COOK- When mother and daughter crafters get together, anything can happen and the sky’s the limit for creativity, but Deanna Washek and Kaycee Danielson may have set a new bar with their latest creative endeavor, River Street Vendor Boutique in Cook.
Nestled into a storefront in the lower level of the BIC Realty building at 219 S River St., the boutique offers the opportunity of discovery to shoppers and sellers alike in a quaint and attractive setting that feels like a touch of home in the North Country as well as an extension of its owners.
“Mom and I are both local crafters and enjoy making stuff and bringing visions to life,” Kaycee said. “I’d actually been asked to be a part of a store similar to this, but it was very far away, and I got to thinking, was there anything with this same concept locally. I couldn’t think of anything, so I reached out to my mom and I said, ‘We should open a store.’”
And while some parents might respond to such a thing by placing their hand on their child’s forehead to check for a fever, apparently Deanna instead was all in from the get go.
“My mom has been an intricate part of stocking this place. She has more stuff in here than I do. I’m just like the frontman. It’s been really great,” Kaycee said. “We’ve had a lot of people who have come in and loved the idea and love what we’re bringing, and just like the uniqueness of all this stuff. We’ve been getting really good feedback.”
The first order of business was finding a space where they could bring their vision to life and when they connected with building owner Mark Ludlow they hit paydirt – he had something coming open just a few months after Kaycee and Deanna started looking.
Getting settled in wasn’t too much of a chore, either, Kaycee said.
“There wasn’t a lot of hard labor that needed to be done with this space, it was in great shape, and Mr. Ludlow got it cleaned up for us really well,” she said. “It was more like decorating and bringing our stuff in here and arranging it to make it how we wanted. We were lucky, we got a lot of shelving here and the wood on the walls brings out that rustic up north feel. There’s still a little bit of cosmetic work we’d like to do, but we’re in a good place right now with how it looks.”
Different is good
Deanna and Kaycee have 15 vendors, including themselves, represented in the boutique, but you won’t find each vendor’s items in their own assigned space. That’s part of the plan to foster discovery.
“I like to scatter things throughout the store,” Kaycee said. “I don’t want someone to walk in and see everything that a person has made and decide that they didn’t see something they loved. Then that vendor has lost all opportunity for a sale. If your stuff is kind of throughout the store, they have more opportunity to see your items. Maybe they’ll see your item in a different light, and it’ll catch their attention in a different way. And then you’ve established a sale.”
Another difference from typical vendor-focused shops is that Kaycee and Deanna don’t take a commission on any sales. Instead, they charge vendors a low monthly fee and ask that they work two days a month in the store to facilitate open hours.
“Both my mother and I are nurses, and we work every other weekend,” Kaycee said. “We were really trying to find some people to fill those gaps on the weekends that we work. So far it’s been great.”
Variety is the spice
Shoppers shouldn’t try to pigeonhole River Street Vendor Boutique as strictly a craft shop or a “girly” store.
“There’s a little bit of something for everybody,” Kaycee said. “I don’t want people to think, oh, this, they’ve only got girl stuff in here, because we don’t just have girl stuff in here. I post and display ideas for gift giving for the men in your life, and even the kids in your life. We’ve got everything from clothing to décor, and more.”
“The majority of our vendors are local,” Kaycee continued. “We have three gals from the Grand Rapids area, and we have one of our local sheriff’s deputies who does laser engraving, so he has a lot of intricate ornaments and some cutting boards. It’s a store where people can bring things that they’ve made, things that they’ve found, things that they’ve fixed up and sell them. We have seamstresses, beautiful lighted decorative pieces that were made, hand knit hats, we’ve got soaps, perfumes and jewelry. Our wind chimes here, the beadwork and silver was done by a local gal. We have people who have essentially found and fixed up antique stuff. We’ve got a little bit of everything in here.”
And if you still can’t find something that strikes your fancy, Kaycee and Deanna can hook you up with a vendor for a possible special order, Kaycee said.
River Street Vendor Boutique is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m., except when their Sunday volunteers have church to attend.
“If we’ve got church, we’ve got church,” Kaycee smiled. “We try to honor and respect that. So they come after church and open the shop at noon.”
After a brisk start in November, the pace has slowed a bit in December, and Kaycee said that based on conversations with other local merchants, they might adjust their open hours after the holidays.
To learn more about River Street Vendor Boutique and keep up on the hours, monthly special events and more, check their page on Facebook. They can also be reached via email at 105riverstreetvb@gmail.com.