that's where my success would flourish. [00:04:35] Speaker B: So. [00:04:37] Speaker C: See, with the landlord, the way I found the space is pretty funny. I was into creating my own reality back then, and there was such a thing as newspapers. And I just took my finger and I scrolled the newspaper, closed my eyes, and decided whatever hit my attention is where I needed to be. And it was an ad for something in Little Five Points, and I had never heard of it. I was a Sandy Springs girl and new to Atlanta. And within a few days, a girl called me and she said, get down here right away. I've got a space for you. I said, oh, no, no, no, no. I don't want another space. I'm happy with this one store. She said, no, no, come down here. Here's the address. And she hung up. So I didn't go. She called back. She said, really? Get down here right away. The landlord's waiting at the local coffee shop. You need to come sign the lease. I thought she was crazy, but I was up for an adventure, and I had already asked the universe for this. So I drove to Little Five Points. I walked in the store. There was a cool girl. She was selling, like, kind of western cow and stuff. I didn't really pay too much attention. I was just sort of amazed at the whole neighborhood. I didn't know anything like that in Atlanta existed. She had a Great Dane in the store. I don't have a lot of memories. And she said, the landlord, Britt Dean, is waiting at Aurora Coffee. I guess she was pretty certain about her decision to make my decision for me. So I went and signed the Lease with Britt. He's one of the dearest landlords. His whole family, they've owned this building since the point was there and probably before before then. So there's a lot of history and family unity. And you know, they've protected me a lot of times when 2008 hit and the economy dropped out and with COVID and when that hit, his son Disha is now a working partner with me as a landlord. So there's been a lot of gratitude between me and the landlords and the, the community of Little Five Points. [00:06:38] Speaker B: How is the space physically changed from the time that you've moved in? [00:06:42] Speaker C: Very little. [00:06:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Walk? [00:06:45] Speaker C: Very little. [00:06:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:48] Speaker C: The, the space is grungy, I've got to admit. You know, I changed out the carpet four or five times. But our foot traffic is like an airport in there. So we get the carpets cleaned, you know that we can't do much with the ceilings, we can't do much with the electrical or plumbing. We've changed the H Vacs a few times. You know, the racks are still the racks from, you know, 20, 34 years ago when I started. So that's kind of the charm of this store and the neighborhood. We still, you know, make old fashioned signs by hand with little smiley faces or a little pirate shirt on them or something. Our employees are stylists. They're not just employees, they're trained to be stylists. We work a lot with the movie industry and everybody that thinks they're a rock star is a true rock star, which I'm not going to name drop. But we have a lot of very famous people coming into the store and we don't make a big hoopla about it. We actually, you know, we're there to protect them so that they can shop. But I can say that Alice Cooper came in and I recognized him. But a lot of motion pictures come in and film in our store and so forth. So we have just made a name for ourselves. Our employees are stylists and they help every single customer. They get a full greeting and a little tour of the store if they want it. A lot of people bring their families. We've got this great generation thing going on. I, I have, you know, 40 year old women coming in saying they came in when they were 12 with their mother and now they're bringing their daughter. And the same with single fathers families. So sometimes we've had three generations in there and it's not uncommon for, you know, a 94 year old woman to take an Uber from her home. Her nursing home or facility where she's living and come in and dress up for the big party. 1920 style. And so it's just a pleasure. All of our customers are happy. Very, very few complain. The only ones that complain are probably employees that didn't work out so well. [00:08:47] Speaker B: And it's very like, if you are like, haven't been in that space before in terms of like the, the clothing that's there. And you mentioned that there's 20 stuff. But I would say for many decades, the, there are a couple of rows of racks that have really specialized fashion and style so that you can kind of dress or look like any era that you want to hit probably in the space of that store, almost any era in time that you want to go back to and dress and fit, wear something that fits your body, you probably can do it there. [00:09:23] Speaker C: You're, you're speaking truth. I love fashion. In 1983, for, you know, there was prom queen and king and so forth, I was voted the most fashionable. And I didn't know if it was a compliment or a criticism because I would wear an old man's jacket and roll the sleeves up with a tie and tuck a western shirt in with cowboy boots tucked in, you know, with stirrups on the bottom. So I've always loved fashion and I believe you should have. You know, with every outfit, it's nice to have something new, something vintage, something from the thrift store, something designer, you know, and then socks that don't match or just to mix it up and have fun. We, we do 1920s style clothing