Breaking up leads to business opportunity

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Smashing Katie is a startup born from a breakup.An online store geared to women who have recently gone through a divorce or breakup, Smashing Katie sells items ranging from a wedding ring coffin to the Ex, a kitchen knife block shaped like a person.Owner Angie Schmidt got the idea from her own divorce -- and named the store after the neighbor she believed was the other woman behind the collapse of her marriage. "I was this blubbering mess of goo and tears," said Schmidt, 33, of South San Francisco, Calif. "By day five, I needed something to laugh at. I created a T-shirt saying 'Ask Katie where my husband is.' I would look in the mirror and just start chuckling. ... Those five days were the beginning of Smashing Katie."Years ago, divorce wasn't anything to chuckle over -- let alone chosen as a retail concept.But attitudes have changed as divorce has become more common. About 10 percent of adult Americans are currently divorced and not remarried, up from 2 percent in 1950, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Time magazine ran a story in February about the rise of divorce parties -- kind of the antithesis of the wedding shower. And a number of general gift stores such as Findgift.com offer divorce-related items alongside their more conventional selections of birthday, wedding and graduation gifts.So far, though, Smashing Katie might be the only store devoted solely to breakup items."That either makes me smart or stupid. I still don't know which," Schmidt said.Schmidt's breakup with her college sweetheart and husband of seven years happened in the summer of 2006. She opened the online store, smashingkatie.com, a year later, using $30,000 that came from splitting up a business she had run with her ex-husband, who did not want to be identified or quoted in this story.In its first year, Smashing Katie has generated sales of about $40,000 -- enough to cover Schmidt's expenses but not yet pay her a salary.The site includes some items that poke fun at the general idea of divorce, such as the wedding ring coffin or an After the Breakup Wheel of Fortune that foretells whether the user will "heal," "avenge" or "wallow." It also has items that, albeit jokingly, express angry or violent impulses -- like the Ex knife block or a voodoo doll toothpick holder. Schmidt acknowledged that some people might view the site as crude or anti-men. For instance, its logo is a pink female silhouette delivering a kick to the private parts of a gray male silhouette. But she said she doesn't encourage bitterness toward men or marriage."No one is going to see an Ex knife block and really want to stab their ex-husband," she said. "People know this is just about going through emotions. ... I'm certainly not mocking the institution of marriage. To me, marriage is for life. But things happen, and instead of being miserable all the time, why not find a way to add a little laughter?"Retailer Jennifer Kaplan, owner of Rockridge Home in Oakland, Calif., called Smashing Katie a "cool site -- fun and interesting." But she questioned its potential for growth. "It hits a real nerve and could be widely appealing," Kaplan said. "But it's not the kind of site, hopefully, that someone would be going back to, over and over."Meanwhile, Smashing Katie drew mixed reviews from some who are the most deeply steeped in the world of breakups -- namely, divorce lawyers."I would think there's a pretty big market for it -- I wish I'd thought of it," said San Francisco attorney Barbara Moser. "This is really about trying to see the light after what can be a horrible, painful experience."Deborah Dubroff, an Oakland divorce attorney, disagreed. "You don't want to have a bunch of reminders around about your failed relationship," she said. "I'd get away from these kind of cynical reminders that just sit on your desk. The best thing I did when I got divorced was use some frequent flier miles to go to Paris for a week. That was the best gift possible."E-mail Ilana DeBare at idebare(at)sfchronicle.com.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)