The Story of Memories of Home Through the Years

Hello Everyone,

Our warehouse sale was a huge success and I think all of you for that. As always I’m looking toward the next event and that is our first autumn event of the season. Mark your calendar‘s for September 7 through the 11th. I am so thankful we are getting products in much easier than we were in the spring.

My social media coordinator said that since I had so many new people sign up for the emails, I should tell a little bit about how our business got started. And I am always wanting to share that story with people because as I look back over the years I am amazed at how the business has morphed into something I never thought possible.

Let’s take a look

We obtained our first retailers license in 1989. Actually, it was just a way for us to make a little money on the side and do shows. I always wanted my girls to be able to greet the public, count change back, and learn how to research things on their own. I can truthfully say they are all masters of that. Each of them has their own business now in some form and are quite successful at what they do. Much better than I am.

We hand-made every item in those days. As a matter of fact, most of the products that were made were made in America. We did not have outside countries making the products for us. However that seemed to change a lot in the 90s. I can remember going to shows that required that we make everything ourselves and looking at the booth next to me and being so amazed that they could come up with so many products so quickly, as I knew how long it took for me to create my items.

Well, duh! Imports were coming in to the handmade shows quicker than you can imagine. I felt frustrated because I abided by the rules. I knew how long it took me to create a snowman and knew I needed to get into something that I could create a lot faster than what I was doing. I began to develop an interest in floral arranging and loved it.

That was my passion for many years and still I love it, but it’s just not selling as quickly as it did in the 90s and early 2000s. That’s OK because then I became interested in interior decorating and I knew this was a new avenue that the Lord was having me explore.

And then it was evident that nobody cared whether something was handmade or not. They wanted good prices and, and I hate to say this, but they didn’t care how long it took to make—just so the price was reasonable. We can’t compete with China. And the thing that was so frustrating, was we had seen the quality go so far downhill that we felt defeated.

However, I loved what I did and was determined to find a new niche. I wanted to stay in the home and create— Create whatever came to my mind. And with the wonderful husband like I had, he could make my dreams come true.

We started doing shows out of our house, but after some things were stolen at one show, I knew I didn’t want it in the house anymore. So my husband allowed me to use his barn. He saw how much joy it gave me and said let’s just make half of my barn into your store.

Well that was great for several years. However, one day he decided he wanted his barn back. I can understand how he felt because I would not want somebody taking away half of my barn either. So we built the barn that we are in now.

We still do some shows, but the shows are not like they were back in the day. We’re finding out that having it here in the barn is a great way to showcase our products and not have to go very far to do it. I can be home when my special needs son comes home from work and I don’t have to go anywhere else for my job.

I get excited when I start getting my products that I buy at market, but I still try to keep the quality high and the price is decent. I do know that bigger companies may be able to buy in higher quantities and maybe get a better price. But I have so many wonderful customers that have appreciated all the work we do in hunting products while we’re at market. I try to find unique items and then I love to embellish them and make them my own.

Most of you know my daughter, April, handles the clothing here in the shop. She had always made window treatments and done superb upholstery work. However, while she still handles the clothing she has gone a different direction with her career. She still does some window treatments and upholstery, but has learned that she has to get paid for her time. So we charge accordingly.

A few years ago I thought I wanted to open a store in Wichita. I talked with my husband about it and he strongly advised me not to. At the time I didn’t feel he was right about his advice but decided I would take it anyway because I respect his opinion so much. However, now that I’m older I realize that I love the way my business is run now and quite truthfully, I wouldn’t want it any other way. As he told me, if I owned a store I would not be able to have time to create. I would be running the store and I hate paperwork. He doesn’t get paid enough, but he does all of that kind of work for the business. Yay!