My Biz: Brambles Gift Shoppe

Owners: Beth Heideman, Sandy Emerson and Kay DeLong

Company: Brambles Gift Shoppe

Address: 1200 Second Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids

Phone: (319) 362-1313

Website: Find it on Facebook

Elevator pitch: Bringing to Cedar Rapids items from Chicago, Atlanta and even Lancaster, Penn.

It could be called the Brambles effect.

“We had people come into the store that had been flooded out” during the 2008 floods, recalled Beth Heideman, one of the co-owners of Brambles Gift Shoppe. “Before they even had another house or permanent residence, they would walk around the shop for inspiration - for some sense of normalness.

“Several told us that it helped to be able to come in and just walk around. It was a peaceful experience for them.”

Be it Victorian tassels, lace or wicker furniture, aged Americana country, the warm wood tones of traditional decorating or the distressed furniture cottage look commonly referred to as shabby chic, Brambles offers nothing if not variety.

If lamps, pictures, mirrors and furniture aren't your cup of tea, there is jewelry. Cases and cases of elegant, antique-looking or contemporary bracelets, chokers, rings, earrings and watches provide plenty of choices from which to choose.

“Over 4,000 square feet of shopping ideas for every season,” is the motto on the lime-green customer-reward punch card from Brambles Gift Shoppe.

Beth Heideman, Sandy Emerson and Kay DeLong, all artists in their own right, got together in September 2002 to open their eclectic gift shop in the former First Baptist Church building on Second Avenue.

“We really did not want to be in a mall,” DeLong said. “We were looking for something that had some personality, and this building had been the Wellington Heights Antique Mall for years.”

The trio agreed the building was bigger than what they'd expected to find when they first started looking.

“But we filled it up,” they joked.

The shop is open 6 days a week, and 2 of the owners are always there at the same time. They run the shop themselves, handling all the buying, stocking, cleaning, dusting, inventory tracking and redecorating as sales and the change of seasons require display changes.

They go shopping a couple times a year to cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, Madison, Wisc., Atlanta - and even Lancaster, Penn.

“We look for things that the other stores in Cedar Rapids don't have,” said Emerson, who along with DeLong was a member of the Creative Colony, an artist co-op in Amana, before opening Brambles.

Heideman, who owned a gift shop called the Art Colony in Cedar Falls for 20 years, with the help of her husband makes much of the handcrafted furniture and shelving that is sold in the shop.

The Brambles effect is far-reaching.

“We have one lady from New York who has a punch card from a prior visit,” Emerson said. “Whenever she is back in town, she comes into the store.”