Grand Opening
By John Swartz
David and Beth Shaw are two for two. They opened Makers Market on Mississaga Street during the Downtown Orillia July sidewalk sale. This past Saturday they had their grand opening, which happened to be Starry Night. To say they had a few customers on each occasion is like saying there’s a little water in Lake Couchiching.
Timing is everything and picking those two dates was probably a lot better than the Tuesday after Labour Day.
“We’ve got three bands (playing during the day), it’s also Starry Night which is fantastic because it celebrates all of the local artisans,” said Beth Shaw. They brought in Tres Hombres for the evening to play on the street. Mayor Steve Clarke and Councillor Dave Campbell were in to congratulate the Shaw’s too.
They opened with 38 artists represented and picked up 5 more between day one and grand opening.
“We were able to take on a few more people. We wanted local to Orillia, and we specifically wanted more unique people to give a more diverse selection to the people in Orillia,” she said.
It doesn’t seem to matter what time of day one goes into the shop, there always seems to be a few customers browsing.
“We are over the moon with the reception we got from the community. It hasn’t just been vacation traffic, it’s been a lot of local,” said Shaw. “Even the first 15 minutes of business (each day) we have people in here.”
(Photos and Video by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