that would be Gatsby, 1960s hippie, 70s disco, 80s rocker, a little bit of 90s grunge, like, you know, flannel shirts and, and some denim jackets. And then I buy a shitload of accessories from, you know, bunny ears to devil horns to masks. For a lot of 1920s parties, we have a, a selection of masks that like you would find in New Orleans or something. And so I've been working with the same vendors for 34 years. And so when there's a closeout, they call me. So I'm able to sell a lot of things on closeout so people can get a really good deal, like a really nice cute hat for $10 that should be priced probably at 24. And the fun part is I went to Nepal at the beginning of this year and I met a vendor and he's a manufacturer and he manufactured me. So we're manufacturing our own bell bottoms and our own floor length hippie hippie vests. And, you know, all of those hippie patchwork pants and stuff. So I'm able to support international vendors as well, which support their families. So it's just a, it's a feel good, win, win, win, win. Customers win. Customers like you walk around, they tell other people that have not heard of us or needed to be reminded. So that's a win as well. It's just, it's a very win industry for me. [00:11:25] Speaker B: You've obviously got the connection to the vendors. What kind of role have you guys played with the other stores or with the community as a whole? I would say, like, since you've moved in, how have you adjusted from Florida to Sandy Springs to that neighborhood? How, how does the store and you relate to the Little Five Points neighborhood? [00:11:45] Speaker C: You know, since I did so much partying in college, University of Florida and then Florida State, I had a pretty glamorous life my early years in Atlanta, you know, from 1991. But then I had kids and so forth. So I haven't been very active in the neighborhood. Some people might consider some of the stores their competition. I don't, I don't, I don't consider them competition. I do the best I can do without paying too much attention to what they're doing. And I've got to admit, sometimes when I have gone into their store, I feel a little bit of envy and I'm tempted to look at the labels and where they got it from and then call that vendor. So I just refrain from doing much involvement in Little Five Points. I'm very grateful for the Little Five Points association that's there and the people that care so much about cleaning up the neighborhood and keeping it safe for us. But as far as being social or interactive, I, I don't do too much of that with Little Five Points. I just do my job and I do it well, and I do my part, and then I go home. [00:12:48] Speaker B: That's a little bit like. And this is gonna, this might sound esoteric, but it kind of preserves your artistic integr. You're looking at something with your eye. It kind of affects your eye, so you keep it. Preserving what you look at kind of helps. As a curator, I think, I think. [00:13:08] Speaker C: That'S the perfect way to put that. Yes, I, I, I do what I do in my creativity, my creativity for buying, and I am the only buyer. I don't know how I do what I do. I, I don't know when I go, when I buy, what I know you could put 20 items in front of me. I know exactly what I want to buy. And how much to. To. To price it for? I don't know. It's my gift. Who knew? I never imagined that being a buyer and spending $10,000 a month on clothing, plus more than that is. Is what I would be doing, you know, even estate sales and so forth. [00:13:47] Speaker B: Is there. Are there any challenges that you face? You talked about the big recession, and you talked about COVID Are there any other threats that are memorable to you that you've had to make adjustments for during your time there? [00:14:03] Speaker C: Yes. Tears. My manager is 7 years. His name was Patrick. For anybody that remembers him, he was a beautiful soul. I called him my Johnny Depp. [00:14:14] Speaker B: And. [00:14:15] Speaker C: And every day we talked on the phone. And in Little Five Points, he was able to get a hold of a drug that was laced with fentanyl, and he died three years ago within 40 minutes. So very well aware of the neighborhood and the dangers that it can bring from the partying that goes on there. And, you know, there's been some homeless people in the streets that we have watched their demise. They couldn't get the help they needed, even though it was offered. But the good news is, is I adopted a baby from a couple, one of the couples there, and he's 11 years old. So I got a baby. They dropped him off in a basket at my store, and we adopted him legally. One of the quickest adoptions in Atlanta. Five weeks later. And I'm still in contact with the parents. Yeah, yeah, I'm still in contact with the father's family. They're my family. So we have a great cultural mix. My son has of all kinds of aunties and aunts and having two fathers and many grandmothers. It's fantastic. The other challenges and Little Five Points was, you know, you know, everything that happened with COVID and so forth, Antifa was out in front of our street and going to throw bricks and crowbars and so forth. That was really scary. Luckily, I had a drinking buddy from Tallahassee which was lieutenant of the. The Atlanta Police Department, and he intervened, stopped that violence that was about to happen and perhaps burned down our neighborhood. So, as I say, I'm not too much in the scenes. [00:15:49] Speaker B: I'm. [00:15:50] Speaker C: I'm very much behind the scenes. [00:15:55] Speaker B: What are the. You know, when you were