When customers walk into The Lady Jane Shop, the atmosphere is a warm and exciting space. The store is crammed with items from local artists in every wall, nook and cranny. “[We] want to create an atmosphere that is special, welcoming and calming,” said the store manager, Mary Hairston. Hairston’s goal is to establish a calming environment for the store.
The Lady Jane Shop is a store that sells a variety of items including stickers, cards, aprons and other pieces too. Since Hariston works in the shop, she knows what the bestsellers are. “We sell a lot of stickers, a lot of posters, a lot of jewelry and a lot of cards,” Hairston said. The shop has a wall just for cards and a few big shelves to display and store stickers. Hairston’s favorite piece in the shop is jewelry. “I just love the creativity of the jewelry because the makers are always using different materials and different designs,” Hairston said.
The shop has many different items, and some are from vendors who live in Virginia. These vendors are mostly female owned and it takes many of them to have enough items for this store. There are 25 local vendors who sell their products, and the vendors help the store as much as the store helps them. Without the vendors, the store would have nothing to sell. Without the store, the vendors would not be able to sell their items. Hairston also sells her own work at the shop. She sells watercolor and multimedia paintings. Sara Christensen, the store owner, used to sell things like pillows and jewelry, but she stopped. A lot of the things that are sold in The Lady Jane Shop are handmade, like the paintings.
Hairston gives insight on why she started working at The Lady Jane Shop. “I knew Sara for maybe five years, or more than five years before I started working here. I also had done some shows here.” Then, Hairston saw that there was an open position at The Lady Jane Shop, and she started working there.
Christensen owns The Lady Jane Shop. She started out in education, but she eventually wanted to do something more creative. At first, she sold vintage pieces, but moved on to create this downtown store. This is because she has a passion for supporting local vendors.
The Lady Jane shop is known for several things, including really cute stickers and cards, but They are also known for fostering cats. Christensen fosters cats and keeps them in the shop for the customers to see and play with. She has fostered over 100 cats in her lifetime. Bringing the cats to the store helps them get adopted. The customers see the cat and play with it, and may realize that they want to adopt it.
The Lady Jane Shop moved recently. Last year, they learned that the store had foundation problems and that needed to be fixed. The shop recently opened back up in the original location in June. While the store was being fixed, The Lady Jane Shop was moved into Agora Market, with other vendors.
The decorations in The Lady Jane Shop are plentiful even though the shop is small. Christensen chooses the furniture carefully and makes the space feel bigger than it is. From the crystal chandelier to the posters hanging on the wall, the decor makes this store feel elegant and warm.
“It’s fun to think about all the people that are supported just by this job.”
