On Saturday, two business operators will graduate from the Main
Street Mercantile with the opening of their own business at 82 Main
St.
Amber Kalac, owner of Blueberry Hill Country, and Doris Acre,
owner of Keeping Ewe in Stitches, will open their joint venture
just four doors up from where they began.
“The Mercantile was a good place to get started,” Acre said
Tuesday, explaining she had never run a business before. She opened
her specialty yarn and supplies booth in the Mercantile in
October.
“You couldn’t find specialty yarn around here,” she said,
explaining customers would have to drive to bigger cities to find
what they were looking for. So after she retired, she decided to
open a business offering what wasn’t available here – a move she
would not likely have made if not for the Mercantile.
“I didn’t have to be here every single minute,” she said. The
co-op space at the store was a great learning tool for building the
business. Main Street Manager Diane DeWalt gave Acre the
opportunity to work behind the counter to learn how to make a
business work.
“There’s a safety net here,” Acre said of the Mercantile. “We’re
going to give up a lot of things” with the move.
But both women are looking forward to the opportunity to set out
on their own.
Kalac explained she has business experience, but had worked in
restaurant management in the past. She earned her retail experience
from being one of the original Mercantile vendors and has served as
day-to-day operator of the Mercantile for about six months.
“Really the goal of the Mercantile is to graduate strong,
healthy businesses,” she said. But leaving isn’t easy.
“I’m leaving one labor of love for another,” she said with a
smile, adding it was a difficult choice. Her business, which is a
wide variety of country decor, candles and Americana, has been the
top seller at the Mercantile for the past nine months, DeWalt
said.
The new location will offer both businesses a chance to expand
their product lines. And for Acre, a chance to carry on her
knitting classes with instructor Joan Debolt.
The move is a success story for Main Street, DeWalt said.
“It’s bittersweet. We’re really going to miss both of them. They
are key employees and key draws. They’ve both built up a strong
customer base.
“It’s great they’ll be only four doors up,” she said. “I
anticipate more foot traffic on the sidewalk. The whole block is
benefiting from this.”
“Hopefully more people will take that leap of faith,” Kalac
said, encouraging other Mercantile vendors to branch out on their
own. “One (store) isn’t a destination. You have to have more than
one.”
“We’ll continue to cross-promote each other,” DeWalt added.
Acre added that the surrounding businesses on Main Street have
been encouraging and welcoming, helping them in any way they
can.
