April 4, 2019

Artists and makers are filling Stacey’s Vintage-Art-Boutique with their creations.

The store along 271st Street on the east side of the Tea exit for Interstate 29 opened Monday with 37 vendors. Four more will begin renting space in May.

Stacey Namminga started the business to give local talent a “hassle-free” venue to sell their creations. “Almost everything is handmade,” she said.

Vendors can rent varying amounts of space, from a few shelves to a wall display to a larger section of one the rooms in the store. In addition to rent, they pay 10 percent of sales to cover costs such as sales tax, credit card fees and paper supplies.

“We ask them for a six-month commitment to start, and then it’s by the month after that,” Namminga said.

It’s an easy way to get started, said her niece Caitlyn Meiers, who is managing the store.

“A lot of our vendors are new. They haven’t done it before,” Meiers said. “They’re scared and thinking, ‘Can I just rent this for now and see how it goes?’ ”

The shop is filled with a variety of items: signs, woodworking, greeting cards, photography, macrame, bath products, hand-poured soy candles, quilts, baby blankets and more. There’s a rooster made from colorful old tools, painted canning jars holding kitchen utensils and bags, pillows and jewelry made from repurposed leather jackets.

“A lot of the vendors can and will do custom work,” Meiers said. Some of them have signs with contact information in their display areas, and others have business cards at the checkout. The closest maker lives in Tea, and there’s one from Wyoming who covers initials with tooled leather and animal hides and outlines them with nailhead trim.

There’s room for more vendors, and Namminga and Meiers are looking for a local artist or maker to rent a studio space. The room, which is about 550 square feet, has its own exterior door and one that opens into the store. Having a working artist will enhance the store and provide great visibility for that person, they said.

Namminga, who owns the building with her husband, plans to pave the parking lot and improve the exterior now that the weather is stating to improve. The store will have a grand opening later this spring.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.