#bensonnc

We have lots of orders to ship this morning!  FedEX is here with an order!  This is the order with the surprise.  What is it? It’s dumb. Just a printed wine bottle gift bag and a note pad. Maybe new products they carry? I’ll find out later. But the notepad is CUTE!

The other day (weeks ago really) I was telling you that I’ve always wanted to go check out some of my fellow gift shops that I knew of in other towns. I wanted specifically to see these small towns and see what they look like. What makes a good “downtown” and if gift shops and small businesses can thrive there. We have been analyzing this for MANY years as you can imagine, since opening our own small business 5 years ago.

TODAY we checked out Salvaged Heirlooms in Benson. We know these guys that own it because they used to make and sell candles that we sold at the shop. They’ve moved on to much bigger things! (They still do candles) Their store is CLOSED for now. But Benson’s MAIN DRAG downtown is sooooo what I imagine a real small town downtown should be! There are chamber businesses like lawyers, CPAs, Banks and such that occupy the store fronts there. There’s a library, a hardware store, and a museum. ALL the things that should and would DRAW people there to shop. Plus, there are many many cute boutiques among the 3-4 blocks of store fronts. It seems all store fronts are filled. It’s great to see a full “downtown”. Now, Benson may have the best of all scenarios.

It’s right at the crossroads between I-95 and I-40, and for busy backroads of Hwy 27 and 50, so there’s a lot of traffic flowing through here. That’s best case for all the shops and businesses there.

This encourages us to continue seeking out these cute little towns and their shopping districts. Remember 15 years ago, these little downtowns were absolutely VACANT and abandoned. I, for one, am glad they are having a comeback.

Dinner: Impossible burgers and tots

Music: Oli Hazard