ANNOUNCING NEW ETSY SHOP NAME

The name of my new Etsy shop will be...



                                           Gwen and Alma's


To be opening soon...

These are the names of my two grandmother's and I thought it was fitting to name my shop after them. I'm excited about this new endeavor and also about naming it after them.

                                                                             Alma

                                                                         

                                                                             Gwen

They both come from Scandinavian backgrounds and both of my grandfathers ( their husbands, of course ) were entrepreneurs, starting business' of their own.

Gwen and Floyd Arnold started Arnold's Supply Company, a store which sold their own line of cleaning supplies along with an office cleaning service. When I worked as an RN in a hospital here, I often saw cleaning supplies with my grandpa's picture on the front of the container ( Arnold's Toilet Bowl Cleaner, for example ). It seemed strange at the time. I sometimes called out to a patient from the bathroom, "Hey, there's a picture of my Grampa in here!" That caused some puzzled responses from patients! Their cleaning products were used in all the big establishments in the city. The company is still going strong today under the same name though it was sold after their retirement.

Alma and Elmer Danewick started a painting business which also became very successful. At one time they employed 100 painters. The business was passed on down to my Dad and then my brother who is now retired. I now have the original old sign hanging in our family room. Early on he had Larsen as a business partner before he went out on his own. This sign is over 100 years old now.

 At one point when I was in high school, my parents also opened a Scandinavian Gift Shop selling, among other things, hand knit wool Norwegian sweaters made by relatives in Norway. I must have had more than 20 of those sweaters at one time. They never wore out! I still have a few of them and they look like new! The store was called, Dannevig Imports, as that was our "Norwegian name". Our grandfather changed it to Danewick, apparently a more "American name" when he came to America, alone, at the age of 17. How I wish they would have kept that store now! I love Scandinavian decor!

So I come from a long line of entrepreneurs and I've always wanted to be in business. My Hob Nobber occasional sales ( along with business partners, Karen and Renee ) took off and now I'm on to trying my own little spot in the world of Etsy!

Wish me luck! Oh, wait! I don't believe in "luck"! Guess I just better find things people want, price them fairly, and pray people beat a path to my door! Well, I can dream, can't I?