Jul 23, 2008

Closing ‘bittersweet’ for downtown business ownerBy Emily HenryVicksburgPost.com

As customers mill about the Twigs gift shop to say goodbye and check out the sales, owner Christi Bounds said she is both happy and sad to know her popular downtown business will be closing soon.

“It’s bittersweet. I’m so looking forward to retirement, but I’m going to miss my store and my customers and this creative outlet,” she said.

For about seven years, Twigs has filled a void in the Vicksburg market, selling “garden gifts” from its 1409 Washington St. location formerly occupied by Sage’s Bootery. Though Bounds opened her store in 2001, she has been in downtown Vicksburg since 1985, when she was co-owner of Cinnamon Tree, another gift shop, with Karen Ruggles.

Bounds was a downtown entrepreneur before and after the city’s $8.2 million renovation.

“When it looked like Baghdad, I was here,” she laughed. That renovation revitalized the area, bringing more shops and restaurants.

But now Twigs’ shelves are increasingly bare as shoppers snap up the remaining wind chimes and other garden goods. Her shop’s departure from the downtown scene is likely to leave a similar void to the one she filled seven years ago.

“They’ll miss the line of merchandise we carry,” said one-year employee Julie Flowers. “We’re known signature-wise for fountains and chimes and birdhouses.”

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