in school, what are the. The people and publications? What are the things that influenced your eye? Where. Where did you. Are there people or publications that you. That you read a lot or listen to a lot? What developed your taste? [00:16:13] Speaker C: Oh, Van Halen, Rush, Madonna, Michael Jackson. Those were the artists in the 80s. I really didn't miss a concert. The cure in the 90s. I. The music is what influenced me. You know, we. We call our round glasses that we sell for $12. The little round ones. We call them Janis Joplin glasses. And then we have Jimi Hendrix influe with the fringe vests and so forth. Buddy Holly, you know, they're the Horned sun sunglasses. So I don't think too much. In college, it was more about partying. When I was in grad school at Florida State, my professor said, what are you doing in college? Your business is successful? Just, you know, drop out of. Drop out of grad school, go pay attention to your college and start traveling the world. And I'm like, really? So I did all that, bought a round trip ticket to Australia and started backpacking the world and the international influence of fashion also because I've backpacked 60 countries. That's my, that's my passion is travel. [00:17:21] Speaker B: Holy. We should. That might be a completely different interview that's just as interesting as the retail store. [00:17:29] Speaker C: You know what's a different interview is one of the countries that I went to in January is Uganda during, During COVID with all of the unrest and I'm empathic. So it really, really bothered me. I prayed to God, please show me some way to be of service to you. And the very next morning I saw a video of a young 15 year old girl. She was in an orphanage in Uganda asking for sanitary supplies for her sister. So immediately I sent $100 and then I called the messenger Facebook number and a young man named Makawei Constantine answered and answered and I said, show me where the kids are. Show me right now, where are those kids sleeping? It was 42 degrees there Fahrenheit. The kids were barely dressed, sleeping on cold concrete floors with no blankets. I am happy to say that since then, Psycho Sisters sponsors this orphanage and has built them three schools, two classrooms. No two classrooms, three houses, 42 acres of land. And they're growing fruits and vegetables that feed the whole village. They have extreme challenges. I was there in January to meet my 118 children. But Psycho Sisters, one of the reasons I haven't retired at 60 years old is to continue because I've supported them for five years to continue to support this orphanage. So a lot of the profits go to directly to the orphanage with no strings attached. I just send it and I say, buy them clothes. [00:19:04] Speaker B: Buy them. [00:19:05] Speaker C: They recently needed a. Their whole. Their whole campus flooded because of climate change. All of a sudden they have these torrential rains. So we had to buy all the underground pipes and a paving machine. Now the kids are making pavers. So that is a. Like I said, Psycho Sisters just win all over the board. It's just, and things come to me. I don't really even have to try too hard to go and find ways to be active. [00:19:32] Speaker B: How does your family relate to the work that you do? Do you get them involved? Do they keep their distance? Are they sick of you? Are you sick of them? Just how's that work? [00:19:42] Speaker C: I'm kind of sick of working, to be honest. You know, I'm easily triggered. I'm having to turn a lot of responsibility over to my incredible employees and to my team leader, McKagan. She runs the store basically from Tampa. I run the store from Alpharetta. I rarely have to go to the store because one of my employees is so gracious. They come and they pick up and they drop off. I have a personal assistant sitting at home and we price clothes like a Willy Wonka factory every day, three or four days a week. I think my kids are just sort of used to my lifestyle and, and see that my crazy works. My mother said that she would never step in step into a store that sells old dirty clothing. And my father said, why did you waste any years of college if you're just going to sling around used clothes? My best friend said, don't you dare open. You will be sure to fail. There's too much competition. This was back in the early 90s. So I think I with the name Psycho Sisters. I think I have a lot of defiance in me and I proved them wrong. [00:20:46] Speaker B: Hell yeah. Look, I, I want to talk about. I, I wanted to ask you about a totally different topic, but because you've mentioned it in an offhanded way twice, you've mentioned creating reality and this is something that I talk about all the time. When you think about this, do you think about it in a long term planning perspective or do you think about more moment to moment? How much influence do you feel like you. Or, or how does time or the concept of time impact how you influence your life experiences? [00:21:24] Speaker C: Well, I asked for a baby and a week later a baby was delivered to my doorstep. I asked God to make it easy, obvious of the light, don't give me more than I can handle and I will obey. So when the couple walked in and wanted me to adopt their baby, I was thinking, hell no. But the voice in my head said, you said you'd obey. So I just set forth intentions and I do long Term and short term. Right now I'm 60, and I don't know if I'm gonna meet a life partner and. And travel the world. I don't know if I'm gonna build a farmhouse in North Carolina. I don't really know. And