The Local Honey Collective owners Hailey Sardi and Cara McQueeney were left aimless after the downtown Bijou Street fire forced the closure of their storefront.

The boutique owners had operated out of the brick-and-mortar since late 2019. The fire, which occurred last December, left the business with damaged inventory and no space. The next few months were challenging, Sardi said.

“There wasn’t too much space to come by in the downtown area, and so we still were operating our online store and trying to figure out insurance and all of that,” Sardi said. 

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But the tide changed when Lauren Ripko of Meanwhile Block reached out to Sardi and McQueeney, letting them know there was space at the property where they could keep their inventory until they figured things out. 

“She allowed us to use that space to put all of that inventory in, and we did get to go ahead from insurance to do a fire sale, so we just kind of sold everything at cost, as is, with the smoke damage,” Sardi said. “We just got a lot of feedback from customers. They were like, ‘Why don’t you stay here?'” 

And stay they did. Now, the boutique has found a new home alongside two other local businesses in the Meanwhile Block, a creative hub in downtown that occupies a block. The new collaborative, called The Shoppe, is home to The Local Honey Co., Idyll Manor and KaMP Goods. The storefront officially opened on April 6. 

The boutique owners knew Hannah Duffy, the owner of Idyll Manor, and Katie Paris, owner of KaMP Goods, through the downtown Holiday Pop-Up Shop program. Both had been looking for permanent locations, and everything just fell into place, Sardi said. 

“People have been so supportive, and just love the space,” Sardi said. “We all sell something a little bit different, but then we all blend really well together. It was just a way to make it a destination, where people could come and shop multiple shops, and kind of spend their day there.”

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Idyll Manor sells European-inspired home goods and lifestyle products, curated by Duffy. As for KaMP Goods, Paris is a ceramics artist who crafts and sells a range of pottery. The business started as a passion project, Paris said. 

“Back in the day, I was a social worker and was kind of itching for a creative outlet, and eventually kind of found ceramics and just started investing more time and energy into it, and really fell in love with it,” Paris said.

But it wasn’t until about a year ago when she started selling her work. When she was approached by Sardi and McQueeney to be apart of The Shoppe, she decided to take the jump.

“I was like, ‘OK, I’ve never done anything like this before, but I’m up for the adventure and the challenge of it,'” Paris said. “It just kind of really morphed into something I never dreamed. I’ve never planned on having a shop, but it just was a really awesome opportunity, and now it’s a great spot in the community, and hopefully a place that I can share something that I’m passionate about.”

The support system that comes from collaborating with other business owners is something that Paris values, especially as a newer business. 

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“We’re all really supportive of one another and create just a fun environment just for all of our businesses to hopefully thrive; we can bounce ideas off each other and collaborate on events and just support each other through the whole small business journey,” she said. “As someone with very little experience on the business side of things, they’ve been just so kind and generous and offer a lot of wisdom.”

Paris hopes to eventually start hosting pottery workshops at The Shoppe, which has held several events throughout the summer. In the future, The Shoppe hopes to hold more events for the community, including a back-to-school party and a fall festival. 

“The mix of all three shops being together, it’s just such a cool sense of community within the shop that we get to invite the community also into,” Sardi said.