Crescent Store Offers Variety Of Items

STEARMAN IS FIRST-TIME BUSINESS OWNER

— Shannon Stearman of Prairie Grove is following in the footsteps of her great-aunt, Aunt Florence Hill.

Hill owned the Southern Mercantile in downtown Prairie Grove and Stearman is now a downtown business owner herself.

She and her husband, Travis, bought Crescent Store in 2007, retaining its previous name because of the tradition and reputation of the store throughout the community.

“There’s always been a Crescents,” Stearman said. The store opened in Prairie Grove in 1924 as a dry goods store and Stearman remembers going to the store as a little girl.

Her aunt’s store was sold in the 1980s but Stearman said she is sentimental about the old Southern Mercantile and the downtown area. Stearman found an old Coca-Cola sign at the family farm and she believes it once was in her aunt’s store. Now, it is used as a decoration in the Crescent Store.

“We kept the name because we didn’t want to lose any of the history,” Stearman said. “There are (original) boards in the store that have names on them. It still smells the same to me.”

Crescent Store is located at 127 E. Buchanan St. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. It is closed Sunday. Phone number is 479-846-2801.

The store has changed somewhat since Stearman bought it. About three years ago, she and her husband decided they needed to update the business and “get with the times.”

They still sell their popular, traditional brands, such as Levis, Big Smith and Muck Boots. These can be found in the upstairs section of the store.

The front of the store, though, has taken on a new look, with more antique items and more items that would be found in a boutique store.

Some of the newer items include personalized clothes, such as spirit wear, shirts, scarves and jackets. Other items are jewelry, purses and hats. The store provides its own monogramming services.

“We try to cater from the young to the older generations,” Stearman said.

She admitted it is sometimes a struggle to be a business owner to make updates to a store but also keep with the character and uniqueness of downtown.

Owning your own business also is different, she added.

“As a mom, there’s parts of it that are hard to be a mom and parts of it make it easier,” she said. “It gives me some flexibility but I don’t want to take advantage of the flexibility.”

Owning a business is not an 8-5 job, she said. When she is awake or lying down, she said she is thinking about the business. She has help and employs two part-time workers.

“Owning your own business is not a 40-hour week,” she noted.

She is enjoying the adventure of being a business owner and in particular likes being part of downtown Prairie Grove.

“We’re supported by good, local shops,” she said. “We all live here and we’re all local with a vested interest in the downtown area.”

For more information, go to the Crescent Store Facebook page.

COURTESY PHOTO Unique items, like these Arkansas bracelets, can be found at the Crescent Store in Prairie Grove.

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Shannon Stearman and her husband, Travis, have the Crescent Store in Prairie Grove. The store sells a variety of items, including monogrammed shirts, school spirit clothes and decorative items.