The Garret

“This is a gorgeous silver plate” noted an interested customer looking curiously at a centerpiece of a collection that was sporadically placed on the table to the right. The woman was wearing a cream turtleneck sweater with Burgundy pants black heels with a brown purse in the crease of her elbow. The room was lit with warm ambient lights coming from gold sconces on the cool gray walls of the store. A light cinnamon and vanilla scent swirled through the air as the sound of Kate’s shoes clicked on the wooden floor and she quickly walked over to the jewelry case. “Welcome back honey,” she said with a comforting smile. She wore a light brown cable knit sweater with black dress pants. She reached her hand up to brush her short brown hair out of her face while she put her glasses loosely on the bridge of her nose. She seemed frazzled with a panicked look when she noticed some boxes of new products that were stacked by three against the back wall of the store. The shine of something catches the sunlight peeking through the storefront windows, a glance led to the ring display filled with all sorts of gems and metals. 

Carefully Leaning over the glass cabinet to see the jewelry, the doorbell chimes as the shop door opens, to be greeted by a warm smile by almost a grandpa-looking man wearing a black sweater with a light blue collar peeking out of it and khaki pants, who goes by Pat, he is the only other employee at the shop and Kate’s husband. Pat helps around the store.

mostly unpacking new items, and taking turns checking out customers who are really to pay.  Kate does most of the pricing of the stock before putting them out for sale.

                                                        

             (Figure 1)                 

The sound of her shoes fills the room as she begins a brisk walk to the back.

As she begins to open the new boxes, the bell rings again she stops suddenly to think for a

second. Then swats her hand to say he got it. She begins to open the smallest box as the

mutter sounds of Pat and the customer begin to joke with one another. From the box,

she pulls out many ring boxes of all shapes, sizes, and colors. She starts by opening each

one to admire all of them one by one as the conversation in the store continues.

 

The Garret’s- hours are from twelve to five Wednesday, through Friday, every week. Kate

shared the reasoning behind this, “I wanted it to feel like a hobby or passion to me and not

a job.”  You could see the effort she puts forward and the love she has for her business in all

the displays in her store and small-town markets on the main street. “She makes you feel

very welcome, and she always has something for any occasion.” Added Fr. Frank Karwacki

who was Kate’s boss for twenty years when she worked at the local church “Our LadiesMount Carmel” parish as an Office Manager.

(Figure 2)

 The idea to open The Garret came to Kate almost fifty years ago when she would visit with her grandmother and spend hours looking through her garret and eating the various types of homemade food she would make Kate. Soon she realized her love for antiques and wanted to open her own business, after many conversations she had a very good support system to be able to open her shop. She spent almost forty-five years shopping and hand-picking each one of the items that are now in her shop. After some time of planning out the shop she also worked on some handmade goodies like pizzelles and limoncello almonds and some clothes too. Even after only a short time of being open, it shows how inviting and comforting the shop is to Kate and any customer that walks into The Garret.  Overall, Kate prides herself as a hard-working small business owner. She proves herself through her shop and everything inside it, carefully hand-picked and well-thought-through, you’ll be sure to find at least something that you will love.

(Figure 3)