Family and community are important to local retailer Beth Firth-Martin and that is reflected in her store The Handmade Den’s mission statement.
“It’s a family shop,” said Firth-Martin. “We run it as a family. My mom and I do it together.”
Many of her suppliers are mothers and independent craftspeople that make products specifically for children and families.
“I make kids’ products so, I sell kids clothing and toys,” she said. “As we’ve grown we’ve switched gears to having more products for adults too. More than half of our store is for adults.”
You won’t find anything mass-produced or imported from China on her shelves.
“Everything in here is handmade in Canada,” said Firth-Martin. “Most of our artisans are fairly local within a 45-minute to one-hour commute. It has been a bit of a journey getting here.”
That journey began in British Columbia where Firth-Martin was born the oldest of five siblings. The family lived for a while in New Brunswick where she developed a strong sense of faith and community.
“I did a lot of volunteer work,” she said. “I travelled all over the Maritimes doing Vacation Bible School.”
When she was 16 years old the family moved to Elmira where she eventually enrolled in college.
“I went to Georgian College for Interior Design and when that was done I did my schooling to be a florist,” she said.
During that time she married husband Andrew Martin.
“Once I got married I worked as a wedding decorator,” she said. “I enjoyed working in the wedding industry so, I worked there for a while. As soon as I was done all my schooling I became a mom.”
They have two daughters aged 6 and 9 and Firth-Martin enjoyed making clothes and toys for them. She applied some of the things she learned in college and began selling her handmade products at the market downtown.
“I had always dreamed of having a store after developing one of my products in college so that kind of just all blended together,” she said “Two years ago during my fourth year of selling in the market I switched to doing a pop-up shop in PODS old location on Carden Street. We were in there for six weeks and in between that and going into this place we were at the St. Jacob’s Market for a few months.”
She set up shop at 54 Carden Street in February 2017 and broadened her product line.
“We have products for everybody,” said Firth-Martin. “We focus a lot on having a family friendly environment so that moms and families feel like they have a place to go and shop. We actually have a play centre for kids to play in while their parents shop.”
She has also introduced new services.
“We just started doing our DIY products and workshops,” she said. “They range from crocheting and knitting to painting, multimedia art and sewing.”
The journey continues as they prepare to move the shop down the block to Wilson Street.
“We’re moving and combining everything into one store,” said Firth-Martin. “We are moving into the old Millennium space. We will be all moved and ready for sales on May 1. It will be exactly the same only everything will fit better and it is a bigger space.”
She is also increasing the family factor by bringing her mother in to help fulltime.
“She is kind of coming on as a silent partner and we’re pretty excited,” said Firth-Martin.