On the last day of the 2025, A+ Garage Doors founder Carrie Kelsch posted a message on Facebook. It began “2025 taught me a lot. Not everything went the way I expected, but everything gave me something — perspective, strength, gratitude and growth.”
Interested in taking a trip around the entire world at the low cost of
Founder Carrie Kelsch says reviews, customer relationships and employee support define success for her growing business.
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
On the last day of the 2025, A+ Garage Doors founder Carrie Kelsch posted a message on Facebook. It began “2025 taught me a lot. Not everything went the way I expected, but everything gave me something — perspective, strength, gratitude and growth.”
The entrepreneur who founded the company 20 years ago admits she entered the industry without experience.
“I had no business being in the garage door business,” Kelsch said. “I didn’t know at all what I was doing.”
What she did have, however, was a strong instinct for business and people. Rather than positioning herself in the field, Kelsch focused on the office: building systems, supporting employees and ensuring customers received expert service.
“Still, to this day, if you want me to go out and repair your garage, it’s not going to happen. I will take someone to give the customer the best service, since technology is constantly changing,” she said, adding her role is to ensure processes and employees are supported.
This past year, Kelsch stepped into a more public role as the face of A+ Garage Doors, overseeing a marketing and logo refresh while focusing on the “A+ Way” – a people-first approach that prioritizes employees so they can best serve customers.
“From the consumer’s perspective, they’re looking at this going, ‘Look, I don’t care if your company’s successful; I don’t really care that your company grew; and I don’t care what the revenue is.’ What they care about is the service and the reviews and that is important,” she said.
That focus is reflected in the company’s increase in customer reviews. In the past year, A+ Garage Doors’ reviews climbed from nearly 21,000 to more than 27,000 five-star ratings.
“Those reviews are our customer feedback of how we’re doing. I can’t be out there on every single job, so I need to get feedback from our customers to see how they feel like we’re doing,” Kelsch said. “The fivestar reviews tell us if our guys have a great attitude, which we really promote bringing our best selves to work. It tells me they took care of the customer and gave them a fivestar experience, going above and beyond their expectations.”
In addition to attitude and customer care, she expects exceptional integrity, quality and teamwork from her staff.
“From answering the call to completing a job, there’s multiple people in the whole process and we always do what’s right because that is what we do and because we have integrity. We provide quality products and service. The reviews let us know how amazing our quality was, or if we need to improve,” Kelsch said. “We work together to succeed.”
Those values guided the company’s expansion from a startup in her Herriman garage to a business with 150 employees in offices in Salt Lake City, St. George and Las Vegas.
“From the beginning, we’ve focused on customer care. We realized to take care of your customers, your employees need to be happy,” she said.
Kelsch said the company culture and success grew from those principles.
“Once you get a positive employee group, then they naturally have integrity, and work as a team, and it makes it a fun place to work. We built on that. With the customers, we realized when we offered them the best quality product, it makes it easier for the employees and it makes their job easier, which comes back and makes the customer happy,” she said.
That culture helped drive a strong financial year. A+ Garage Door surpassed its $45 million goal, closing the year at $48 million.
“That doesn’t define who we are. I don’t want the consumer to think, ‘you’re too big to care about me.’ I want them to know they’re the top priority,” Kelsch said.
Even with the growth, she said the year also revealed areas for improvement.
“I think there was some inefficiencies that fell by the wayside. We’re focusing on becoming more efficient,” she said, adding employee workloads become heavy as systems lagged.
The company is now implementing new technology to streamline processes and prevent issues from falling through the cracks, which can result in a less than fivestar review.
Those less-than-perfect reviews, though rare, are taken seriously.
“If we don’t get a five-star review, we contact them and find out why we didn’t exceed their expectations. We are going to learn from that experience and trace it back to where there was a miss in our communication or a miss in our process and fix it,” Kelsch said.
When a customer needs a repair or a new garage door, she said they should ex-
pect clear, friendly communication from the initial call through service, including technician updates, on-time arrival, a full diagnosis and multiple repair or replacement options.
“We can do most repairs the same day as we carry most parts on our trucks,” she said.
Kelsch said building a company the past two decades has required difficult decisions and accountability.
“I make the tough decisions based on what works for a healthy balance of what works for the employees and what works for the company,” she said.
Kelsch makes herself accessible to customers.
“I want people to know at the end of the day, if somebody made a mistake, it’s on me,” she said. “I’m someone they can reach out to.”
The accountability extends to employee recognition. Each month, A+ Garage Doors holds a pep rally to celebrate achievements and milestones.
“We bring them on stage and give them gifts; we do a ton of shout outs. It used to be the management team did the shout outs. Now all the company does shout outs for each other. It builds up their fellow employees when they’re cheered,” she said.
That emphasis on recognition reflects a deeper sense of gratitude which defines her leadership and the company’s direction.
