New Danville opens store
The newest shop to open at Market Street features primarily bath and body products, garden and kitchen items, tea party essentials and specialty pens, that were made here in Montgomery County by the hands of the community members and volunteers of New Danville.
The newest shop to open at Market Street, the New Danville Store, may look like it could furnish the set of the BBC drama, “Downton Abbey,” but the products didn’t come from England.
The tiny store’s wares, primarily bath and body products, garden and kitchen items, tea party essentials and specialty pens, were made here in Montgomery County by the hands of the community members and volunteers of New Danville, a community in Willis where adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities can live and work.
“Part of our mission is to become self-sustaining,” said Kathy Sanders, chief executive officer of New Danville. “We want to be able to provide services or products and minimize the amount of fundraising and grants that we would need.”
The opportunity to sell the community’s specialty products in the 715-squarefoot space that once housed a flip-flop store arose as a miraculous coincidence, Sanders believes.
The New Danville community has sold its products at the annual fundraiser, Tea on the Lawn, and received many requests for a way to buy the products throughout the year. They were sold at the community’s consignment store at the Conroe Outlet Mall, but it didn’t seem to be the right venue.
They toyed with the idea of selling at farmers markets or approaching boutique to sell their products, but that didn’t pan out, Sanders said.
She happened to mention these thoughts to a friend in early September and found out that Market Street was looking to donate one of the empty retail spaces to a local charity for fundraising throughout the holiday season, from Oct. 1 through Christmas Eve.
The New Danville team set to work to make everything come together in less than a month. They amped up production at the community, rallied 50 volunteers to run the store throughout the week, designed a logo and set up the boutique-style shop that sits across from Potbelly’s.
Selling specialty bath and body products, honey from New Danville’s bee hives stored in vintage glass jars, elegant serving bowls and teapot sets, embroidered casserole warmers and tea cozies, birdhouses made in the community’s woodshop, homemade vanilla and handmade pens, the store caters to a niche market.
“Just the right gift … perfect for that person that has everything,” Sanders said. “For the gardener, the cook, the lady who loves to entertain.”
And without the overhead costs of paying rent for the space or salaries for the shopkeepers, the proceeds from the store will directly benefit the programs at the New Danville community, which currently works with 100 people a day and has a waiting list for housing opportunities.