They were here and now they’re gone. “Furnish,” the temporary shop that opened for a month or so in the building adjoining Gateway Market, gave December visitors a small glimpse of the antiques, gifts and small furnishings available at Patina in Charlottesville, many with a specific holiday focus.
“That was our intention,” said Ellen Beard, owner of Patina. “We wanted to offer something unique and different during the Christmas season for those west of Charlottesville.” She’d been wanting to try it, she said, and when veteran art buyer Leigh Glassmore became available after the closing of Kane’s Furniture, she had a feeling the time was right. The women turned the small building into a cozy, quirky Christmas store with a little bit of something for everyone.
There was another reason for the pop-up, Beard said: “Sometimes businesses do this to kind of test the waters. We found people in Crozet to be very receptive.” She’s not ruling out the possibility of a year-round shop in the area, if she can find a space that’s affordable. “We would need it to be larger because we deal so much in antique furniture,” she said.
Meanwhile, the space won’t be vacant for long. Roger and Diane Gilmer of Lyndhurst will open a garden flag and outdoor art store in the same space. They hope to have the shop open by February 1, and certainly by Valentine’s Day.
The Gilmers, both in their early 60s, have been operating their business part time for many years on the move, traveling to fairs in the mid-Atlantic region. As they began to cut back on their other jobs—his as a FedEx driver and hers as a service dispatcher—they were glad to find a small space to display their colorful collection of seasonal flags, matching porch rugs and metal garden adornments.
Roger has a skill ideally suited for a man who sells flags. He’s a metal artist able to weld and bend steel into simple shapes like flagpoles of every size. “We’ll have a great selection of solar flagpoles,” he said.
The Gilmers plan to make some changes to the exterior of the building during the next few weeks. “In January, you’ll see us out there painting, probably burgundy with white trim,” Roger Gilmer said. “Stop by and say hello.”
