Sean C. Morgan
Changes are happening along two blocks of Sweet Home’s downtown corridor as businesses are swapping locations, filling a couple of storefronts that have been relatively inactive in recent years.
The bulk of the switcharoos are taking place in the 1000 through 1200 block of Main Street, where Kellie Kem is opening a new beauty shop at the intersection of Main and 12th Avenue, Judy’s Gallery is moving three doors west, Periwinkle Provisions is moving two doors to the west and American Family Video is moving to Periwinkle’s current location. An adult shop is reportedly opening next door to the future site of Judy’s Gallery.
Periwinkle Provisions are planning to move and hold a soft opening on April 2, “Lord willing,” said owner Brandi Hawkins. She has a lot of work to do between now and then, so it could be mid-April before she opens in the new location.
Perwinkle will move from 1101 Main St. to 1027 Main St., the site of a collectibles store owned by Brad Newport.
Newport’s effort there will help define the ambiance Periwinkle is attempting to present.
“We want people to come in and feel a sense of community,” Hawkins said. She wants it to be something akin to a general store in the early 1900s or 19th century.
Neighboring Oregon Prospecting and Rita’s Relics, owned by Rita Houston, and Trash to Treasure, owned by Nancy Patton, share that vision and have been making improvements to their stores to capture that theme, Hawkins said.
Everybody, including Newport, who owns the new Periwinkle location, and the neighbors, is on board, she said. “To see everybody getting excited about the vision is encouraging.”
Hawkins decided to move after Newport came by as a customer, she said. He asked why she hadn’t finished remodeling her store. She told him the owner of the building had been considering selling.
At the same time, American Family Video was looking at moving to increase its available space, Hawkins said. Soon, the businesses worked out a plan to move, a win-win for everyone involved.
“I’m thinking of it as the great Sweet Home shift,” Hawkins said. “It’s going to fit the paradigm of what we’re trying to get in this area.”
The new shop has a wooden floor left over from Trash to Treasure, which moved to the old Home Town Drug building a couple of years ago. It will include 19th-century furniture left over from Newport’s planned shop and from a consignment seller from Lebanon.
The exterior of the building, called the Fallon Building, which in recent years has been the home of McCammon’s Furniture and prior to that, Crescent Video, will receive a makeover in keeping with the designs produced through the Commercial Exterior Improvement Program.
The CEIP program, funded by Oregon Jamboree dollars through the Sweet Home Economic Development Group and Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort, will help pay for the exterior improvements.
Economic Development Director Brian Hoffman, who administers the improvement program, has contributed a lot of details, Hawkins said. They were details she wouldn’t have seen on her own, and she has enjoyed working with the CEIP designer.
Community support has been great, Hawkins said. “Community members are willing to help us move, so it’s just been really exciting.”
Periwinkle Provisions sells natural foods and supplements, Hawkins said. She is a nutritional therapy practitioner and herbalist. She has the largest supply of bulk items in the valley, with more than 650 sold out of her store.
Judy Dean shares some of her artwork, including a painting and cast horse’s head, inside her store, Judy’s Gallery. She will soon move three doors down the block on Main Street.
Judy’s Gallery, which has been at 1235 Main St. since June, will move to 1227 Main St.
Owner Judy Dean is hoping to be moved by the beginning of April, but she is waiting for the previous business to finish moving out.
The new location is more than twice the size and costs less, said her husband, Dennis Dean.
The existing gallery location is covered in cedar, and she has an allergy to it, she said. They’re planning to remodel the new location.
But Dennis Dean said it will probably take a year to get the remodel finished.
The business provides framing, matting, a gallery, art supplies, glass and glass supplies, and Judy Dean teaches art classes in numerous types of media.
She has wanted to work with leather, and after this move she’ll have the necessary equipment.
“Most of this is on hold until we get moved because there’s just not enough room,” she said. “My students just can’t wait to get out of that little room.”
American Family Video will take possession of the existing Periwinkle site after the move, said Kathi Benson, owner. They will begin painting and preparing the new location then, and they plan to move by the first of May.
She said she and her husband, Doug Benson, will provide more details as they get closer to moving.
SHEDG Economic Director Brian Hoffman said he believes business owners are looking to upgrade, to create “critical mass” from a business standpoint.
“I think it’s people looking for better locations for a better image for their businesses, to market their products,” he said.
“If done correctly, they should be able to complement one another, so if someone who goes to Trash to Treasure would also want to go to Oregon Prospecting and Periwinkle Provision. Ultimately, if we can infill around those, we can create a greater desire for people to look at a more viable shopping experience.
“I think business owners are just having fun,” he said. “I really do.”