# 22 DAYS LEFT TO INVEST!! + Quarterly Investor Report | Tender Loving Empire

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/feed/295731
- Entity ID: wefunder:feed_item:295731
- Published at: 2026-04-06 21:36:48 UTC
- Updated at: 2026-04-06 21:38:41 UTC

## Author
Jared Matthew Mees

## Subject
Tender Loving Empire

## Content
Tender Loving Empire Investor Update - Q1 2026Hello to all 230 of our incredible community investors (and to our future investors)! I’m feeling so much gratitude and starting to our group of investors might just be the coolest club in town. You’re a group of big-hearted, impressive, talented, and generous people—and we’re fired up to keep doing this work with you in our corner.We have lots of exciting updates to share, and we want to acknowledge that each of you helped make the good news in this report possible. Thank you for being such an important part of our story.In this update, we will share:Financial performance highlights from Q1Fundraising Progress & IMPORTANT Requests (Please see below)2026 strategy and highlights Financial Performance and outlookQ1 of 2026 was an incredibly strong start to the year.We beat last year’s top-line revenue by 21%We beat our overall projections by 10%We beat last year’s web sales by 79%Foot traffic in our Portland street stores was up 15% YoY, and those stores beat last year’s sales by 25%!The PDX construction project that temporarily reduced traffic and sales in our E-concourse store is coming to an end, and we’re already starting to see positive effects.PDX airport store sales were up 12.5% YOY(Our Concourse D store performed 49% better this February than last year)Our SeaTac airport store was up 14% YOY (In March alone, we did 32% better than last year)We also saw increases in conversion rate and average basket value.We’ve now paid out $21.1 million to our creative community.We have been celebrating internally because these wins were hard-earned. Our team worked hard throughout 2025 to control expenses, adjust buying strategies, bring in more of what you love and find operational efficiencies.This year, we’re turning a corner back to healthy profitability and are on track to hit $8.3 million in revenue with a 7%-8% EBITDA.Fundraising Progress & RequestsWe’ve raised ~$670k through WeFunder and individual angel investors. Those funds directly translated into all the good news above. Thank you!We are nearing the end of our fundraising campaign and we need your help to finish strong.APRIL 30TH IS THE LAST DAY TO INVEST ON WEFUNDER. After April 30, we will continue working with individual angel investors at a minimum of $25K.We need another total additional amount of $200–300K to close the round, including $100K in the next couple months to support our new store opening.Here’s how you can help us get there: ⭐Attend our WeFunder Closing Party on 4/17 and invite friends!Come hang with other investors and friends of TLE, enjoy drinks, snacks, a DJ and 20% off the whole store. The party will be at our West End location on SW 10th Ave. 5:30-9pm.RSVP Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wefunder-closing-party-with-tle-tickets-1984981444936?aff=oddtdtcreator⭐Share our WeFunder account with 5 friends and tell them why you invested in TLE.⭐Comment on and repost our fundraising-related posts on Instagram and Brianne’s posts on LinkedIn.⭐Consider an additional investment yourself. The future is looking bright for TLE and we’d love to share even more of our success with you.2026 strategy and highlights Our high level company goals for 2026:Strengthen the balance sheetReturn to sustainable profitabilityExecute a profitable Seattle expansionFocus on best-in-class customer experience with scaling in mind Refine and expand curation and community engagementWhat that translates to:Finishing this fundraising round and continuing to pay down growth loan debt.Keeping every member of our team educated and aligned around the P & L and how they impact it.Opening a new store near Pike Place in late Spring/early Summer.Completing an RFP for a second SeaTac airport locations (would open in 2028 if we win the lease)Overhauling hiring, training, customer service standardization and team accountability to catch up with our growth and put systems in place to support further expansion while maintaining standards and culture.Refining buying and budgeting strategies - Spoiler alert: There are SO MANY new exciting products by incredibly talented makers and artists hitting our shelves this year. You’ll want to stay in the loop to keep an eye on all the goodness.Finding more ways to partner with other members of the community that are mission-aligned.More exciting things on the horizon:We’ll be popping up at the TEDxPortland event this year and hosting their VIP after party at our warehouse on 4/11. I think there’s still a handful of tickets left to the main event. We’d love to see you there!We’ll also be popping up at The Waterfront Blues Festival again this year and will be hosting their VIP event as well.We worked with Borough Homes to dream up a co-branded candle line - the scents are exciting and fresh and the packaging is next level cool. You’ll soon be able to buy our candle line at any TLE store and at New Seasons!Hundreds of new house brand products will hit the shelves in the coming months.More album releases and licensing support deals from TLE Records.Look out for a full calendar of community building, creativity-inducing events and partnerships with some of best & brightest organizations and individuals we know. It’s going to be a fun year! Get involved!Here’s to another year of creativity, community, and rising together. 💛With gratitude and grit,Brianne Jared