Business expands to babies, birds, boutiques
Staff reporter
For Diane Claassen, expanding her popular quilt shop made sense.
"I had people telling me that they wanted to come to my shop but weren't quilters," she said.
As owner of Quilts and Quiltracks, she also wanted to offer gift and home decor items to Hillsboro residents and visitors.
Within her quilt store, she already had included gift items for shoppers but she wanted to do more.
Instead of expanding her existing shop and including those items, she decided to create five small boutiques with each offering unique items.
The downtown Hillsboro building she and husband Dwayne lease was perfect for the expansion and The Corner Shops was established.
The five unique shops offers baby items, Christmas decorations, home and patio decor, fabric, and an area for clearance items from the individual shops.
When customers enter the storefront, they are greeted by 'Tis the Season Shop with year-round Christmas decorations and items.
"For most of us, when we find a Christmas decoration that we like, we buy it when we see it," Claassen said.
The shop features resin reproductions from Chicago artist Jim Shore. The unique figurines have quilt patterns as part of the design.
The first room south of the Christmas area is the Baby Room. Toy boxes, stuffed animals, and Bunnies by the Bay clothing line entice shoppers to the room of gift items for new babies.
The Birds and Butterflies Room offers home and patio decor which includes wind chimes, wall hangings, cookie jars, and unique lawn ornaments.
"These items make unique wedding gifts," Claassen said.
Since opening her quilt shop more than three years ago, numerous customers have asked for fabric, Claassen said. In response to those requests, Fine-Aly Fabric was created.
The small boutique offers fabric and items needed for projects.
"The idea is not to have every fabric but to be kit-oriented," Claassen said.
Everything a seamstress needs to complete a specific project is available in the kit. Claassen plans to have the room fully stocked by December.
The last unique room is Brilliant Bargains where discontinued items are marked down for a quick sale.
The retired accountant got into retail business because she wanted to fill her time doing something she enjoyed.
She got the idea of the individual boutiques when she and Dwayne were on the East Coast while Dwayne was treated for an illness.
During that stressful time, Diane Claassen quilted as a way to relax and fill her day. After Dwayne's recovery, she decided she wanted to do something other than quilting and opened the quilt shop to feature local quilters.
More than 60 quilts made by local Mennonites and 20 quilt racks are available at the store.
The Claassens chose this particular building because it was a combination of old and new, which are what quilts are — a combination of old and new.
