RENSSELAER — The transformation of the former GRG auto shop now complete, Barbara Barten and Stacy Walker have been busy fulfilling orders at Rural Bling and Backroad Blooms, respectively.
Barten, owner of Barten Design dba Rural Bling, purchased the former auto shop on College Avenue (U.S. 231) this winter and began producing screen printing and embroidering items in January. Her store room occupies the shop’s former two-bay garage area, which was transformed into its current condition by Kerry Mathew.
“He put windows where the garage doors were and did some work inside,” Barten said. “He did a really good job.”
Barten has been working from her home to fill Spirit Wear orders for area schools’ athletic Team Shops, including Rensselaer Central.
“That’s most of my business,” she said.
“It’s good to have all this space here in town. I’ve been doing this for several years.”
There are no set hours for the screen printing business since the shop is utilized to fill phone, Facebook and email orders.
“If you see my vehicle out front, you can stop in,” Barten said.
She can be reached at 219-869-0606 or look for her Facebook page.
Barten had planned to use the entire building, but realized she didn’t need that much space. So she reached out to Walker, who also happens to be her cousin, to see if she would like to move some product out of her house and into an area at the shop.
“I was going to have that area be the retail area of the shop, but this is plenty of space for me,” Barten said. “She was looking for somewhere to get out. It worked out really well.”
Walker’s business — Backroad Blooms Hometown Floral — occupies the auto shop’s old customer service area. She provides a full-service floral shop, with deliveries and pick-ups keeping her busy.
She does have shop hours: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4-5 p.m. each day. Most of her business are call-to-orders from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The number is 219-204-8599 with backroadblooms@yahoo.com the email address.
Walker said she began fulfilling orders out of her new space on Valentine’s Day.
“It’s going well,” she said. “I do delivering in the morning then I will be available at my shop those hours.”
She said she snapped up the chance to move her business from home to the new location when it became available.
“I’ve been doing floral for a long time,” she said. “I just wanted to have a floral shop for many years.”
She and her husband, Scott, did some remodeling inside, with Scott building a cooler for floral orders. The couple also repainted the walls, replaced the floor tile and built counter space.
The Greater Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce officially welcomed the two shop owners with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 8.
