Rising Stars: Meet Mary Garrity of Kansas City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Garrity.

Hi Mary, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My partner Rebecca Wood and I grew up in family-owned businesses. I worked in retail for my parents who owned a clothing store for men and women in Atchison, KS. When I was 15, I convinced them to let me open a department for girls my age. I often went to market with my mother to buy for the store.

In the seventies when Calvin Klein jeans were all the rage, I convinced my mother to stretch our price points to bring this fashion forward trend to Atchison. When my dad found out what we did, he tried to pull the plug on the order. I told him I would quit if he did. He didn’t. Retail is in my blood, and I always try to push the boundaries.

I owned Nell Hill’s for a large chunk of my adult life. I started the business in my hometown of Atchison in my 20s and then opened a second store at Briarcliff in North Kansas City with my husband Dan.

Rebecca’s story is similar. Her mother owned a stationery business in her hometown of Jefferson City, MO. As Rebecca got older, she started a small stationery business out of her home so she could spend more time with her three children. Prior to that she was a professional in the IT industry.

The two of us met at the Kansas City Junior League show where we were both vendors. I admired her style and soon she began going to market with me to buy for Nell Hill’s.

In 2018 I sold Nell Hill’s intending to retire from retail and spend more time traveling with my husband. But after about five years the retail itch returned, and I approached Rebecca about opening a small store.
We decided to call it diebolt’s, the name of my parents’ store where I got my start.

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?
We opened last April inside Gillham House Antiques as one of their seven vendors. Our biggest challenge has been maximizing our displays in just 300 square feet. This spring we added two greenhouses to expand with more outdoor entertaining and garden items. Greenhouses add architectural interest to outdoor spaces and ours are for sale.

We get in new items every week, so our small space gets a makeover to show them off. Our displays center on two main tables for entertaining that we hope inspire our customers. Our goal is to share creative, easy ideas that are seasonal and special.

We do have our challenges. Another one is storage. Warehouse #1 is Rebecca’s garage and Warehouse #2 is mine. Neither of us are planning to park in our garages anytime soon.

We were pleased and surprised that our store was such a hit with customers. Rebecca was planning to keep her day job in healthcare IT marketing and work only on weekends but shortly after we opened, we realized she would need to focus on diebolt’s full-time even though we are only open on Fridays and Saturdays.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
With fewer and fewer brick-and-mortar stores, we want diebolt’s to be the place where you go to have fun and get inspired. We concentrate on tabletop décor with a mix of new, vintage and antique. We love to show our customers how they can mix their vintage dishes or family heirlooms with new décor to create something interesting and sentimental.

Our customer base continues to change. We have our regulars and first-timers. My relationship with them is one of my favorite parts of being a store owner. Rebecca shares the same philosophy of retailing.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I did a lot of imaginative play from running a restaurant to being a cowgirl, but I was best at playing store. I loved to play store as a child and fortunately I was able to do the real thing from a very young age. Getting to grow up in Atchison around our family business is one of my best memories.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://diebolts.com
• Instagram: @dieboltskc
• Other: Store Hours: Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Location: Gillham House Antiques in midtown