Shop owners team up for South Hills Spring Stroll
Mary Beth Hartnett, left, and Lisa Pecina Carper are among the proprietors participating in the first South Hills Spring Stroll.
The competition out there often isn’t so friendly.
“I think in this retail brick-and-mortar climate, it is easy to slip into that, because it can be tough to keep small businesses going,” Susan Wagner said. “You see them close up all the time.”
The owner of Voilà Interior Style, who so far has kept her Peters Township business going for seven-plus years, has more of a cooperative spirit.
“I believe we’re all stronger together, so if we’re supporting each other, we can actually make small businesses stronger.”
Wagner and the proprietors of three other area shops are teaming up for the first South Hills Spring Stroll, scheduled for April 1 and 2. Also participating in the four-location open house are Mary Beth Hartnett of Quilters Corner in Union Township, Lisa Pecina Carper of Fabulous Finds in Bethel Park, and Rebecca Caimano of Bloom Home Market, also in Peters.
“I’ve actually gone in Susan’s shop for years and just loved it, and dreamed about maybe doing something similar,” Caimano, whose shop at 3823 Washington Road will mark its first anniversary in April, said.
Her business focuses on restoring vintage furniture and carrying distinctive new pieces, along with offering painting and decorating services. Voilà Interior Style, 126 Camp Lane, features all kinds of items for special touches to homes.
“Sometimes Susan has mentioned to me, ‘It’s nice to know what each other has,'” Caimano said, so that they can refer customers to their respective stores if need be.
Organizing the Spring Stroll is Bethel Park public relations and communications professional Judy Falce, who saw the opportunity for a customer-friendly tour of local small businesses.
“I was really pleased that everybody was willing to get together and participate in an event like this,” she said.
A natural choice for inclusion was Fabulous Finds, which Carper opened at 6063 Library Road in 2015.
“When I was in sixth grade, her husband was my math teacher,” she said about Bill Falce, who prior to his retirement taught at Bethel Park’s Neil Armstrong and Independence middle schools.
Carper, whose store features upscale home décor consignments, stressed the prevalence of personal relationships that tend to develop between store owners and their customers.
“I think that everybody who goes to our shops loves that kind of atmosphere,” she said. “So we figured, why not share it with everyone, businesses included.”
Down the street a few miles from her business is Quilters Corner, which Hartnett has operated at 6101 Route 88 for 19 of the 28 years she has been serving customers.
“We carry fabric that they can’t necessarily get anywhere else, and then we teach and we help them learn to create things they will love in their home,” she said. “The fabric can be used in all different ways, not necessarily just quilts.”
She participates in customer events involving multiple stores, such as the annual Western Pennsylvania Quilt Hop Shop, scheduled for June 13-17 with the theme “Fun and Games.”
In the meantime, the South Hills Spring Stroll will take place on a smaller scale, despite Falce’s usual notions that bigger is better.
“We needed to do this together as a core group,” she said, “and then maybe expand to doing something either semiannually or quarterly.”