Photo by Erin Nelson.
Ragan Stone and Anne Liles, founders of The Travel Studio, stand at the front of the store in English Village on May 10. The Travel Studio is a small travel and lifestyle retail store with a co-working space for travel advisors.
Traveling no longer has to be a luxury, and with a co-working space for independent travel advisors, The Travel Studio, located in Mountain Brook’s English Village, is a new spot for those seeking luxury travel.
Following the pandemic, Anne Liles Travel and Ragan Stone Travel merged together to form an office space as independent travel advisors, to talk and collaborate with others about traveling and resources for clients, and to display gems from abroad in a travel-centric retail store.
Liles and Stone are more than just business partners because they are good friends, too. Both women are affiliates of Departure Lounge, the Austin, Texas, based post agency founded by Keith Waldon. The Travel Studio offers remote memberships for other advisors to gain community and collaboration.
Both agencies want their clients to have a great and unforgettable experience as they travel across the world. They also want to be able to bring back their own goods from their travels to display in The Travel Studio. Both Liles and Stone are world travelers, too.
“I try not to send my client to a place I haven’t been. I have vetted the location and the hotel being in the luxury travel market,” Liles said. “I want to touch and feel it. I must be comfortable knowing that I’ve been there, too.
Stone said, “It is amazing to see the creativity and talent of others around the world and it is exciting to bring those products to Birmingham.”
Liles attributes her love of traveling to her grandparents because they recognized its importance. She remembers scuba diving in the Red Sea in Egypt at the age of 10.
“I felt like there were so many important things to see and experience in the world,” Liles said.
Stone added, “I realized that travel makes us much closer to other people and allows us to see the world from a different perspective. It also helps you get out of your comfort zone and eliminate fears of the unknown.”
Liles said that nothing is the same when she visits a destination a second time and it can be eye-opening around every nook and cranny, especially as she searches for travel products for the studio.
Liles and Stone agreed that Europe and the Caribbean are highly traveled vacation spots during the summer for their clients, but they were also the respective choices to travel for the advisors as well.
“My favorite love is Italy. It takes your breath away,” Liles said.
If traveling abroad is not on one’s ticket today, then The Travel Studio still has a selection of hand-selected travel goods and resort wear for domestic travel in the U.S. The best sellers at the store include the Paravel Luggage line, Lorna Murray hats, Bembien Margot totes and ostrich neck pillows.
As traveling has increased post-pandemic, both Liles and Stone offer advice to clients and future patrons of The Travel Studio in the upcoming summer and fall travel seasons.
“Pack your patience. It is a traveling world in full force out there. Spend extra money on VIP in the airports because it has been very crowded,” Liles said.
“Remember that traveling is not a perfect process,” Stone said. “There will be something that inevitably goes wrong, but that’s part of getting out and seeing the world. But, in the end, it is worth it.”
Liles and Stone invite other travel advisors and destination management companies — like those from Italy, Greece or Africa — to come to The Travel Studio and give presentations, collaborate and learn from them about the luxury travel business.
“It’s been quite helpful in Jefferson County,” Liles said.
“We have been so impressed and humbled by the support of our local community,” Stone said. “We really set out to do something different and appreciate each time we see a new guest walk into the store. Anne and I always say that we’re still learning how to run the business the best way possible, and I think we always will be, but we’ve had a ton of fun so far and look forward to what’s to come.”
The Travel Studio is located at 2012 Cahaba Road and is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit thetravel-studio.com for more information.
