Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Mensch.
Hi Karen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My Husband and I moved to Holden after He retired in 2020. We love this little town so very much. We loved the town and the people so much that my Husband decided to run for the City Council and was elected. He has been on the City Council now for four years and Loves it. We also became members of the Chamber of Commerce and I am also on the Cities Planning and Zoning. We wanted to help the City grow and help with tax revenue so we decided that we would start a store and rent out retail space to help other crafters to sell there items at a reasonable price. We do month to month rentals with no commission. This really helps our Vendors keep their overhead down. We decided we would rent out booth space with no long term contracts. We wanted it to be easy for us and easy for our vendors to be able to afford it. The next problem was finding a building that we could rent or purchase. In a small town like this it was pretty hard to find a space. We rented a building to start out and then a year later we bought a building of our own. The building was built in the early 1900’s and was an old Dental office. We remodeled it and opened it in December of 2021. We started out with about 10 Vendors and now have 25. We always have a full store with a lot of unique items. When one Vendor moves on it has been real easy to find a replacement. It has been a lot of fun running our little store. We try to keep our offerings to local Vendors and businesses as much as possible. We carry local teas, wines, cheeses, sausages, antiques, clothing, craft items and many other things.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The first biggest struggle we had was finding a building to rent or buy. There really was not much to choose from. Our first rental building fell through after working on it for a few months. That was very disappointing. We finally found a small building that we were able to rent. After a year at this rental we had the chance to buy a building of our own. It took about three months to make it the way we wanted it. It was an old Dental office with all of the old equipment in it. It was a real chore tearing out all of this and getting rid of it. We donated a lot of items and scrapped a lot. With the help of our next door neighbor we got it accomplished and opened in December of 2021. The biggest struggle has been reaching customers in other Cities. Our town is a farming community with only around 2200 people. We advertise a lot on Facebook but we still have people coming in saying they didn’t know we were here.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I retired from GEHA insurance company and my husband spent 35 years Managing convenience stores and retired from the IRS after 5 years. We have been doing crafts for many years. My Husband makes shirts, signs, coffee mugs, earrings, insulated mugs, and many other crafty things. I on the other hand love quilting. I am a member of Knob Nosters Quilt Guild and attend their meetings monthly. I have made a lot of quilts to auction off for special events and to sell in our store. I also do custom quilts like t-shirt quilts or memory quilts.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Our biggest supporters are our Vendors and Friends. Our next door neighbor Autie Huffman is a retired carpenter and he helps a lot with remodeling and fixing things for us. Without him I don’t know where we would be.
Contact Info:
- Website: K&A Creations Crafters Market
- Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/vinylsub?_rdc=1&_rdr#
