By David Fenker
david@nmpaper.com
NORTH MANCHESTER – Last summer, Bill Leonhard and his wife Denise ordered a line of spring clothing for their store, Cottage Creations, not knowing if they would have space to sell it.
After discussions with Matt Mize, owner of the building Cottage Creations is located in, the Leonhards were able to expand their business and open a boutique.
“The major part of the expansion is the boutique. My wife and I talked about it last summer and ordered the spring clothes, and then I went to Matt [Mize] and told him I was expanding my inventory and was interested in renting more space if he ever moved,” Leonhard said.
Mize told Leonhard that he had plans in the works regarding the part of the building where his law office was located, and when Mize moved his offices to their new location he rented the space to Leonhard.
“We wanted to have it done by Christmas, but the timing didn’t quite work out,” Leonhard said.
“After [Mize] moved, we had to do the construction, then we had to set everything up.”
The construction work eliminated a hallway separating the two offices, and made aesthetic improvements to the new space needed due to the difference in ceiling heights.
“We’ve added a dressing room, so the ladies can try on the clothes. We’re carrying jewelry from My Saint My Hero, which is made in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Part of the proceeds from the jewelry sales goes there,” Leonhard said.
The boutique currently carries two clothing lines, Simply Noelle and Victoria.
“When we were deciding what to carry, we wanted to have something you couldn’t find in Fort Wayne or Warsaw or Huntington,” Leonhard said.
“The closest store [selling Simply Noelle] is near Indianapolis.”
In addition to the clothing and jewelry lines, the new space also has a memorials section with garden stones and wind chimes.
In addition to adding the boutique, Leonhard used the new space to widen aisle ways and spread out products more.
“We really wanted to open things up. Things used to be so close you could barely walk through the store,” he said.
“We were able to bring our kid’s stuff out too. It used to be tucked away in a back corner, but now we have it right in front. We had one lady come in last week and ask when we started carrying items for kids – we’ve had it for two years, it’s just been hidden in the back.”
A large part of the reorganization occurring within the store is to improve the workflow for the employees.
Currently, some supplies for floral arrangements are stored in the basement, while the workspace is in a room between the basement and main level. With the new space Cottage Creations gained on the same level as the workroom, Leonhard plans to move those supplies up and to rearrange the workspace to provide both more room and more efficiency.
“We’ll be bringing the helium and ribbons for the balloons upstairs [to the main level of the store], so when someone is up front we don’t have to run downstairs,” Leonhard said.
For those who haven’t been in yet, Cottage Creations features a wide variety of gifts, with new items cycling through each season. Brands include Woodwick candles, Ty stuff animals, Mud Pie children’s clothing and Willow Tree ornaments, in addition to the new lines offered in the boutique. Both live and silk custom floral arrangements are available as well, and they do deliver.