Cashing in on Country

by Heather Johnson Durocher [1] and Poornima Apte [2]

Cottage Charms

On a recent afternoon, a customer of Country Cottage dropped in to check out the shop's selection of seasonal decor. That loyal customer bought enough to decorate her entire home for the holidays—and set a new per-customer sales record at the Billings, MT, store.

"I had a $1,000 sale," says store co-owner Patti Kowalczyk, who credits her shop's layout with helping attract customers who happily fork over cash for her products.

At Country Cottage, items are set up "vignette" style, meaning product lines from the same company generally are all placed together. Themes such as "lodge," "seasonal," "children's" and "primitive" also determine the various sections of the shop.

"We're really, really seriously vignetted, and it's all beautifully done," says Kowalczyk, who owns the store with her husband, Ken. "Our store is so big. It's 5,000 square feet, so when you deal with that amount of space, if you don't put everything of a certain company together, it gets lost and it gets confusing."

"Every little area lends itself to its own decor, but everything kind of evolves around country, which is not a style. It's a feeling," she says.

Located in Rimrock Mall, Country Cottage carries an assortment of gifts and collectibles, including quilts, wall hangings, table runners, specialty coffees, Boyd's Bears and Heritage Lace.

Staying extremely customer-focused is critical, says Kowalczyk, who keeps her shop open seven days a week. "Every person who walks through our door is a godsend and we treat them as such," she says. "Everyone gets a beautiful greeting. We never, ever say, 'May I help you?' because they could say, 'No, I'm just looking.' We say, 'We are so happy to have you here today, what can we do to make your day better?' And if they say, 'I'm just looking,' I say, 'Oh, I am so glad you are here, because we have so much to look at.'"

In recent years, Kowalczyk says, "country" gifts have evolved to become more contemporary.

"It used to be frills and ruffles and checks and blue and white," she said. "It's definitely not that—it's a more sleek, nice, comfortable look."

For all its changes, country style will always be a passion for Kowalczyk, who initially ran her shop out of a 400-square-foot building in the small Montana town of Judith Gap. She purchased the store from a friend in the late 1990s, running it while owning and operating the town's mercantile with Ken.

In 2000, the folks from Rimrock Mall came calling, asking if the Kowalczyks would be interested in relocating their store some 200 miles away, in Billings. "We just did a lifestyle change," says Kowalczyk, the mother of two grown children. "We sold our grocery store, we came to Billings, we built a new store. We moved in January and opened that March. It was crazy."

They've never looked back. Seven years later, the store is going strong, employing 10 people and attracting customers from all over. The couple likens the store to being "a small-town atmosphere in a big city."

"The challenge," she says, "is keeping your cost competitive with the big-box stores and offering the wonderful customer service—the wonderful little things that keep people coming back to you."

Kowalczyk says retail has been extremely rewarding. "I'm so positive and so aggressive—you have to be aggressive. I have a monster passion," she says.

Primitive Treasures

Susie's Bittersweet Treasures started as a germ of an idea more than 10 years ago, when Susan Gordon and her friends were tired of driving miles to find shops that stocked country and primitive decor.

With some friends, she decided to make some "treasures" and sell them at a local craft fair. Many years later, Gordon was so taken with the idea that she decided to open a primitive and country decor shop in Rochester, NH. Susie's Bittersweet Treasures opened its doors in August 2001, and Gordon has not looked back since.

The store, which has four part-time employees, stocks candles, potpourri, dinnerware, seasonal items, birdhouses, pillows and many other varieties of home decor. Gordon says the primary emphasis is on superior customer service. "My staff and I continue to make that effort to meet that goal each day, and in the process we have had the opportunity to meet lots of wonderful people, share many decorating ideas and even get to know many of our customers on a more personal level," Gordon says.

Customers who come back happy are her ultimate reward, Gordon says. "They are happy with their homes—now that they have found us to help them with home decor," she says. Gordon describes her clientele as smart and savvy. "They are very careful with their purchases and really want what they buy. They are aspiring to make their homes into a well-loved, warm place, reminiscent of olden times where their children can make their own memories."

Gordon got into the business by making many of the products she sold, but she says she no longer has the time for that. However, her father makes many items for the store—including birdhouses, blanket boxes and jelly cabinets—and her nephew paints them.

Gordon says timely delivery of products was once challenging, but is now under control. What continues to be a challenge is keeping displays fresh and appealing. "I am always coming up with new ideas and strive to remain true to my style," Gordon says.

She hopes her store will continue to grow and that 10 years from now, Susie's Bittersweet Treasures will still be a place where friends can visit and get refreshed and rejuvenated.

A believer in keeping it local, Gordon encourages many area artists to showcase their work in her store.

"I love my local artisans. They help me make my shop different from other shops," she says. The artists can also customize products: dolls, pillows, folk-art paintings. That helps strengthen the store's customer-service motto—make people feel special and important—Gordon says.

Gordon says there is a natural attraction to country decor that is irresistible. According to her, country invokes a "warm, comforting, something baking in the oven" kind of atmosphere. "With primitive country decor, the more distressed something is, the more it feels like it belonged to your Nana—and Nana brings us back to those wonderful childhood memories that we all love," Gordon says.

Rags Make Riches

If there is one lesson retailers can learn from Deborah and Gerald Branson, it is this: Perseverance pays.

Deborah has always been a crafts person, so more than 13 years ago she decided she would make a few crafts and sell them at a church in Springfield, IL. The sales results were disappointing: Branson did not sell a single item at the show. "I was determined. I made more things and went to the next show," Branson says. She was ecstatic when this time around, she sold a couple of items.

That was then. Today, The Ragged Fence has a thriving retail (and wholesale) business at a brick-and-mortar store inside an early 1900s house in Springfield. The Ragged Fence also does a lot of business online and ships to international addresses. "We have had customers from as far away as Australia visit our shop," Branson says. The state fairgrounds are down the street from the store, and special events help feed store traffic. The store opened in 2003 and employs two.

The Ragged Fence sells items that the Bransons make and country products from vendors. Deborah makes all kinds of primitive dolls, and a variety of stuffed animals including snowmen, sheep, cats and more. Faux food items such as apple pie and carrots made with muslin are also very popular. Gerald Branson, Deborah's husband, makes wood shelves, cabinets and other small pieces of furniture. The handmade goods have been so popular that the Bransons now sell these items wholesale to fellow retailers. "With a shop and a website, the days are filled with creating orders, helping customers and keeping up with daily tasks in the shop," Deborah Branson says, adding that sometimes she and Gerald work such long hours that they forget what day of the week it is. The store occupies four rooms, and the basement serves as the workroom.

The biggest challenge to running the business, Branson says, has been keeping up with the demand for the handmade items. "People love our work, and many come for the handmade things, especially during the holidays," she says.

The Bransons are delighted with their store's success, calling it their biggest reward. "Just knowing that we have been truly blessed and, most of all, the wonderful compliments we get when customers visit our shop, has been great," Branson says. She is also happy that she gets to meet a variety of people. "We have several out-of-state customers who make the time to find our store during their travels," she says. Branson says local people visit often, and that many have become good friends. One such friend, Fran Hawkins, who owns the online business Star Dust Wishes, also sells her products at The Ragged Fence.

The Bransons have help from their immediate family: daughter Stacy and even 7-year-old Tyler, their grandson, who lives with them, jumps in and helps with chores, Branson says.

Branson says she and her husband have always loved the old-time look that is country decor, adding that it is also what draws her customers to the style.

"It brings us back to a time most of us do not remember, a time when life was simple and the days were not as hurried and rushed as they are today," Branson says.