Nine Years of Blue Willow - “Maybe It was Always In My Blood”

As Blue Willow celebrates nine years, I've spent a lot of time thinking about where we started, how much has changed and where we're going next...

The more I thought about the story of Blue Willow, the more I realized it didn't really begin nine years ago.

It began long before that.

Maybe retail was always in my blood.

Papaw's Hardware Store

My grandfather, Ed Goins—my Papaw—owned a hardware store (as well as a restaurant when my mom was little), and some of my earliest memories are of spending time there while my parents worked.

My mom, Patty Frazier, would be at the bank. My dad, Charles Frazier, would be at his job and later come into the hardware store after school hours to work on televisions and electronics. I would be at the store with Papaw and Nana if I wasn't in school.

Apparently, I started my retail career pretty early.

I LOVED those shelves. I straightened them. I organized them. I restocked them. Unfortunately for Papaw, I also reorganized them.

I'd move things around until I thought everything looked just right—and then drive him crazy because he couldn't find anything. At one point, I even took it upon myself to re-price some merchandise. No one had asked me to. He didn't even notice till a customer checked out and he realized a price wasn't right. I got in a little trouble for that one, although thankfully Papaw thought it was pretty funny or he acted like he did.

At Christmas, he would bring out a toy section, and I absolutely loved it. I helped customers and learned to work one of those old-fashioned cash registers long before I could have imagined I'd spend so much of my adult life running stores of my own.

Looking back, maybe Blue Willow wasn't such an unexpected turn after all. Apparently, I've been rearranging displays, restocking shelves and somehow deciding what things ought to cost since I was little.

A Love for Beautiful Things

Retail came from my Nana too. She had a dress shop way before I was born as you can see in the image below.

My Aunt Lue also worked in one called The Chase.  I loved visiting her there, surrounded by beautiful clothes and shoes. Every now and then, I'd even leave with a new pair of Aigner shoes even if they didn't fit yet, or a new purse.

Aunt Lue and Uncle Jack gave me something else, too: a lifelong appreciation for giving—and receiving—something special. They spoiled me absolutely rotten.

If Uncle Jack bought Aunt Lue a fur coat for Christmas, there might just be a little fur coat waiting for me, too. And yes, there was more than one.  As I grew out of it, another would follow.

Diamond earrings for Aunt Lue? Little tiny diamond earrings for me. I was just a little girl, but I remember how special those gifts made me feel.

As I've gotten older, I've realized something. I enjoy giving beautiful things—and helping people find beautiful things to give to others—even more than I enjoy receiving them. I will say however, an occasional special sparkly gift or purse from my husband is very much appreciated.

I think some of that love for giving started with Aunt Lue and Uncle Jack.

Go. See. Do.

My dad was an encourager. He spent much of his career in education, including serving as principal of a vocational school, and he cared deeply about business, industry and bringing opportunities to our area. He also loved to travel.

His attitude was pretty simple: Go. Travel. See what's out there. Go to market. Find new things. If you're going to do it, do it. Years later, when I went into business myself, he was always behind me.

My mom was—and still is—the person beside me making sure it gets done.

When Mom and I opened the prom, pageant and bridal business together, there were more 5 a.m. mornings and 2 a.m. nights—more for her than for me—than either of us could ever count.

That's just who she is. If something needs to be done, she does it. It doesn't particularly matter what time it is, what day it is or how long it takes. All these years later, she's still that person for me.

But we'll get to that part of the story a little later.

Then Came the Sequins.

Long before Blue Willow, there was a little prom dress shop in a house beside the home of one of my most beloved teachers, Mrs. Milton Dunaway.

Mrs. Dunaway had been my home economics teacher and had owned the shop for years. It was the place so many of us knew to go when it was time to find a prom dress. I loved that little store. Eventually, she was ready to retire, and Mom and I had the opportunity to purchase the business she had built.

Mrs. Dunaway had tried her best to teach me to sew when I was in school. Sewing never became one of my talents, but cooking certainly did. She and her sister, Mary Alice Lay—who would later become one of my college professors when I was studying education—are known as some of the most wonderful cooks and bakers in our community, and I loved being in Mrs. Dunaway's kitchen at school. She let me cook breakfast often to feed everybody in class. That was also in my blood as my grandparents also had a restaurant too.

I still see them when I can, and they remain two women I treasure dearly. And in one of those wonderful full-circle turns life sometimes takes, Mrs. Dunaway's daughter is now a dear friend of mine today.

When I think back to the beginning of Carreen's, I don't just remember a little shop filled with prom dresses. I remember the woman who taught me and eventually trusted Mom and me with something she had built.

Around the time we opened the prom store, my cousin was reaching the age when prom dresses suddenly mattered. Then, almost completely out of nowhere, she announced that she wanted to enter a pageant.

As if that wasn't enough of a surprise, the pageant had a talent competition—and she decided she was going to sing. She had never really sung publicly before. We were all nervous wrecks. She, on the other hand, apparently thought, "I think I'll sing." And she did.

What started as one rather spontaneous decision to enter a pageant—and an equally spontaneous decision to become a singer—ended up taking us somewhere none of us could have predicted. She went on to become Miss Kentucky and off to Las Vegas we all went!

Suddenly, our little world of prom dresses was becoming a world of pageants, too. We got to work alongside famous designers and help design custom prom and one-of-a-kind pageant gowns. Seeing your gowns on the Miss America stage is something I can't describe! Mom and I would spend more than 25 years in the prom, pageant, and bridal business. I loved market. I loved buying. I loved friendships I made in that business. I loved the sequins and the beautiful gowns!

What I loved most wasn't really the dress. It was the girl wearing it. I eventually became a pageant director within the Miss Kentucky/Miss America system, working with the Outstanding Teen program. I spent years working closely with young women and girls.

I loved helping someone find the dress that made her feel beautiful and confident. Sometimes you could actually see the moment it happened. A girl would walk out of the dressing room, look in the mirror and suddenly stand a little taller.

That's the part I loved.

Looking back, I realize that what I do today isn't really so different. A pageant gown and a birthday gift may not seem to have much in common, but both can make someone feel special. Maybe that's been the common thread all along.

I've Always Been the Shopper.

Even during my 12 years as a high school teacher, everybody knew who the shopper was. Christmas gifts for the principals? Send me.

A gift for someone at school? I'll find it. I've always loved the hunt for just the right thing.

Interestingly enough, I don't shop very much for myself. I would much rather shop for someone else. That is still how I buy for Blue Willow today. Most of what I choose starts with a simple question:

Would I love to give this to someone—or would I be excited if someone gave it to me? Most of the things I buy are things I genuinely love.

Of course, years in retail have taught me that my taste isn't always everyone's taste, and it shouldn't be. that is why there are different things. Sometimes a proven seller is a proven seller whether it's something I would personally choose or not. For the most part, I fill Blue Willow with my favorite things and hope they'll become somebody else's favorite things, too.

I didn't know it then, but all those years of shopping, buying, teaching, traveling to market, helping girls feel beautiful and finding gifts for everyone else were preparing me for something.

I just didn't know what.

Then Came a Question…

Nine years ago, I was still working alongside my mom in the prom, pageant and bridal business. I had remarried, and I had a baby girl at home.

Life was already full.

One day a longtime family friend who had owned a Hallmark store in our community for more than 30 years came to me. Hallmark stores were changing. She was ready to retire. But she cared deeply about what happened to the store she and her mom had built and wanted it to remain part of our community. She asked me a question.

Would I be interested in taking it over?

That store was Lorene's Hallmark. Today, you know it by another name.

Blue Willow.

And that's where Part Two begins.

To be continued…