Business owners say 'Yes, we're open'

I've driven by your place a million times and never noticed your shop.

I didn't know you were open. I thought you were closed for the season.

I had no idea what you offered.

Business owners up and down U.S. Highway 2 and Nucleus Avenue report hearing these comments from passersby, many of them local residents. That's why these owners have begun investing in more aggressive advertising, including a brochure inserted in this week's Hungry Horse News, Whitefish Pilot and Bigfork Eagle.

The full-color brochure includes a map for finding the 10 businesses — antique stores, a butcher shop, a jeweler, a restaurant and a recreation center — along with phone numbers of business hours.

Two women spearheaded the effort: Sally Petersen, a former American Express executive who owns Fashion Finds, and Colette Gross, owner of The Shops at Station 8.

"I really want this town to succeed, with vibrant stores," Petersen said.

"If locals would only come in and see, they will be surprised that we're showcasing their neighbors' work," said Gross. If more locals choose to shop locally, "I'm extremely excited and optimistic about growth, excited about the future."

The women recruited other shop owners and, in the weeks leading up to the Christmas shopping season and Night of Lights parade, gathered at Station 8 for weekly strategy sessions.

One last-minute addition, Sally Thompson of Glacier Outdoor Center in West Glacier, said she couldn't resist the group's enthusiasm.

"I hadn't planned on spending the money" on the brochure, she said, "but I really wanted to support" Petersen and Gross.

The participants agreed to hand out brochures and cross-promote each others' businesses.

Thompson said she is willing to do more than that. When interviewed about her services, which includes rental and ski cabins and 10 kilometers of groomed Nordic ski trails, she pointed to nearby Belton Chalet. The historic hotel and restaurant opened for its winter dining season on Dec. 4.

Thompson doesn't serve meals at Glacier Outdoor Center.

"When we opened our first five cabins in 1996," Thompson said, "we thought about a bar and restaurant, but decided against it." It helps that she can point her customers to Belton, just a short drive down the road.

That camaraderie is exactly what Petersen and Gross had hoped to inspire. Everyone in their marketing group agreed to hand out as many brochures as possible and refer their own customers to each others' businesses.

'From Gap to Gucci'

Petersen opened her store in Columbia Falls three years ago under the name Fantastic Finds, offering antiques and home furnishings. But in August, she switched to clothing and renamed her store Fashion Finds.

"I find clothing in the Midwest," she said, "and I have lots of friends who own higher-end women's clothing stores. I buy in such volume that they let me come in and get first pick. That allows me to offer upscale women's clothing at the best prices possible."

Store brands in her inventory include Nordstrom, Saks and DKNY.

"I offer everything from Gap to Gucci," she said, "and from jeans to gowns, in all sizes. I'm putting out new stuff every day — shoes, purses, hats, jewelry."

'Artifacts with stories'

Gross at Station 8 returned last month from a shopping trip on the back roads of Idaho, bringing back a trailer full of 1920s-era cameras, tripods, meters, gauges, suitcases, windows — "artifacts with stories," she said.

"I like creating lifestyle vignettes," she said. "I had two elderly ladies spend an hour giggling and reminiscing, enjoying themselves as they looked at items from their past. I create a relaxed atmosphere where moms of young children can come for half an hour and get rejuvenated. A dad, 30-something, and two children spent half an hour, pointing to things like an old typewriter, sharing childhood memories."

Across U.S. Highway 2 from Station 8 is Montana Iron Horse Art and Antique Gallery, which offers for sale one of the largest and widest selections of original artwork in the Flathead Valley.

Among the artists displayed are current and deceased members of the Cowboy Artists of America, including the late Ace Powell, who lived in the Canyon, and his son David.

Iron Horse also carries popular artifacts such as knives, watches, beat buckles, Keen Kutter and Winchester collectibles, Native American artifacts, and old blenders.

The problem is, "A lot of people don't even know we're here," said owner Chris Holding, who turned 70 the day before Thanksgiving.

Other partners

• Devie Brown, who opened Gold Creek Jewelry in December 2000 on U.S. Highway 2, later relocating next to Marantette Park.

Brown creates all her own jewelry, "things people can wear all of the time." She prefers yellow and white gold, and recently began using a new alloy of sterling silver.

"I like mixing colors, and I like being different," she said. She uses Montana gemstones — the rare and pricey blue Yogo sapphires, which come from one small, hard-rock mine near Lewiston in the southwest corner of Montana, but also less expensive Montana sapphires, in a wide range of colors.

• Leslie Darling, who bought Nine-Patch Floral & Gifts in April 2005 and for the first two years operated next to the Bandit bar on Nucleus Avenue. She now operates out of a remodeled home on U.S. 2. The 1964 Columbia Falls High School graduate said customers favor her selection of Willow Tree figurines, whose faceless designs allow customers to use their imaginations. Another product line she keeps stocked is the Bridgewater array of soy-blend candles.

• Cindy Shaw of Art-ique, a cooperative of four artists that opened in Nucleus Avenue in March. Shaw sells her marbled T-shirts and pottery baskets. Charlie Byington offers her handmade greeting cards and coasters, Patricia Ross sells landscape paintings, and Kimberlie Wehrman displays beaded jewelry.

• Perfect Cuts on the newly repaired Third Avenue East. The shop is an "old-fashioned" butcher shop owned and operated by Danny and Karla Hansen.

Danny worked as a butcher in Ft. Benton and relocated to Columbia Falls in 1988. Karla was born and raised in Geraldine, and worked as a hairdresser in Great Falls.

The Hansens planned to open Perfect Cuts as a hair salon and meat shop, "but we decided, why have two headaches?" Karla said.

The shop smokes its meats on site, and uses its own sausage recipes. And it offers unique cuts, such as Flat Iron steak, "a time-consuming cut, and wasty," Karla said. "You get only two off the whole cow. It's flavorful, and it's not available anywhere else in the valley."

• Trubys Fine Food & Spirits at the Meadow Lake Resort. The restaurant, formerly based in Whitefish, is emphasizing its local philanthropy. The restaurant, which offers steaks, pastas, seafood, burgers and brick oven pizza, will devote 10 percent of its gross proceeds on Dec. 18 to the Columbia Falls Food bank.

• Thompson of Glacier Outdoor Center. She said her facility will host the Western States Youth Ski Festival on Feb. 26-28, 2010. The event will attract about 200 skiers age 14 and under from Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

• Jeff Underdahl of Eagle's Nest Antiques & Crafts, which opened in July on U.S. Highway 2. Underdahl hopes the business owners' joint effort will help overcome the perception that Columbia Falls is "dead in winter."

"Columbia Falls is not just your summer destination anymore," he said. "The heartbeat of this community is louder and stronger than ever."

Eagle's Nest, located in the old Rustic Rails site that sat vacant for two years, now provides 14,000 square feet of display space to 150 dealers — local people with talent who don't have the time or money to build and staff their own studios.

"The more people we help, the more we will be successful," Underdahl said. "We promote everything."

That's exactly what Petersen and Gross hoped to hear.