Find your niche on 66
Mary Beth Babcock has created a new venture called Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on Route 66.
TULSA — After establishing and running Oklahoma-centric business Dwelling Spaces for about a decade, Mary Beth Babcock encountered a fork in her entrepreneurial road.
"I'm kind of in a place in life where I'm trying to figure out what's the next chapter, what's the next step?" said Babcock, 47.
Apparently, she has found it.
Merging her passion for Oklahoma with her affinity for the Mother Road, Babcock has created a new venture called Buck Atom's Cosmic Curios on Route 66. The gift shop at 1347 E 11 in Tulsa is scheduled for a June 1 opening.
"When I had my old shop, we did a little (merchandise) on Route 66, and it just amazed me how many people, how many tourists in the United States were coming through on the route," said Babcock, who no longer operates Dwelling Spaces. "So this go-round, I'm going to focus solely on that."
The venue is at the former site of a 1950s PEMCO gas station. An architectural firm occupied the tiny building in the early 2010s, and most recently, a food truck parked at the site.
The shop will celebrate Route 66 with items such as books, shirts, buttons and signs. Official mascot of the store is Buck Atom, a fictional space cowboy that was conceived by Babcock, drawn and digitized by local artists and named by friends.
Babcock credits Route 66 historian Michael Wallis for stoking her entrepreneurial spirit.
"He and his wife, Suzanne, have always been big supporters of what I've done," she said. "They, alone, without even knowing it, have encouraged me and motivated me."
Babcock secured a $10,000, no-interest loan for her business from Kiva Tulsa, an international microlending platform the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation helped bring to Tulsa last year.