Bussiness
Popular on TikTok, ‘magical’ homeware business Cheerware navigates Twin Cities, impending platform ban
What started as a COVID-19 side project for Arlee Tenpas has grown into a full-fledged business with a loyal online following and orders coming in by the hour.
Minneapolis-based Cheerware, an online retailer that sells custom glassware and apparel, is a small but mighty operation with more than 15,000 products sold thanks to the creativity of owner Tenpas and the TikTok algorithm.
A Lake Elmo native, 31-year-old Tenpas was working in marketing and product development for a beverage company in Chicago when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“I was spending way too much time on TikTok seeing other people do creative side projects and I thought I could do that and maybe even do it better,” Tenpas said.
Cheerware products range from drinking glasses, diner mugs and reusable glass straws to T-shirts, shorts, sweatshirts and bags.
The goal of Cheerware? “To make something simple and everyday a bit more exciting and magical,” Tenpas said.
Each of the Cheerware designs, which range from quaint European village streets and lilypad-hopping frogs to pop culture nods like Zelda video game characters or lyrics from pop artist Chappell Roan, are created by Tenpas.
“(The designs) make very specific people super happy,” she said. “It’s not for everyone, but the people who love it, really love it.”
A small operation, Tenpas employs one studio assistant and a customer service representative and turns to her community when a product goes viral or a big order comes in.
After leaving Chicago in 2023, Tenpas briefly worked from Lake Elmo with the help of her family before moving into her current studio in Northeast Minneapolis.
Rest assured, the business’s east metro connections are still strong with its apparel embroidered by Shirt Werks in Eagan. And only weeks ago, Cheerware made its Twin Cities pop-up debut in St. Paul at St. Anthony Park’s Milton Square.
Getting noticed
After some initial success selling her products on Etsy in the spring of 2020, Tenpas decided to level up with a bit of help.
Elsie Tenpas, a web designer and the sibling of Arlee Tenpas, decided to gift her sister something every small business owner dreams of: a custom website.
To kick off the website launch in the fall of 2020, Tenpas debuted a Halloween collection complete with friendly ghosts and crisp autumn leaves that quickly went viral.
“Every second there was an order coming through,” Tenpas said. With some 500,000 views of the collection on TikTok, the website broke.
“Her business took off so fast that the site we built had trouble keeping up,” Elsie Tenpas said. “Because she was blowing up online, there were people from all over the world trying to buy Cheerware and we hadn’t even set up global shipping options.”
After some tweaks that included “making code up on the fly,” Cheerware was off and running, her sister said.
Shortly after the Halloween collection launched, Tenpas quit her job and started running Cheerware full-time out of the second bedroom in her Chicago apartment.
‘Built with TikTok’
Cheerware currently has more than 50,000 followers on TikTok with more than 810,000 views across its videos.
“The business was built with TikTok,” Tenpas said, and its following is growing by the day. “When we are launching something, we’ll partner with influencers and sometimes their videos get a lot of traction.”
For the Zelda-themed Hylian Collection launch in 2023, Cheerware partnered with “Cozy Games and Lifestyle” influencer Wisteriem, who garnered more than 1.2 million views for Cheerware products on just two posts.
Social media consultant Arik Hanson said while there is value in selling merchandise on TikTok, “There is a lot of value in working with creators and influencers because that’s how we’re seeing younger people buy merchandise and products – on social media.”
Other Cheerware partnerships include Knock.Thrice, an embroidery and apparel business popular on TikTok, and XO Marshmallow Cafe in Chicago.
“When you’re small, it is just your work that speaks for you,” Tenpas said. “So when larger businesses repost (your content), it is huge exposure and that stuff happens because of the algorithm.”
This time last year, Tenpas said 90% of her business came from TikTok, but as the federal government attempts to ban the social media platform, she’s preparing for what comes next.
Time running out on TikTok?
A law enacted in April set a Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to either sell the app or face a ban in the U.S. due to alleged threats to national security.
With some 72,000 Minnesota businesses using TikTok to sell and market their products, it’s easy to see why there are concerns about the impending ban.
“You’re talking about banning a cultural touchstone of the U.S. economy, basically,” said Hanson, who also teaches social media courses at the University of Minnesota and University of St. Thomas.
“If it gets banned that’s huge news, not just for marketing but for the culture in general,” Hanson said, adding that he would be surprised if it does get banned.
Three quick tips
Social media consultant Arik Hanson noted three actionable steps small business owners can take to prepare for a potential TikTok ban:
- Develop a contingency plan
- Save your TikTok content
- Reserve your business’s handles on emerging platforms
One third of small- to mid-size businesses in Minnesota said TikTok is “critical” to their business with over 90% reporting an increase in sales after promoting their products and services on the app, according to a recent TikTok consumer report conducted by Oxford Economics.
In Minnesota, small- to mid-size business use of TikTok supported over 4,000 jobs and contributed $430 million to the state’s GDP in 2023, per the report.
The Supreme Court recently said it would hear arguments on Jan. 10 regarding the constitutionality of the federal law that could ban TikTok. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday asked the court to consider pausing the ban until his administration can pursue a “political resolution.”
Still, some small business owners like Tenpas aren’t wasting time.
“I’m planning for TikTok to not exist,” Tenpas said.
While Cheerware is still posting on TikTok, Tenpas is turning to other means of exposure like YouTube, Patreon and an emailed newsletter with 15,000 subscribers to “nurture my existing audience,” she said, but they are not without their troubles.
“It’s harder to create content when it’s long-form,” Tenpas said, as compared to TikTok or Instagram. “You not only have to run the business, you have to record the experience of it for the internet.”
This year, 70% of Cheerware’s sales came from online and the other 30% from wholesale to coffee shops, bookstores and boutiques.
What’s next?
With a larger Minneapolis studio to grow into, Tenpas has no shortage of ideas on what to do next from pop-up markets to new designs and product development.
“I am excited to do things for Minnesota now that I’m here,” she said. One such example is designing “cafescapes.” Think of a skyline, but instead of commercial highrises, the illustrations showcase iconic buildings from different neighborhoods, she said.
In addition to creating the designs for already existing products, Tenpas said she is looking forward to creating her own products.
One product currently in development is a new type of lid for her drinkware glasses that she said she has yet to see elsewhere on the market.
“I’m really happy that this is what I get to do – making something ordinary a bright spot of your day,” Tenpas said.
Looking for Cheerware?
- Order online at: cheerware.co
- Local pickup at: 2302 NE Kennedy St.
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