Patrick and Mary Burch are the owners of Cave + Post, a men’s mercantile and general store in Phoenix. “We love seeing our city grow up and get more hip and cool, and we always wanted to do something to add to that.” Learn about Patrick and Mary Burch…
Hometown: Phoenix
First job: Patrick: Working on a watermelon farm in Avondale when I was 13 (60 to 80-plus hours a week) every summer all through high school.
Favorite ways to spend your free time in AZ: We go to tons of live music and love to eat out at all the amazing restaurants that Phoenix has!
Your biggest accomplishment and why: Being married 25-plus years and raising five kids and still having a close, tight family who loves each other.
The biggest obstacle you overcame: Losing everything in the great recession and digging our way back out.
Someone who inspires you and why: Anyone who sticks to their principles and is vocal about it, even when it is unpopular or not mainstream, or when it might lead to losing friends or being “cancelled.”
Advice to someone pursuing a career path in what you do: Don’t half ass it. Go all in. Put in the time. Don’t skimp. Sleep little, work more. Be professional and classy and don’t compromise on the quality of your business or the quality of your character.
Favorite quote: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Something someone would be surprised to learn about you: Patrick: I can do crazy magic tricks with a deck of cards. Mary: I love animals and want to have a farm with llamas/alpacas, goats, donkeys, probably some squirrel friends, and maybe a pet racoon, to name a few.
What makes someone fabulous: Someone who has strong principles and rock solid character. Classy, kind and full of conviction based on reason and thought, but someone who also can have a thought-provoking, courteous, receptive discussion with people with whom they don’t agree…without vitriol or judgment.