
It began this day, the very end of May, this year. We needed to find a home for my internet business, we'd just outgrown having it in my house. This darling little shop, tucked behind the Sparkle grocery store, had become available.
The little shop had been there for some time. I often gazed longingly at it and thought, my oh my......how NICE for the lady who owned it. She'd attended to every detail, it was just perfect for her enterprise as a florist. I would think, hmmm, someday I would love to have a little place like that.
The lady who had built the little store to her every specification eventually lost heart in running it for a variety of reasons, so she sold it to another very nice lady....who also was a florist.
The second lady who owned it called it The Sunflower Seed. She had joy every day, she loved her business here in East Palestine, Ohio. She did a great job and her prices were reasonable, and she was very, very generous with her customers.
Then tragedy struck. Her teenage son was stricken with leukemia. The treatments were exhausting, and they were at the hospital all week, every other week. She put up a closed sign, got rid of the fresh flowers and walked away. As soon as she was able, she put the shop up for rent.
That's when I found it. This dear woman needed someone who would look after her building so she could get her son well, and I needed a home for my business so we could get our heads clear and try to grow it enough to cover our needs. It was a real match. She gave me a five year lease; we moved here at the end of July.
Moving Day this is our moving day video, if you have not seen it.
The move went very well:

We were able to get all the bins and stacks down here on a Saturday, and by Sunday night, we knew where everything was and were up and running again. By Monday night, the place was fully networked and fully functional in every sense it had been, in its previous location---my home. Here's Shelley working at her desk the day before the move:

Once we got the web business back up and able to process orders----actually we didn't skip a beat since on Saturdays we don't pack or process orders, anyway---things were cool. Now the process of trying to make a combination gift shop/teaching area/workshop out front, began.
I had purchased some old furniture from the previous owner which included a pair of old doors that had been hinged together and whitewashed. As I explored possibilities of how I might make a wall to separate the shop from the web business, it occurred to me that a 'wall of doors' might do the trick.
I made a visit to Linda Oliastro's Company Store and asked her if she had any...sure enough she did, and brought them straight down to me.
This is the result:

This is how they looked after I painted, stencilled, decoupaged and distressed them, and hinged them together in pairs so that I could easily re-configure or move them about.
We needed to build a workbench and a large worktable:

Here's my dad planing down the doors on the worktable I had just whitewashed. You can see the workbench behind him, and pegboard is up.
Eventually I added color here and there to the table, a bit of stencilling, a bit of tissue decoupage, a bit of stamping. Here is my signature on the end of the table:

Just above the signature, you can see a scrap of paper decoupaged under the polyurethane. Those are my dad's rough plans for the worktable and bench. I found them all crumpled up and they touched my heart. I tore them in half, put half there and the other half on the opposite corner of the worktable. This way my dad is always with me. ;-)
Eventually I purchased some more fixtures for the shop:




But as I looked at them day to day, I realized that I was simply decorating a room, not merchandizing a shop.
Hmmm
How to merchandise a shop? I didn't know. But I realized I needed more open space and room to get around things. So I started pushing stuff around until it just seemed 'better'.
It wasn't long before I made myself at home on my new worktable and bench, and began making a mess!

I had purchased the Hoosier cabinets from the landlady, mostly because I have a love of them and also, because she sold them to me so reasonably, I figured I could sell them at a profit. I realized early on that they would be more of an asset in my workshop than sold to someone else. On the dark Hoosier on the end, I have a work surface and under it, a small rolling cushioned stool. Lots of storage in that for display materials and vintage stuff I've squirreled away. In the other---the really messed up light painted one---I have great tool storage, and the drawers work well for our gift boxes, bags and wraps for customers.
Also a place for my mascots to watch over things:

At this point, I had about two months to get EVERYTHING made for the shop. I began with only a handful of items. Now I had to fill this place!
Here is some of the jewelry:












And displays being filled:


Of course....we can't forget that incredible neon sign that arrived as a gift from over 35 Facebook pals:

and my front display window...for now...

Actually there have been a number of changes to this window.....we have a different table and the corkboard is gone. I'm sure there will be many more as I peruse Pinterest constantly for great new ideas!
It was getting close to opening day.....so just a couple of weeks ago I made these things:





I found that my old printers tray made the BEST display rack!



Friday, November 23rd, we decided to open our doors. Rob helped me to make a video tour for you:
Video Tour of B'sue Boutiques Brick and Mortar Shop, Opening Day
It only took me 24 years to get here. And after all these years, I am still banging my head trying to figure out what sort of merchandise people want, and how I can bring it to them at the prices they are able to pay. Fortunately, I've done well enough that we manage to keep hide and hair together.
I DO know one thing for sure, though, about what people want---besides merchandise:
They want:
friendship
concern
willingness to help
a hearing ear
understanding
information and education
fairness
.....and those B'sue goody bags!
I've done that on the internet, and continue to learn how to do it better. Now I get to do it in person.
Please come and spend some time with me, I would love to meet you:
B'sue Boutiques
42 1/2 Garfield Avenue
East Palestine, Ohio 44413 behind the Sparkle grocery store
I will have the coffee pot on, and a bowl full of chocolate to share.
If you cannot come, you can always find us here on the internet:
B'sue Boutiques where we carry just under 7,000 items to help you make beautiful jewelry and lots of perks to make you smile.
Join us at B'sue Boutiques Creative Group at Facebook for fun,sharing and great conversation to help take you on new jewelry making journeys! Consider this your personal invitation!