“I’m definitely grateful for all my employees,” Kelsch said. “I’m grateful for them believing in the vision of what we can accomplish. They believed in the vision that we could grow…and still offer our quality product and service.”
I’m
Interested in taking a trip around the entire world at the low cost of a half-gallon of gas? – No bags to pack or passport needed, and you can skip the jet lag too. It sounds unbelievable, but it’s true—Courtney Smith’s Wanderlust boutique has just opened its doors in Holladay City. When you step inside, you’ll be whisked away to 197 countries around the globe.
Smith has traveled to 120 countries and is more than willing to share her travel experiences, as well as budget-friendly travel tips, from her time traveling the world as a tourist and working for the United Nations. She has a personal connection and an intriguing story to accompany the gift items in her store, which come from all seven continents. When you visit her charming shop, be sure to ask her about her incredible experience swimming with whale sharks in the Philippines.
“I want people to know that if they want to travel, where there is a will, there is a way. You just have to do your research,” said Smith. “When
people visit my shop, I’m excited to share information about traveling. For example, if you want to go to Japan this month, if you book your flight out of LA to Japan and take your own flight from Salt Lake to LA, you’ll save close to $1000. I’m great at finding cheap flights and finding everything on a budget. If you’re not quite ready to book that flight to Japan, right now, Japanese rice bowls with resting chopsticks is one of Wanderlust’s bestsellers.”
A Holladay resident, Smith attended Cottonwood High School. After graduation, she decided she wanted to travel to Australia, but she lives by a strict travel code: if a flight costs more than $500, that’s too much to pay. Although she purchased a plane ticket, she also applied for a work visa to facilitate an extended stay, thereby alleviating concerns about the cost of a return trip. Once the work visa expired, and she still wanted to explore more of Australia, she applied for a student visa.
“Due to an extended trip to Australia, I ended up going
By Collette Hayes c.hayes@mycityjournals.com
Courtney Smith’s Wanderlust boutique has just opened its doors in Holladay City. When you step inside, you’ll be whisked away to 197 countries around the globe.
After leaving her job at the United Nations, Courtney Smith now travels to buy merchandise for her store, Wanderlust. Her five-yearold daughter, Nora, travels with her most of the time and has already visited 33 countries. (Photo
melody of Vivaldi’s “Spring” flows from a miniature music box adorned with Egyptian motifs.
to college in Sydney, Australia. I graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in International Relations,” Smith said. “For ten years, I worked for the United Nations in the Human Rights Department, working directly with refugees. However, the pandemic prevented me from providing contracts in that role.”
After the pandemic, Smith considered returning to the UN, but now had her fiveyear-old daughter, Nora, to think about. “I realized this would be a great opportunity to start my business. I had always dreamed of owning a shop in Holladay. Since I grew up here, I consider it my hometown” Smith said. “I continued traveling with the focus of buying merchandise for my new store. Now, Nora travels with me most of the time and has already visited 33 countries. Honestly Wanderlust is just in my blood. A lot of my traveling has been just because I want to go to every country in the world.”
The most delicious aspect of Wanderlust is the international, flavorful treats. Additionally, numerous global cookbooks can transform any ordinary meal into an extraordinary event.
“I try to provide all international products,” Smith said. “We have a unique collection of cookbooks from different countries, and I often try to find cookbooks in the primary language of the country. I’m a people person, and I love talking with customers all day, whether it’s about a cookbook or the beautiful lamps I just brought home from Turkey. My customers often become good friends.”
Many unexpected treasures can be found in the smallest of corners at Wanderlust. With a turn of a tiny crank, the enchanting
The candles and body care essentials available at Wanderlust are fragrant and comforting. The scent of Paris Luxurious Hand Soap transports one to the lavender and sunflower fields near the village of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence where these flowers gently sway in the warm summer breeze. The intoxicating scent rolls across the fields, heavily perfuming the air.
Next to the vibrant cut glass of the handmade Turkish lamps sits an old brass oil lamp that resembles a genie’s magical lamp. It prompts one to pause and wonder if it might be the prison of a once all-powerful genie.
In April 2026, Smith will be on her way to Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Kazakhstan is the most unique place Smith has visit-
ed, and the Czech Republic is her favorite destination because she says, “It feels like stepping into a fairy tale.”
“The cobblestone streets, castles, and colorful old buildings of the Czech Republic create a magical atmosphere that feels unreal,” Smith said. “On top of that, it’s surprisingly affordable, so you can explore and enjoy so much without spending too much. I also love the Gothic architecture — every corner seems to tell a story. The libraries are incredible, especially in Prague, where you can find some of the most beautiful reading spaces in the world.”
Smith gives back to the people and to the communities she visits. A portion of every Wanderlust purchase goes to charitywater.org, a non-profit organization striving to bring clean drinking water to every person in the world.
Wanderlust Location
1949 Murray-Holladay Rd, Holladay, UT 84117
Hours
Monday - Saturday 10 AM - 7 PM
Contact Instagram: @wanderlustslc
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