some. Sometimes that's the alluring part, is not knowing. So I just. I look for what inspires me or people that inspire me or stories, and then I do my best to let those resonate. I do my best when I have a bad thought or a bad reality come into my head. Like if I'm driving with my kids and somehow I have like some weird premonition of a. [00:22:21] Speaker A: Of a. [00:22:22] Speaker C: Of a car accident. I just, you know, put it in a capsule and send it away. And then I. And then I imagine myself arriving where I'm arriving safely. So when I ask God for something, it's usually delivered if I can get the doubts out of the way. I've been practicing Abraham Hicks since they first came out, like in 1990. I went to go see them. So I used to go see them live quite a bit. And I don't know, we're energy. We were resonate. And what we resonate, I believe, is what we get, both the good and the unpleasant. [00:22:54] Speaker B: I've read Abraham Hicks. What a fascinating crossover in our conversation. [00:22:59] Speaker C: Yeah, I think I love it that you brought that into that spirituality. Thank you. [00:23:04] Speaker B: Well, the. The thing that, that I think whenever we talk about history and we are doing an oral history project, which means it's going to go into somebody's ears. And when we talk about the past, I think the best way to think about it or anything. Experiences as an example or an inspiration to other people. So are there specific things in your life that you think are good examples for other people? [00:23:31] Speaker C: You know, being of service, Giving back to my orphanage is a great example. Whether I like it or not, I'm a role model for my employees. So I be as transparent as I possibly can. They see me cry, they see me upset, they see me angry. And then they tell each other what I'm all about. So they understand me. To me, I'm normal, but to others, I'm probably not. You know, the. The name Psycho Sisters was kind of like one of these. I was driving home from Club Anytime with a friend a long, long time ago. We were driving back to Tallahassee and it was pouring rain. We had to get there to open my store there at the time. And it was just, you know, like for all those guys out, just call girl Psycho for just having emotions and wanted to talk about it and so forth. And that's where I was at that time. So I've just really kept it real. And, you know, some employees wind up just hating my guts when they fail because I see the best in everybody, but then also I see the darkness in them. That's a skill set, I guess, or a, I don't know. It's been considered a curse by myself sometimes, but I'm sure that it is a blessing. But I, I, I have seen my influence on younger quite often as being a good thing. It's not uncommon for them to come back 15 years later and say, you know, I quit my job, I started traveling, I own my own business now, and I couldn't have done this without you. We have one young lady named Anya, which is just a beautiful, beautiful girl that worked for me every summer full time and then, and, you know, when she was going to Emory, and she's in New York now, and she's just really, really successful in the fashion industry. Great job, great apartment. And she calls me once a month or sends me a message, said, this wouldn't be possible without you. So that just tickles me. You know, I try to stay very, very humble, but at the same time, I do, I would like to acknowledge, you know, the things that through Psycho Sisters, through my landlords, three little five points, through the opportunity and the window of opportunity in 1991 that I had, that it has been just a happy place for, I wouldn't even say thousands, say a million people. [00:25:44] Speaker B: Angie, this has been just an incredibly fascinating conversation. [00:25:48] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:25:49] Speaker B: Is there anything else that you'd like to add? Is there something that people should do after listening to this that you think that they should do? I don't want to, I don't want to say, do you want to plug your store? Because I'm going to do that. I'm just going to say, walk in there as soon as you can. [00:26:07] Speaker C: You know, we just rotate our stuff. Our, our stuff. Our, our merchandise out every week. We mark stuff down. There's always something new in there. You never know what you're going to find. I've always said that Psycho Sisters is not just shopping, it's therapy. You know, you're going to get interaction from our employees, you're going to be able to try on clothes, you're going to walk out briefly a different person than you walked in. And the things that when you do, when you do have the courage to start your own small business and take that calculated risk, you know it can give you the freedom to do the things you love. So follow your bliss without hesitation. And I've just never compromised myself. I've always told the truth, even if it's hard. [00:26:50] Speaker B: Angie MacLean, thank you so much. And hanging out with me, it was incredibly rewarding. And you didn't just touch on the business life, you touched on real life, which I always appreciate. [00:27:02] Speaker C: Well, you guided me through it. You know, we didn't rehearse for this. I had no idea what to expect today. I just. I just wanted to do this one thing with little five points so that I can. So that I can stay connected to the community. So thank you. You're part of our community, and I'm part of yours, and I really appreciate it. [00:27:20] Speaker B: Thank you so much. [00:27:22] Speaker C: Bye. Bye.